Featured Articles

  Eric Mills Swashes and Buckles  by Helen Chappell 
Ever since I met Eric Mills some thirty years ago (yes, Eric!) he’s been writing somewhere. Also, Eric gave me the best advice I’ve ever had from another writer. When you’re stuck, throw in some action from the outside. A new character, an event, an explosion, whatever. Just bring in something new and it will not only further the plot, it will give you a chance to write your way out of a corner. Great advice, and I’ve used it often.Now, Eric has a new novel out, and it’s completely different. Not just from his previous historical works, but different from anything I’ve read in decades, and that’s high praise.   Read More …

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  Watching the Life Cycle of Osprey Through a Long Lens by Dick Cooper

Mama was very angry at me, and she was doing everything in her power to show it. She screamed, her shrill, high-pitched osprey voice escalating into a fierce, staccato that warned me to back away. Her large, bright-yellow eyes burned like death rays. The feathers at the back of her head flared into a jagged crown. As I took another step closer, she stood and pushed out her chest and extended her wings to their full six-foot span. She lowered her head and cocked it slightly, as if putting body English on her evil eye.  Read More...

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  Two Views of Substance Abuse & Success  by Michael Valliant

There are comeback stories and there are stories about staying out of trouble. Both are real and both are personal. When it comes to substance abuse, hearing someone’s recovery experience can be a cautionary tale to some, while being a story of hope for others who are caught up in their own struggles. As Talbot County and the entire Mid-Shore go “purple” in September to bring awareness to substance abuse, it’s worth knowing Stephanie Meredith’s successful recovery story, as well as the efforts and message Talbot Goes Purple are taking to drive home prevention, education, and awareness.  Read More…

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  Memories Still Alive and Thriving at the Horton Homestead by Tom Horton
The smell of the piney woods and the call of bobwhite quail; tracks of my toy wagon in the soft sand road bordered by ditches alive with tadpoles; the warm odors of the grain bin where Mom stashed me as she rolled it through the chicken houses at feeding time; racing to pick up bloody squirrels as they tumbled to the ground after blasts from Dad’s shotgun. These are some of my earliest memories ~ from the 1940s ~ of the old log cabin where we lived when I was born, eight miles outside Salisbury on Maryland’s lower Eastern Shore.  Read More…

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  The Hundreds  by Gary D. Crawford
In Talbot County, a region west of St. Michaels is known as the “Bay Hundred.” It’s an odd term. Notice that it isn’t “Bay 100” or “Bay One Hundred,” and it is never said that way. It is simply Bay Hundred, or, more properly “The Bay Hundred.” The region begins where Route 33 turns west and then sharply south, to run all the way down the peninsula to Black Walnut Point at the tip of Tilghman’s Island. As such, it encompasses seven villages: Claiborne, McDaniel, Wittman, Sherwood, Tilghman, Bar Neck and Fairbank. (Oh, and also Hynsontown and Avalon, the ones the county has forgotten.)   Read More…

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  Driving  by Roger Vaughan

The most harrowing drive of my life was between Heathrow Airport and Southampton back in the 1970s. After flying all night, I was clueless enough to think I could rent a car and drive the 60-odd miles to England’s south coast. I’d been to the UK but had never spent time behind the wheel. It never occurred to me I’d be driving on the wrong side of the highway, on a road called the M3. Only later did I learn that among locals, the M-designation in the UK stands for “Madness” or “Mayhem.” Look up the route on Google Maps and it reads, “heavier traffic than usual” ~ all the time.  Read More…

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Tidewater Times was established in 1952 as a specialized monthly magazine which would appeal to the tourist, the prospective land buyer, and others for whom the Eastern Shore has a special allure. It was created to be small enough to fit into a woman’s purse or a man’s coat pocket. Today it has blossomed as a vital symbol of our thriving community.

Our award-winning group of Feature Writers include Helen Chappell, Dick Cooper, Gary Crawford, Pamela Meredith, Roger Vaughan, Bonna Nelson, Michael Valliant, Tom Horton, and Marc Teffeau. Distribution covers an area including Dorchester, Talbot, Caroline, Queen Anne’s and Kent counties.

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