On Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019, at 7 p.m., Rein Jelle Terpstra will talk about Senator Bobby Kennedy’s Funeral Train, which passed through Cecil County on June 8, 1968. Over four years, Professor Terpstra worked on his project “Robert F. Kennedy Funeral Train: The People’s View.” As part of his fieldwork, he visited Cecil County several…
Working to End Segregated Hospitals
PORT DEPOSIT — On Nov 10, 1960, Port Deposit resident, Patrica Taylor Stamps, 23, was rushed to Harford Memorial Hospital. There she was admitted to the segregated ward for African-Americans. Expecting to deliver her baby boy, Carlos, the doctor told her there were medical complications and the procedure needed to happen immediately. On delivery, Carlos…
WSER — Playing the Tunes on Elkton’s Radio Station
A recent NBC News piece about a small town of under 1,000 people having a hometown radio station serving the rural community reminded us of when Elkton had a full-service outlet, WSER. With the station providing original daily programming for Cecil County, the broadcasters talked to the community. DJs played the hits and chatted up…
Historic Buildings in Cecil County
As we travel around, from Pilottown to Fredericktown and every place in between, we often encounter old landmarks and historic buildings in Cecil County that grab our attention for numerous reasons. Sometimes it’s the end of the line for an aged, neglected building, its days dwindling quickly as a wrecking crew gets to work. Other…
End of Watch: Dispatcher Keith Sinclair Laid to Rest
ELKTON, Sept. 9, 2019 – On this Monday in late summer, first responders, friends, and family gathered to say goodbye to N. Keith Sinclair. The sixty-four-year-old, passed away suddenly Wednesday morning (Sept 4), while preparing to report for a duty shift at the Cecil County Department of Emergency Services. Keith was a 911 dispatcher, a…
Labor Day Observed in Cecil County for the First Time
The idea of celebrating a holiday for workingmen caught on slowly in the United States. But eventually, the first Monday in September became a federal holiday in 1894, although many industrial communities around the nation observed the workingman’s day much earlier. One was Port Deposit in Cecil County, which held its first Labor Day in…
Woodlawn Camp Meeting
One of the highlights of August for many people living in Cecil County in the decades around the turn of the twentieth century was the annual Woodlawn Camp Meeting. For two weeks in the heat and humidity of summer, many families vacationed there, escaping the chores of farm life, socializing, and listening to worship services….
Sheriff Thomas Mogle
Thomas H. Mogle., Jr. served as the sheriff of Cecil County from 1966 to 1970. When he was elected to the top law enforcement post in 1966, he assumed charge of an agency that was critically under resourced. Although the small force consisted of four deputies and no county provided police cars, he put an…
Adams Floating Theatre Visited Cecil County
Throughout the summer in the early 20th century, a showboat, a huge, scow-like wooden craft plying the Chesapeake Bay, called at Cecil County’s waterfront towns. Its arrival in Chesapeake City, Elkton, Fredericktown, North East, and Port Deposit brought great joy to the towns. Once the tug had cautiously piloted the floating theatre up the river…
Archaeologists Unearthed Free Black Community near Port Deposit
In the decades before the Civil War, Cecil County had a few free black communities. One, Snow Hill, was situated just north of the Port Deposit town limits on the hillside along Route 222, which was known in earlier times as Cedar Hill. On this steep grade overlooking the Susquehanna River, free black merchants and…