Tidewater Times September 2020

Tidewater Times

September 2020

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Vol. 69, No. 4

Published Monthly

September 2020

Features: About the Cover Photographer: Lori R. Bramble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Alone in a Crowd: Helen Chappell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Bringing Back the Bees: Bonna Nelson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 From Water to Wharf: Kathi Ferguson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 September Tide Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 To Catch and Share Stories: Mike Valliant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Beautiful Botanicals in Dagsboro: Tracey F. Johns. . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Tidewater Kitchen: Pamela Meredith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Tidewater Gardening: K. Marc Teffeau . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Dorchester Map and History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Lest We Forget: A.M. Foley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 St. Michaels Map and History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Oxford Map and History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 Easton Map and History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Frederick Douglass Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Tilghman ~ Bay Hundred . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Caroline County ~ A Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Queen Anne’s County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Kent County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Changes ~ All American (Part XII): Roger Vaughan . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Chesapeake Film Festival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 Anne B. Farwell & John D. Farwell, Co-Publishers Proofing: Jodie Littleton & Kippy Requardt Deliveries: Nancy Smith, April Jewel & Brandon Coleman Social Media Liaison: Mary Farwell P. O. Box 1141, Easton, Maryland 21601 3947 Harrison Circle, Trappe, Maryland 21673 410-714-9389 FAX : 410-476-6286 www.tidewatertimes.com info@tidewatertimes.com

Tidewater Times is published monthly by Bailey-Farwell, LLC. Advertising rates upon request.

Subscription price is $30.00 per year. Individual copies are $4. Contents of this publication may not be reproduced in part or whole without prior approval of the publisher. Printed by Delmarva Printing, Inc. The publisher does not assume any liability for errors and/or omissions.

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About the Cover Photographer Lori R. Bramble A Dorchester County native, Lori currently lives on Ross Neck Road in the Dorchester neck district. She has been an amateur photographer for almost 35 years and enjoys nature photography and living on the Eastern Shore.

Like most photographers, she started with taking photos of her family. Then she began photographing local scenes around the water.

She has continued to do this every year for Christmas cards.

Lori’s focus is nature photography, wildlife and the scenery around the Mid-Shore. The two things she enjoys photographing

the most are sunflowers and the great blue heron, and she cherishes the opportunity to share those photos with others. As she likes to say, “nothing beats life on the Shore.”

Lori’s photos have been published in Birds & Blooms Magazine, the Department of Natural Resources Magazine and Attraction magazine, as well as on the Facebook pages for all three magazines, the Dorchester Chamber of Commerce Facebook page, the Chamber’s directory, and numerous other social media pages. You can view her photos on her Instagram page.

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Alone in a Crowd by Helen Chappell

over your head. I’m having anxiety attacks because I’m having anxiety attacks. You, too, huh?

I am, by nature, an introvert, perfectly content with my own company and capable of entertaining myself for days on end with very little input from the outside.

But even an introvert can get tired of self-entertainment. I’m not half as amusing as I think I am. Just ask any perfect stranger with whom I’ve gotten into a war of f lames on Facebook. It’s not like we’ll change each other’s minds, but on we go, keyboard warriors tearing at each other like a couple of prep school boys trying to have a street fight.

If I wrote a novel about this, it wouldn’t even make it past a dystopian editor’s slush pile. And yet, here we are in whatever month of lockdown this is. So far, 2020 has managed to be the worst year yet, and I’ve lived through a lot of years.

It’s as bad as the Bay of Pigs days, when we’d go off to school in the morning and never know if we’d be alive to come home at night.

Quarantine is making a lot of people crazy. Which is a good reason to avoid the news, because in the media industry, if it bleeds, it ledes, and honey, it’s hemorrhaging right now. Makes you want to stay in the house with the covers up

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Alone in a Crows Time to put down the keyboard and walk away slowly. Just the act of writing itself is hard enough.

Time to find more constructive pastimes.

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TV, books, Netf lix, Amazon, Disney, Apple, Hulu. Little escapes. What can you do after you’ve prowled through Hulu and watched every episode of every Newhart, every Mary Tyler Moore, Taxi, Golden Girls and so many other comfort watches to take you not just away, but back to a less threatening time? I finished The Odd Couple last week and bingewatched my way through Community this week.

Podcasts lure me to sleep; I love ghost stories, no matter how ridiculous, because I don’t have to think, the way I do with TED talks or Alan

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Alone in a Crowd

possible. Didn’t even go out. Staying in touch via Facebook. Apparently, I am not alone in this, nor in the fact I gained weight and neurosis in equal amounts.

A couple of weeks ago, a friend and I met up at a restaurant halfway between us. We got takeout and ate in our socially distanced cars, while the unmasked and unconcerned sat elbow to elbow inside and on the deck. Either obliviously desperate or denial desperate that it’s all a hoax. Covid bait.

I can tell you first hand what it’s like to be placed in a medically induced coma, to have a tube jammed down your throat while a machine breathes for you. Believe me, it’s not worth the risk. And that was just for bacterial pneumonia. Think how much worse it can be with a virus that has no cure.

That’s why I take it seriously.

