While you have your snow shovel out this winter, think about digging up a little history with the Historical Society of Cecil County’s winter programs. You can start digging at 9 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 16 by uncovering your roots with a program entitled “Getting Started With Your Family history: An Introduction to Genealogy.” This three-hour workshop will introduce you to…
StoryCorps: National Social History Project Records Ordinary People Telling Their Stories
Here’s a link to a Democracy Now interview about StoryCorps, the national organization focusing on collecting the stories of everyday people. The informative clip includes some interesting sample recordings of people, such as a couple of Memphis Sanitation Department workers. They were there in 1968 when Martin Luther King came to the TN city to help striking workers. Another one is…
On the Day When the British Came to Loot Elkton, A Slave Leads the Invaders into an Ambush
Maryland’s War of 1812 history isn’t just about major battles, military commanders, political leaders and the powerful. It is also about a time of great fright on the shores of the Chesapeake for everyday people as enemy soldiers terrorized the region, “firing private property and robbing hen houses.” With the 200th anniversary of this conflict…
The Traveler’s B & O Christmas Tree, a Holiday Tradition
The tradition for kicking off the Christmas Season in Cecil County is the annual lighting of the “Holly Tree by-the-tracks.” The Baltimore & Ohio held the first public ceremony in 1948 when thousands of people gathered to ring in the season as lights from thousands of colorful bulbs on the evergreen softly illuminated the Jackson,…
Valentines Weekend Program Explores Elkton’s Marriage History
If you are interested in learning about Elkton’s history as a place for quick marriages, the Historical Society is hosting a free lecture on Feb. 13. Stop in to hear historian Mike Dixon talk about when the marriage industry thrived in Elkton and the honeymoon express arrived in town everyday. The program will also take a look…
The Elkton Police Catch Their Man
In the winter of 1975, when a light snow blanketed Elkton, Officers Jeff MacKenzie and Ralph Newton are on the day watch. It appears they brought the snowman to police headquarters for booking.
Cecil’s Past for Ms. Litzenberg’s Class at Elk Neck Elementary
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This Weatherman Knew the Highs & Lows in Cecil County
As the mercury rose and fell each day and rain-drenched Cecil County every so often one person carefully observed the changing Elkton weather. That gentleman, H. Wirt Bouchelle, trudged out to the backyard of his home at 6 p.m. each evening to check the temperature, note the day’s highs and lows, and read the rain gauge. The…
Nov 7 at Elkton Library: The 101st Screaming Eagles, a Walk With Heroes
Local veteran Joseph Lofthouse was a radioman and paratrooper for the 502nd regiment and participated in such major events as D-Day, Market Garden, the Battle of the Bulge, and the occupation of Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest. Hear his first hand experiences of an extradordinary time and events that changed the work at the Elkton Central Library…
Cecil County NAACP Organized in 1962
As the Cecil County NAACP prepares to celebrate 50 years of civil rights advocacy a Window on Cecil County’s Past has checked the old newspapers for that year for information. The Cecil Democrat carried a front page story, but nothing was found in the Cecil Whig. ——– In February 1962, the Cecil Democrat announced the…