We’re enjoying a great Labor Day Weekend here at the top of the Chesapeake Bay. With temperature in the low 80s and brilliant Sunshine, we took the opportunity to drive around some old beaches and harbors at the top of the bay. Betterton Beach had a great crowd out enjoying the perfect Sunday, but back to Cecil…
Recalling Holloway Beach, Charlestown, in the 1930s
Another summer is quickly slipping away as students get ready to return to school Monday and we prepare to mark the unofficial end of summer with Labor Day. Still for August, a period that is better known for the dog days of Summer, we’ve experienced some of the most beautiful weather and the forecast looks great for…
An Outstanding Late Evening Program on WERU, Blue Hill, Maine Has Cecil County Connections
As I worked on some syllabi for the upcoming semester with the midnight hour approaching here on the Chesapeake, I surfed over to WERU, an outstanding non-commercial radio station in Blue Hill, Maine. We discovered WERU several years ago while vacationing in Maine and always listen when we are in the coastal area. A few years ago they added streaming on…
Elkton Considers Selling Historic Acreage to Developer
The following is a letter to the editor published in the Cecil Whig on Friday, Aug. 15. This piece is cross-posted from the blog, someonenoticed.wordpress.com, which contains much more information in this attempt. Please see that blog for much more information on this subject.) ——– The Mayor and Commissioners of Elkton are considering a proposal…
Main Steet Fire in 1947
On December 20, 1947, the largest fire in downtown Elkton’s history erupted in the predawn darkness of the bitterly cold night. At about 5:30 that morning, the fire whistle sounded, piercing the silence of one of the longest nights of the year. Someone ringing up the telephone operator had reported smoke seeping out of…
Cecil County Becomes a Vacation Spot
It is summertime in Cecil County, and before these warm days are over, you may jump in your car to join a steady procession of people cruising toward the beach, mountains, or some other vacation spot. Perhaps your outing will take you to quiet forests, ocean-cooled breezes, or clear mountain waters. Whatever the case, this…
Return of Passenger Train to Elkton
The Chesapeake pulls into the Elkton Station on April 30, for its inaugural run as a crowd waits. In this piece, we’ll continue with a little more on the return of rush hour commuter rail service to Cecil County from 1978 to 1980. See our earlier post for more information on this Amtrak passenger train….
An Ancient Punishment – The Whipping Post Last Used in Cecil in 1940
Criminal codes on the Delmarva Peninsula permitted judges to sentence perpetrators of crimes such as theft, breaking and entering, wife-beating, and more to lashes on the bare back well into the 20th. Under the original colonial statutes, wrongdoers received this ancient punishment for a broader range of crimes, including forgery, counterfeiting, Sabbath breaking, blasphemy, witchcraft,…
All Aboard at the Elkton Railroad Station
The last time a regularly scheduled passenger train stopped at the Elkton Railroad Station was April 25, 1981. The Chesapeake, train 420, scheduled to arrive at the depot at 6:29 p.m. on its run north from Washington, D.C., completed its final run that spring evening a quarter-of-a-century ago. Passenger service had returned in 1978, when…
Recalling Robert Kennedy’s Funeral Train Passing Through Cecil County
Forty years ago on Saturday, June 8, 1968, a hot sweltering day, thousands of people lined the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks in Cecil County, waiting for the funeral train carrying Robert F. Kennedy’s (RKF) body to pass through on its trip to Washington, D.C. The coaches carrying the Senator’s coffin on this special run departed…