How long have we been isolating? I can’t even remember anymore. The worldwide pandemic that I saw coming years ago has actually happened, and here we are. Well, here I am, anyway. I have COPD, so if I catch this, hold my beer. On the other hand, it’s been a good ride, so. . . But I’ve started to go outside, off my O2 compressor tether. Today I actually gathered up three months’ worth of recycling and took it to the station.

And I didn’t suffocate, and I didn’t catch Covid and I didn’t even see another human being. I took the

Alda’s science guests. Ghost stories in the darkness aren’t half as scary as what’s really out there.

A lifetime of reading and I’m returning to old literary friends for comfort. Christie and Heyer are good friends in these dark days.

The familiar is comfort, unchallenging and secure. The girl will get the guy, Marple and Poirot will finger the murderer and the universe, at least on the page, will have a sense of balance.

I wake up every morning resenting the fact I have to wake up.

Dreamland is so much more fun than yet another day of. . . this. But here we are, and after months of isolation, I’m starting to look for new ways to cope, because depression and anxiety just aren’t cutting it, for me, and apparently, for most of the world, where fools appear in my news feed daily. You know who you are. I don’t have to tell you.

For a long time, I did as little as

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Alone in a Crowd

me, folding it up and placing it in a box, which I then lock. It’s silly, but so is anxiety. Oddly, it helps.

Why waste my sleepless nights reviewing old regrets?

I suppose, by the time I have all my coping mechanisms nailed down, we’ll have a vaccine, world peace and a righteous and just karma for one and all. That would be nice.

Meanwhile, I’m a slow learner, but I do learn, and right now, I’m learning how to cope in the current reality. It’s by no means perfect, but then, these times are about as far from perfect as you can get.

Getting outside, walking, taking a whack at housecleaning, doing any kind of movement or creativity at all is my one step forward, two steps back method of coping. When the old way no longer works, it may take a while to find a new way, but eventually, you can do it.

Wish me luck. I wish you luck, too.

trash to the curb and paused to sit a while on the steps. Being outside wasn’t so scary. Walking a little didn’t kill me. I even ran into a neighbor walking his dog, an elderly deaf and blind beagle whom I adore, and had a nice, socially distanced visit. That’s progress.

I’ve acquired a nice collection of masks, and I do wear them, as much to protect my impaired lungs as to protect you. For me, it’s not a political statement, it’s a lifesaver. And some of them are pretty funny, like the one with The Rocky Horror Picture Show lips my dear sister-in-law Brenda sent from Florida. Sure, I can’t breathe all that well in them, even with the portable 02 machine, but it beats being dead, no matter how much I whine about how hard life is these days.

And I’m learning how to live in the now, how to be mindful and about as Zen as I’m ever going to get. In those anxiety-attackmiddle-of-the-night wakeups, I picture taking whatever’s eating

Helen Chappell is the creator of the Sam and Hollis mystery series and the Oysterback stories, as well as The Chesapeake Book of the Dead. Under her pen names, Rebecca Baldwin and Caroline Brooks, she has published a number of historical novels.

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Sapphire is September’s Birthstone

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Bringing Back the Bees by Bonna L. Nelson

For the past few years, we’ve been noticing fewer Canada geese, fewer songbirds, fewer butterf lies and fewer bees sharing our little piece of paradise on Jack’s Cove in Easton, Maryland. We wondered what we could do to change that. Of course, we couldn’t change much about the presence of Canada geese. We tried different birdseed and feeders for the songbirds without noticing a big difference. We planted more milkweed, conef lowers, Joe Pye weed and other attractant specimens for

the butterflies but are still not seeing an increase in visitors.

What about the bees? We, like most people, know very little about bees. Could we do more for the smallest of the group we were looking to bring back? When the Heritage Museums and Gardens of Dorchester, home of the Dorchester County Historical Society in Cambridge, offered a lecture about native bees, we jumped on it. But we weren’t quite quick enough. The class was so in demand that it immediately filled

19

Bringing Back the Bees

not know that other solitary types of bees live in the ground, except for our giant carpenter bees. We have seen carpenter bees come out of holes in the ground and then drill holes in wood around our home.

Unlike wasps, bees are not usually aggressive, and some do not even have stingers.

We learned more about the loss of bees and their contribution to agriculture, their nesting habits and

and we were put on a wait list with many others to attend a second class being formed at a later date.

Our class was ar ranged w it h Certified Master Gardeners Robin and Kathy, our lecturers. They were delightful, enthusiastic bee lovers.

They had long been friends, lovingly tending their respective home gardens and jointly tending public gardens in Cambridge. They planted for bees. They knew bees as well as they knew themselves.

We were astounded by their statistics: there are approximately 4,000 species of native bees in North America and about 430 species in the Mid-Atlantic area. There are about 100 species within one mile of our homes, including bumbleb e e s a nd hone y b e e s , t he mo s t commonly known and recognized, as well as the f ly-like Mason bee, a small blue species that is a farmer’s favorite pollinator.

Like Winnie-the-Pooh, we all know that bumblebees and honeybees live in colonies in hives. We did

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Bringing Back the Bees

to bite and chew. They feed on nectar, the sweet, rich fluid found in flowers.

