Featured Articles

  Summer Sloth  by Helen Chappell 
We have don’t have spring and fall anymore. We just have summer and winter. One day it’s snowing, the next day it’s shorts weather. So here we are in May, and it’s in the 90s and I’m in no way prepared for this.
It’s not just adjusting my attitude, which is perpetually bad, according to some people. It’s adjusting my internal temperature and my mindset. And, horror of horrors, it’s seasonal household chores.  Read More …

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  Harriet Tubman and Bella Travers by Bonna L. Nelson

Our granddaughter, Bella Travers, visited with us during Black History Month. We thought it an appropriate occasion to take her for a tour of the new, 17-acre Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad (HTUGRR) State Park and Visitor Center in Church Creek, just 11 miles south of Cambridge. She had just completed a research project on another black hero from Maryland, Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American Supreme Court justice, for her second-grade class. On the day we visited the park a park ranger gave a presentation about the connection between the Dorchester County landscape and the Underground Railroad.  Read More...

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  Tidewater Kitchen: Watermelon  by Pamela Meredith

Summer and watermelon go together like peas and carrots! We get the triple whammy of burning sunshine, relentless heat and dripping humidity. Everyone looks for a way to stay cool while being reminded to stay hydrated. To me, this means diving into some watermelon for sweet relief. Lime is a great complement for watermelon. The two flavors contrast deliciously in a simple summer side dish or dessert of a bowl of watermelon sprinkled with lime zest. Many people, especially in the South, salt their watermelon. If you have been told to cut down on salt, try lime.    Read More…

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  The Skipjack Rebbeca T. Ruark by James Dawson
The skipjack Rebecca T. Ruark has the honor of being the oldest skipjack in the Chesapeake fleet. Built at the dawn of the skipjack era, her life story spans the history of oystering on the Chesapeake Bay, from the peak years of oyster harvesting in the late 19th century to the decline of the oyster and the near-disappearance of the skipjack itself through the 20th and into the 21st century. The Rebecca was built by Moses Geoghegan on Taylor’s Island for William T. Ruark in 1886, and named for his wife, Rebecca Travers Ruark (1831-1912).   Read More…

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  A View from the Shore  by Gary D. Crawford
One extraordinary dimension of the Eastern Shore is the view from the shore. We are blessed with hundreds of miles of shoreline ~ Talbot County alone has 620 miles of it. Think of that. The entire State of California has 840 miles of coastline. Other counties also have miles and miles of views ~ of rivers, creeks, and, of course, the Bay. I am blessed to have a desk facing south from the south end of Tilghman’s Island, looking out of Black Walnut Cove, across the Great Choptank River to Cook Point in Dorchester County, and past Black Walnut Point to the Bay itself.  Read More…

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  Oxford ‘s Fire Department Continuing to Serve  by Michael Valliant

A fire in the town of Oxford in the 1890s would have been a vastly different experience than that of today, and probably with a vastly different outcome. Today, Oxford’s fire department keeps up with technology and training to be able to respond to the town’s fire and emergency medical needs, as well as helping out nearby towns with a mutual aid philosophy. The spirit of volunteerism and helping the community has remained constant with all the small volunteer fire companies on the Mid-Shore.  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-Doyle, Roger Vaughan, Bonna Nelson, Michael Valliant and Marc Teffeau. Distribution covers an area including Dorchester, Talbot, Caroline, Queen Anne’s and Kent counties.

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