Celebrating 70 Years! Tidewater Times magazine has been around for as long as I can remember. I am also 70 years old! Growing up on the Miles River near St. Michaels, there were always magazines on the coffee table in our living room, including Life magazine, Time magazine and always, an up-to-date issue of Tidewater Times magazine. My grandfather, W. Edwin Crouch, was a real estate broker in the 1950s and ’60s. He often advertised his listings in Tidewater Times. Beginning in January 1994, when I became the broker for Sharp, Critchlow, Nash and Crouch (now associate broker with Benson and Mangold Real Estate), I began advertising and promoting my listings in Tidewater Times. I have featured “Fine Talbot County Properties” on the inside front cover page every month since...374 consecutive months! I can attribute many sales (and listings) over the past 27 years to TWT readers who called to inquire about my listings. One of my favorite examples: I received a call from a couple early one morning last November. They told me they were having breakfast at The Tidewater Inn in Easton, had picked up a copy of Tidewater Times and saw a waterfront estate listing I had featured in the issue. They asked if was possible for me to show them the property in one hour! I knew the owners were away, so I gave them
directions and said, “Yes, I will meet you at the end of the driveway.” They immediately fell in love with the property and made a $4 million cash offer. It settled 30 days later! I intend to continue advertising and promoting our listings in Tidewater Times indefinitely. My father used to joke that he enjoyed Playboy magazine because “It has interesting pictures, but mostly because it has great articles.” I don’t think he ever knew that my two brothers and I knew where he hid the magazines under the nightstand in his bedroom. Tidewater Times consistently has great articles and interesting photos, too, although the photos are of a different genre and not as provocative! I think Tidewater Times’ success can be attributed to several factors...It is a compact publication that will easily fit in a coat pocket or purse; the front cover photos are consistently outstanding; boaters, especially, rely on the tide tables (always on page 43); and the articles! I especially enjoy reading the local history articles by James Dawson and A. M. Foley; “Tidewater Gardening” articles by K. Marc Teffeau and many other interesting articles and stories by several very good authors. The real estate ads are interesting, too! ~ Tom Crouch Benson and Mangold Real Estate 11