Pollen, the yellow “dust” that is the bane of human allergy sufferers, is another favorite food source. Bees collect pollen grains from flowers to feed to their larvae.

In their book The Bees in Your Backyard, Joseph S. Wilson and Olivia Messinger Carril explain that “A lmost entirely, the nutritional needs of a bee are met by flowers…

Adult bees eat a little pollen and a lot of nectar and they feed their larvae a lot of pollen, often mixed with a little nectar. Pollen provides bees with an excellent source of protein as well as chemical compounds important in the egg development in females.”

Why are we seeing fewer bees? I came across a timely article while conducting research for this story in my May 2020 issue of National Geographic magazine, an article

bee houses, other types of bees, how to have a healthy bee lawn and more, which I will share further along. But first, a review of bee basics.

According to George S. Fichter in his book, Bees, Wasps and Ants, bees are insects with, like most other insects, bodies divided into three parts: the head, thorax (middle), and abdomen (stomach). They have one pair of antennae and three pairs of legs.

As for physicality, most bees have two pairs of transparent wings. The front pair is larger than the rear, and both are held together by tiny hooklike structures that allow the wings to move together as one. Most bees have a heavy, rounded, hairy body with not much of a waist. Honeybees even have hair on their eyes. Bees have very strong jaws that are used

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titled “Where Have All the Insects Gone?” and subtitled “Bugs are Disappearing at Alarming Rates, That Could be Disastrous for the Planet.”

The aut hor, E li zabet h Kolber t, states that, according to a detailed German entomology study, between 1989 and 2006 there was a 76% drop in f lying insect biomass in the area of study. Kolbert states that studies implicate climate change, habitat loss and pesticides for the decline in the insect population.

So what, you might say? I don’t like mosquitoes, wasps and carpenter bees one bit! I don’t like to be bitten, stung or startled! However, according to Kolbert, insects keep the planet livable. For example, “Nearly 90 percent of flowering plant species and 75 percent of crop plant species depend on pollination by animals ~ mostly insects.”

“Overall, one of every three bites of food humans eat relies on animal pollination in the production process... Crops can’t reproduce; humans and animals lose key food sources…A bumblebee can visit (and help pollinate) 1,000 flowers a day.”

If we accept that “plants and in-

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Bringing Back the Bees sects are the fabric of the planet,” as one scientist said, what can we do to “knit it back together”? Kolbert states that to “reverse these ominous trends…depending on what is driving them…” we would need global action regarding climate change to make a difference. Regional or local action (and, I would add, individual action) could have a big impact if the threat comes from pesticides or habitat loss.

Insec ts a nd bees must be on the mind of National Geographic magazine scientists, as demonstrated by an article in the March 2020 issue, “The Secrets of Bees,”

by Jason Bittel. Photographer Ingo Arndt captured images from one wild honeybee nest to study how the insects stay warm or cool, socialize and defend themselves.

I learned that it’s not just climate change, habitat loss or pesticides that are affecting the loss of insects and, in particular bees, globally.

Nor is it mites, fungal infections or colony collapse disorder, though they are also problems challenging bee survival. But, as witnessed by Arndt, “Almost as soon as the honeybee colony was installed, it came under attack by red-eyed giant hornets who snatched bees mid-air.”

By week’s end, however, the bees had rallied. They created a defense team and began killing the hornets using swarming and body heat, thus

sav ing the nest. A rndt captured more than 60,000 photographs over a six-month period of a wild honeybee nest in his backyard, photographing behaviors never before seen. Read the article, look at the amazing photographs and read his forthcoming book.

Which brings us back to our bee specialists, Master Gardeners Robin and Kathy, and their recommendations on how we as individuals can make a difference in bringing back and saving bees, flowers and crops.

We can attract bees by providing prime nesting sites. The Gardeners said that 70 percent of bees are ground nesters, nesting in holes in the ground, in between stones and mulch. The other 30 percent nest in logs, old wood piles, buildings and hollow trees. Robin and Kathy make bee houses to attract bees to their gardens and brought each of us one.

They can also be bought online and in local garden shops.

We were advised to install the bee houses by mid-March at least 8” off the ground in a sunny area facing east or southeast and out of the wind. The unit has little holes, like 28

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Bringing Back the Bees

hive rooms or honeycombs, in which the bees lay eggs, drop in pollen and plugs the hole with nectar and saliva.

Bee houses attract butterflies too.

Before too long, we had a few holes sealed in our bee houses. New bees are forthcoming!

Did you know that honeybee workers live for only about two months during the busy summer season?

However, the queen may live for three years and lay more than 2,000 eggs a day! We wonder how many eggs are in our houses!

Another way to bring back the bees is by adding plants and flowers to your landscape that attract them. Provide a variety of flowers with steady bloom times throughout the season. Plant in swaths close

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Bringing Back the Bees together, not indiv idual plants.

Native plants, herbs, tube flowers, snapdragons and trumpet flowers are a few preferred plant materials according to Kathy. Check federal, state and local online resources for lists of plants preferred by bees in your location.

A water source, natural or manmade, is important, too. Bees need water, just like us.

