Crystal Beach made headlines every week in 1939 as the Manor Messenger, a newsletter, kept residents and guests informed about goings-on at the Cecil County vacation spot. At least for most of that summer, readers looked forward to the latest news, the four-page newsletter connecting them with all the happenings.
The inaugural edition, June 30, 1939, used a large font for the lead story, the headline announcing that Crystal Beach anticipated the biggest season in years. The mud from the dredging was gone, and a newly paved road connected vacationers to major highways on Delmarva. Everyone recalled “the difficult dirt road that once led from Earleville to the Beach. It was rutted and bumpy and after a rain, it was nigh impossible to travel.”
Memorial Day weekend drew the best crowd in years. And the Manor Messenger knew how to cover its beat as things picked up, the slim little volume managing to pack a lot of names and community events in four pages. The previous Saturday, rubber lab workers from DuPont’s Deepwater Plant in Salem County, NJ visited the Inn. The contractor erecting the new Cecilton High School, Robert Lange, brought a party of sixteen guests from Audubon, NJ to the Inn for the weekend. There was lots of additional social news.
The Beach stood at the threshold of another major improvement, the editor remarked as he penned the first editorial, “Let there be light.” Prospects of getting electricity next year would mean running water, radios, electric stoves, good lighting and a thousand of the conveniences that have been sacrificed by everyone for the fresh air, the sunshine, and water.” Hopefully next summer, “we won’t have to say to our visitors: ‘We just camp out down here!’ No, with the advent of electricity . . . we will be able to say, ‘This is our summer home!’ And be proud of our summer home.”
After providing the weekly news, the newsletter turned its attention to history. “In 1925, the old Reybold farm was subdivided and the Crystal Beach Manor Corporation formed by Dr. Lewis and Mr. Heldmyer going into the beach business.” In 1935, William. E. Schultz took over the Heldmyer interest.
Crystal Beach struggled over the handicap of a bad road, then, in 1936, the Government dredging in the Elk River almost ruined the bathing grounds by causing several inches of mud to settle on the bottom. The natural movement of the water plus a good deal of scraping, however, saved the beach. From a few cottages in 1926, the Manor has grown into a village of ninety houses and fifty camping shacks in the Grove.”
In this era Cecil County was rapidly becoming a summertime vacation spot, as Crystal Beach joined other waterfront destinations around the county.
Notes:
1. Two photocopies of the Manor Messenger from 1939 were given to us by a friend. Old sheets such as this provide unique insights into happenings. Hopefully, more of these survived as they provide a level of detail not available in other sources; 3) Electricity arrived at Crystal Beach in 1947; 3) We have shared some of the photos previously, but are reincorporating those into this updated album about Crystal Beach and its newsletter. and 3) We will scan all the newsletters so they reach anyone interested. Those items will be found on the blog, a Window on Cecil County’s Past. www.cecilcountyhistory.com. For more Crystal Beach and White Crystal Beach photos see this album.
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Enjoyed the Weaver cottage ( Pa avenue) and they had a well built staircase all the way down to the beach. Their Chris Craft just sat there driving my bro/me nuts axed wanted to drive it!
Shultzy store was great ad was the game room next door. My brother rented a Shultzy 25 ton rowboat and the breaker wall way up from the store we crabbed and had the boat bottom fu of evil crabs trying to bite us. This would have been yearly from 1946 to 1953
Thanks for sharing your memory Charlie.