Did you know that bees are our top pollinators? The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that bees are responsible for pollinating 75 percent of the fruits, nuts and vegetables grown in our nation.

They prefer blue, white, yellow and purple flowers with sweet fragranc-

es. Bees can see ultraviolet colors, which makes finding nectar easier.

According to Robin, mason bees pollinate orchards at a rate of 6,000 f lowers a day. The powerhouses of pollinators are responsible for pollinating 90 percent of our apple orchards. Now that we are more aware of ty pes of bees, we were happy to spot mason bees pollinating the f lowers on our hollies in early spring.

We also learned that leaf cutter bees are welcome in alfalfa fields as that crop’s primary pollinator.

In addition to adding bee houses and native perennial f lowers, herbs and vegetables to our gardens to attract pollinators, we took action with our lawn and landscape, too.

Kathy and Robin suggested limiting weed killers and pesticides.

But the surprise was their recommendation to let what we think of as weeds grow in the lawn for the 32

green lawn? Well, stop. Pollinators love dandelions and clover. Now my husband, John, seeds our many bare spots with white clover, and it looks beautiful and healthy. The bees love the clover, and it smells so sweet.

If you want to bring back the bees and save the planet, install some bee houses, plant some f lowers and herbs, sprinkle clover seed on your lawn and we will all reap the benefits. Stop and smell the clover.

One family can make a difference.

Bonna L. Nelson is a Bay-area writer, columnist, photographer and world traveler. She resides in Easton with her husband, John.

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From Water to Wharf by Kathi Ferguson

community wharf for nearly 50 years.

Original owner Ray J. Jones, a lifelong Wittman resident, opened his oyster business in the 1950s. It grew into a full-time seafood processing plant, Ray J. Jones Seafood Company, which Jones and his family operated until its closing in 1989. The facility is one of a small collection of early- to mid-20thcentury packinghouses to remain in Talbot County.

The single-story block-and-

It was my first visit to Wittman Wharf Seafood. The customer ahead of me had just finished paying for his purchase. “This is the second day in a row I’ve come in for scallops,” he told me. “They are amazing. I’m heading home now and putting them on the grill ~ might wrap ’em in bacon first!”

Located on approximately nine acres at the water’s edge of Cummings Creek in the village of Wittman, this former seafood packinghouse had been a fixture at the

Nick Hargrove at the display case.

35

From Water to Wharf

doned building proved to be the perfect location to serve as home base for Hargrove’s new venture, Wild Divers Oyster Company. Wild Divers hand harvests oysters from the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay, reaching areas that tongs or dredging cannot, without disturbing the surrounding ecosystem. In 2016, Hargrove and co-owner Derek Wilson, a professional oyster diver, moved their business from Nick’s parents’ garage in St. Michaels to the unoccupied space to clean and box their oysters to sell to area restaurants.

“We put some pretty significant work into the place,” says Nick.

“Moved in stainless tables, sinks, got the walk-in going, added new

frame building remained vacant for more than a decade, until current Wittman Wharf Seafood owner Nick Hargrove’s family purchased the property. “The place was boarded up when my parents bought it,” says Nick. “It was primarily being used for storage. But the interior was pretty much unaltered.”

As fate would have it, the aban-

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From Water to Wharf lighting ~ all that goes along with it. Now Derek and I were able to shuck and process out of there.”

Processing oysters proved profitable, as Wild Divers was shucking close to 5,000 bushels a year in 2019. “That adds up to a lot of shells,” Nick smiles. “Now we had to figure out what to do with them!”

The solution came when Hargrove decided to grow oysters for the watermen. Oyster larvae are purchased from hatcheries and set on the shucked shells, then placed in tanks to grow before being taken to a public fishery for planting.

The good news is this means more oysters. The bad news is that COV-

ID-19 hit in March 2020. Shucking for Wild Divers went from several hundred bushels a week to next to none. Nick ref lects, “Restaurants were 90% of our business, and they shut down overnight. We had to change what we were doing to survive.” Taking the leap into retail would prove to be the solution.

Wittman Wharf Seafood began operating a month later, in April.

Hargrove already had the ideal location, and he soon began processing and selling seafood harvested from local waters from the renovated packinghouse. “I don’t want to run a lemonade stand,” Nick told his colleague, Marc Van Pelt. “If we do this, we do it right, with a whole cabinet of fish, working with the people catching it, buying it, the whole nine yards.” Selling oysters and soft crabs kicked things off for Wittman Wharf, and it was not long before shrimp, scallops and a variety of other fresh fish started appearing in the display case.

The word ‘fresh’ is gospel at Wittman Wharf. Hard crabs and peelers are caught, moved off the boats and head directly to either the crab picking tables or peeler f loats for processing. Oysters are brought in,

Peeler floats.

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From Water to Wharf

usual for Marc and me to hop in the truck once or twice a week to find places to get our seafood.”

Some of the first officially brought on board to help run Wittman Wharf were Jeff Tunney, Marc Van Pelt and Elaine Crow ~ each with their own connection to the water.

Tunney had been culling crab and crab potting for Nick, as well as purchasing oysters for Wild Divers, before Hargrove brought him back on shore to manage the processing. Jeff has since added handmade fish cakes and the Wharf’s popular shrimp salad to his list of talents, and they have become big

shucked and ready to go by noon, and any and every whole fish is fileted in house.

Hargrove buys everything he can right off the boats as local watermen unload their catch. Otherwise, he sources from a variety of mid-Atlantic seafood suppliers.

“Our tuna, swordfish and day boat scallops come from Ocean City, and shrimp come to us from a processor in North Carolina,” says Nick.

“We’ll also get things like clams from Chincoteague and salt oysters from Virginia. We are always seeking out new sources. It’s not un-

40

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From Water to Wharf

sellers. Van Pelt, the general manager and Hargrove’s right-hand man, once was a charter captain out of Rock Hall, and helped run Wild Divers. He mans the office, does the books and maintains the social media end of the business. Elaine grew up in Tilghman and began working on the water in 1972 culling crabs and oysters, baiting up for trot liners and crab potting. “When Nick opened up the peeler f loats about a year ago, he hired me to maintain them,” Crow says. “I knew this place when Ray (Jones) had it,” she recalls.

“Watermen used to bait up and hang out here. Good memories.”

Additional staff includes Brittany Tyler, Jozie Wilson and Annie

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Barrett, who take care of the market. Eight to ten shuckers work as needed.

Hargrove’s philosophy for running his business is one of innovation, trust in his staff and a strong work ethic. “We all work hard and support each other, and I am always open to new ideas,” he explains. “I want to be as transparent as possible with my employees as well as with my customers. We’re far from perfect, but we’re genuine.

If we mess up, then we fix it.”

Folks tend to know their seafood around these parts, and it has not taken long for them discover what Wittman Wharf has to offer. Aside from drawing residents from in and around Wittman, this growing

fish market is building quite the reputation and following, attracting customers from across Talbot County and beyond. “There aren’t many places where you can go buy seafood on the water anymore,” says Nick. “Knowing your product went from right here to right there, and then home with you, is something special.”

Kathi Ferguson is a freelance writer with a diverse and creative professional background. Some of her favorite subjects are the people, places and history of the Eastern Shore. To reach Kathi, email kathi@inotherwords.info.

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46

To Catch and Share Stories by Michael Valliant

I should have met Brian Doyle before he died. But I didn’t know who he was. I read his writing now, and it feels like I am reading things I have thought or wondered or asked all my life, but didn’t know how, when, or where to give them words. Maybe meeting him on the page is enough.

Doyle died of complications from a brain tumor in 2017 at the age of 60. He was a hub in the Portland, Oregon, and literary communities. He left behind a wife and three children, who you come

to know in intimate, hilarious, wonderful, and heartbreaking moments in his stories.

From 2010 to 2016, Doyle published six novels, two short story collections, four prose/poem hybrid collections and seven essay collections. He edited an acclaimed magazine as his full-time job, gave public readings, taught creative writing and helped bring American “spiritual writing” back to life.

Renowned writer Ian Frazier said that Doyle “wrote more powerfully about faith than anyone in his gen-

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Catch and Share Stories

Doyle said stories are prayers.

And I believe him. When he gave readings, he cried when he told poignant stories, which you can watch online, and he said “amen” after each one. When he talks about what it’s like to finish reading a great story, he writes, “Oddly, sweetly, (it) just ends with a feeling eerily like a warm hand brushed against your cheek, and you sit there, near tears, smiling, and then you stand up. Changed.”

In a public talk, Doyle calls up the Gaelic word “Seanchaí” (or the more anglicized “shanachie”), meaning “story catcher.”

“It was a real job in my Irish culture, and it was important, to catch and share stories over the course of time,” Doyle said. “And it mattered.

Today, I can’t tell you how many people my age come up to me with

eration,” and poet Mary Oliver said his “writing is driven by his passion for the human, touchable, daily life, and equally for the untouchable mystery of all else.” All his essays were her favorites, she said.

David James Duncan is an author and was a close friend of Doyle’s.

Duncan realized how many of Doyle’s books were being published by small Catholic presses, and after Doyle’s first brain surgery, he suggested they collect and publish a big collection of his writing with all the profit from the book going to support his family. The book that came from it, edited by Duncan, is called One Long River of Song: Notes on Wonder, and it is the best kind of roller coaster adventure a reader can take.

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Catch and Share Stories

about a couple who were seen leaping to their deaths out of the World Trade Center buildings. He opens his essay “Leap” like this: “A couple leaped from the South Tower, hand in hand.” He continues: “Their hands reaching and joining are the most powerful prayer I can imagine, the most eloquent, the most graceful. It is everything that we are capable of against horror and loss and death. It is what makes me believe that we are not craven fools and charlatans to believe in God, to believe that human beings have greatness and holiness within them like seeds that open only under great fires, to believe that some unimaginable essence of who we are persists past the dissolution of

tears in their eyes and say I can’t believe I didn’t ask my grandparents and my parents for their stories. Families are only collections of stories, many of them painful.

Many of them are about endurance and grace under duress.”

If all we take from Doyle is the desire to get to know our family stories better, that is enough. But he looked much wider for stories to share; he looked for stories everywhere. Even in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, a tragedy that turns 19 this month. He wrote about big and beautiful and devastating and terrible things, each of which comes from life. Doyle read/heard

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Catch and Share Stories

r Fo lity l i l Ca ilab a Av

what we were, to believe against such evil hourly evidence that love is why we are here.”

Like so many of Doyle’s stories, you walk away, changed. He can find and illuminate profound moments even in the face of horror.

And he can take the everyday aspects of life, like being a parent, and elevate them in a way that can change our way of seeing: “It seems to me that angels and bodhisattvas are available everywhere for consultation if we can 54

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Catch and Share Stories

the muddy hilarious peewee soccer game is to be graced beyond measure or understanding.”

Brian Doyle may never be a household name. He might not be mentioned in the same breath as Hemingway, Emerson or Maya Angelou. I think he’d be fine with that.

But Doyle may help us excavate our daily lives in a way that moments have more meaning, people’s stories shine more brightly than their usefulness, and we might see that it is through stories that we are all connected.

Among Doyle’s many books, one is titled A Book of Uncommon Prayer: 100 Celebrations of the Miracle and Muddle of the Ordinary. In it, he holds up people and events most of us would never think

only see them clear; they are unadorned, and joyous, and patient, and radiant, and luminous, and not disguised or hidden or filtered in any way whatsoever, so that if you see them clearly, which happens occasionally even to the most blinkered and frightened of us, you realize… that they are your teachers, and they are agents of unimaginable love, and they are your cousins and companions in awe, and they are miracles and prayers and songs of inexplicable beauty whom no one can explain and no one can own or claim or trammel, and that to be the one appointed to tow them along a beach, or a crowd, or home through the brilliant morning from

56

the importance of his calling as someone who caught and shared stories.

“We’re only here for a minute, we’re here for a little window. And to use that time to catch and share shards of light and laughter and grace seems to me the great story.”

about in terms of prayer, as with Prayer for the Men & Women who Huddle Inside Vast Rain Slickers All Day Holding Up STOP Signs at Construction Sites & Never Appear to Shriek in Desperation & Exhaustion. We pass by people doing jobs like that every single day. Speaking for myself, most of the time, I am too busy or preoccupied to think about their lives, their loves, their pains, their patience and the things they are dealing with. But what if, even if for a few times a day, I took the time to look with empathy toward someone I might not have seen or thought about? How would that change my world? And might it change the world?

In another talk, Doyle explained

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Beautiful Botanicals in Dagsboro by Tracey F. Johns

The new Delaware Botanic Gardens in Dagsboro, Delaware, provde a place to step away from Covid’s darkness to experience the ever-changing vibrant colors and relaxing effects of nature. More than 80,000 plants ~ the majority of which are native to Delaware and coastal plains regions ~ bounce light and add fragrance as you meander two miles of paths connecting meadows and natural forests for a soul-filling experience along Pepper Creek.

A trip to the Gardens also delivers the earthy scents of salt marshes and the sounds of numerous birds, along with the sights of butterf lies, dragonf lies, turtles, frogs, otters and more. A rustic Welcome Center with a large outdoor deck brings conveniences and a gift shop to the site, along with plenty of benches and shady spots along the pathways. Children will appreciate the giant birds’ nests and other interactives, and adults will appreciate the ADA-compliant

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Botanicals in Dagsboro paths and amenities. The average visit takes about an hour to an hour and a half, with the gardens’ opening hours and admission rates posted to their website.

The Rhyne Garden greets guests along a large parking area while helping to mitigate rainwater and runoff with 12,000 newly planted false indigo, conef lower and bee balm plants. The Welcome Center takes you to the Piet Oudolf-designed Meadow Garden, offering 2 acres of native plants and hundreds of pollinators attracted to their changing beauty, with terrific views from the garden’s raised center. Beach lovers enjoy the coastal

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Botanicals in Dagsboro

The 12-acre Woodland Gardens continue along Pepper Creek, with gentle breezes wafting along the wide paths that meander through a series of smaller featured gardens.

The Woodland Edge Garden leads back to the meadows and the areas set aside for future gardens.

What’s remarkable about the gardens isn’t just their beauty; it’s the work and dedication of the more than 250 volunteers who are now joining together like a close-knit extended family in the early morning hours and every week to tend to all the weeding, planting and other maintenance it takes to keep the gardens looking their best. Volunteer docents help guide guests, while the DBG website has an impressive virtual garden for selfguided tours.

Volunteers donated more than 23,000 hours of service to DBG in 2019. They work under the guidance of Deputy Executive Director and Director of Horticulture Brian Trader, Ph.D., who previously worked at Longwood Gardens.

Trader holds a doctorate in horticulture, a master’s degree in life sciences and a bachelor’s degree in horticulture, all from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. He was chair of the Membership Advisory Council, National Association of Landscape Professionals, and is currently a board member of the American Society for Horticultural Science.

plants and recreated landscapes of the Inland Dune Gardens, with the Learning Garden and its freshwater pond offering a space for wetland education, conservation and preservation.

Tucked into the shade where the property’s original homestead existed is a peaceful Folly Garden, bringing a sense of whimsy and plants honoring the property to your nature experience. The Knoll Garden offers the property’s highest point and leads to picturesque views along the banks of Pepper Creek.

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“We came together to build a garden, and what we’ve done is built a community,” said DBG Executive Director Sheryl Swed.

“During the early stages of the pandemic, we had two months without volunteers here to help, and that was hard on our three employees.

But now, we’ve caught up.”

The 37-acre site was once a bare soybean field and is now operated by the nonprofit on a long-term lease and protected through a Sussex County Land Trust. The gardens opened in September 2019 after years of planning, fundraising and volunteer work, and concluded its first season in November. The Covid pandemic stalled DBG’s March reopening, with volunteers

returning in June and the gardens reopening to members in mid-July.

Numerous online reviews from DBG’s first three months of opening indicate the Gardens’ visionaries were spot-on in delivering a place to explore nature and embrace gardening.

“Beautiful gardens highlighting Delaware’s natural landscapes.

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Botanicals in Dagsboro

more information about Delaware Botanic Gardens, go to delawaregardens.org.

Now open to the public and led by enthusiastic volunteers, it is well worth visiting!” said Jordan Higgins in a Google review.

“Provides excellent walking paths in woods and garden, said Michael Ratway in his Google review. “Well-staffed with volunteers. Takes an hour or more to walk the work in progress.”

Swed says DBG’s Board of Directors and Advisory Council have further plans for the gardens, including a new meadow pavilion, expanded bathrooms and more opportunities for people to preserve their legacy at DBG through naming opportunities. For updates and

Tracey Johns is a storyteller, engaging local, regional and national audiences through her words and photography. She has worked in communications, marketing and business management for more than 30 years, including non-profit leadership. Tracey’s work is focused on public and constituent relations, along with communication strategies, positioning and brand development and project management.

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Autumn Gold It’s time to crank up your oven for dishes in rich, rustic hues. These sweet potato recipes celebrate fall color in your kitchen! Nutritionally speaking, sweet potatoes are even better than an apple a day. If it’s apple season, that means it’s also sweet potato season.

Many times, we limit our sweet potato experiences to those su-

per-sweet, marshmallow-topped Thanksgiving dish, that is covered with marshmallows, but thanks to our expanding knowledge of sweet potatoes’ health benefits, we are learning new ways to enjoy this powerhouse. Let’s start with fiber, beta-carotene, vitamin A (more than 700% of your daily value) and potassium. A sweet potato has 4

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Tidewater Kitchen

sweet potatoes are good for gut health, which seems to be the key to many other health benefits for your body.

Another plus to eating sweet potatoes is that they contain beta carotene, which is converted to vitamin A in your body and is good for your vision. Vitamin A is great for your immune system, which is especially important these days.

Sweet potatoes are readily available all year round, but they are freshest and at their best from August through October, when they tend to come straight from the fields. They will keep well in a cool, dry place and should not be refrigerated. The deep orange ones that f lourish in sandy southern soils

grams of protein. It also has carbs, but complex carbs that will keep you full, and it is packed with antioxidants. Because of the fiber,

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ange juice, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. No added sugar necessary.

Roast chunks of sweet potatoes on a sheet pan by tossing with olive oil, salt and pepper for a delicious side dish.

Sweet potatoes and black beans are a good combination for filling tacos or quesadillas.

CREAMY SPINACH with SWEET POTATO NOODLES and CASHEW SAUCE This is a creamy non-dairy sauce.

are moister than their drier, yellow and white f leshed cousins.

Here are a few quick ideas to get you started: Mashed sweet potatoes ~ peel, boil and mash with orange juice or milk and seasonings.

Sweet potato toast ~ cut thin cooked slices and arrange on toast.

Top with nut butter or avocado for a powerful breakfast or snack.

Spiralize it, sautĂŠ in olive oil with a little garlic and top the noodles with anything you want.

Add sweet potatoes in baked goods to add moisture without fat.

Use coconut, olive or avocado oil to help your body absorb the betacarotene.

Mash sweet potatoes with cooked turnip for a side dish.

Mash sweet potatoes and add chunks of cooked apples or applesauce.

Mash sweet potatoes with or-

1 cup cashews 3/4 cup water 1/2 t. sea salt

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is too sticky. Season with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil and top with basil leaves.

Use the remaining sauce for a second batch of sweet potatoes and spinach.

SPICY SWEET POTATO BREAD This dense, moist sweet potato bread can be dressed up with raisins and walnuts.

2 medium or 1 very large orangef leshed sweet potato (about 1-1/2 cups mashed) 3 T. water 2 large eggs 1/2 cup expeller pressed canola oil 1/4 cup buttermilk or Greek yogurt 1 t. vanilla 1-3/4 cups f lour 1-1/4 cups sugar 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed 2 t. baking soda 1 T. ground cinnamon

2 cloves garlic 1 T. olive or avocado oil 4 orange-f leshed sweet potatoes, spiralized 2 cups baby spinach 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves Sea salt and freshly ground pepper Olive oil for drizzling Cover cashews with water in a bowl and soak for 2 plus hours.

Drain and rinse.

Place cashews in a food processor or blender and add 3/4 cup water, salt and garlic. PureĂŠ until smooth.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the sweet potatoes; toss in the pan for 7 minutes until crisp-tender. Remove from heat and toss in spinach.

Add half of the herbs and half of the sauce to the pan and toss to combine. Add water if mixture 70

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Pour batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake for 60-70 minutes in the 9x5 loaf pan or until the top is domed and golden and a cake tester comes out clean.

Tent the pan with foil in the last 15 minutes of cooking if the top is browning too much. 8x4 loaves should take 40-45 minutes; the Bundt about 1 hour; and muffins 20 minutes. Always test for doneness with a cake tester.

Allow bread to cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to cool. Keeps at room temperature about 1 week.

1 t. ground ginger 1 t. ground nutmeg 1/2 t. ground allspice 1/2 t. ground cloves Preheat oven to 350°. Spray one 9x5-inch loaf pan or two 8x4-inch loaf pans or a 10-cup Bundt pan, or grease and f lour a muffin pan. Set aside.

Peel the sweet potatoes and chop them into 1-inch chunks. Bring water to a boil in a vegetable steamer.

Put the sweet potatoes in the steamer basket, cover and steam for 20 minutes or until done. Pour off any water, mash sweet potatoes with a fork. Allow to cool a bit so you don’t scramble the eggs! To the sweet potatoes, add the eggs, oil, buttermilk and vanilla and whisk until combined. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the f lour, sugars, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice and cloves and stir to incorporate well. Add the sweet potato mixture and stir well, but do not over mix.

SWEET POTATO SALAD Serves 8 If you think nothing can take the place of your favorite traditional potato salad, wait until you try this one. The combination of sweet potatoes, dried fruits and nuts in a mustard vinaigrette is amazing!

It’s a natural for a Thanksgiving buffet, but make it a day ahead so the f lavors can develop.

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4 orange-f leshed sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice 1 T. Dijon mustard 1/4 cup cider vinegar 1/4 cup honey 1/3 cup expeller pressed canola oil 2/3 cup diced red onion 1/2 cup dried cranberries 1/3 cup dried currants 2/3 cup pecans, coarsely chopped and lightly toasted (see note) Bring water to a boil in a vegetable steamer. Put the sweet potatoes in the steamer basket, cover and steam until just fork-tender, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk the mustard, vinegar, honey and oil together in a small bowl until smooth.

In a large bowl, combine the red onion, cranberries and currants.

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2 medium orange-f leshed sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2inch cubes 1 T. olive oil 1 t. kosher salt 1/4 t. freshly ground pepper 4 slices thick-cut bacon, chopped 1 medium Vidalia onion, chopped 6 cloves garlic, minced 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/2-inch cubes 1/2 t. dried thyme 1 t. ground cinnamon 2 cups organic chicken stock

Add the steamed sweet potatoes along with the honey mustard dressing and toss to coat evenly.

Chill for 1 hour before serving.

Just before serving, toss in the pecans.

Note: To toast the pecans, scatter them in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake in a preheated 350° oven until lightly colored for 5 to 7 minutes.

ROASTED SWEET POTATOES, BRUSSELS SPROUTS and APPLES Serves 4 to 6 What a great fall combination!

Preheat oven to 475°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, combine Brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes. Drizzle olive oil over vegetables and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss by hand until oil is evenly distributed. Place vegetables on baking sheet and roast for 15 to 20 minutes, until tender. Remove from oven and set aside.

In a large heavy skillet or castiron skillet, brown chopped bacon on medium-high heat 5 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the bacon and drain on a paper towel. Add the chopped onions to the bacon renderings and cook until onions are translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and stir.

Reduce skillet heat to medium.

Add the apples, thyme and cinnamon to the onion-garlic mixture.

Cook for 10 minutes or until the apples are just tender. Add chicken

3/4 pound Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved (about 2 cups)

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1 onion, peeled and thinly sliced 2 large orange-f leshed sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced 1 to 2 t. sea salt Freshly ground pepper to taste 4 cups organic chicken stock 3 cups milk (coconut or almond milk work, too) 1/2 cup minced fresh chives, or 2

stock, Brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add additional salt to taste. Pour into a large serving bowl and top with crispy bacon.

WARM SWEET POTATO VICHYSSOISE Balanced with leeks and onions, this warm version of the French classic is an elegant starter for fall entertaining. Finish each serving with a scattering of minced fresh chives or, for an unconventional touch, crushed cumin seeds.

4 T. (1/2 stick) butter 4 large leeks, white parts only, well washed and thinly sliced

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Tidewater Kitchen t. whole cumin seeds, toasted and crushed to a coarse powder (for garnish) Melt the butter in a large heavy soup pot over medium heat. Add the leeks and onion, and sauté over medium-high heat until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the potatoes, sprinkle with the salt and continue to sauté for another two minutes.

Add the stock and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes.

Allow to cool. Place in a food processor or blender, or use an immersion blender to puree the soup.

Note: A handheld immersion blender is a soup maker’s dream appliance. You can puree the soup in a freezer container or right in the pot.

It sure beats washing the food processor or traditional blender!

A steady hand and a sharp knife will do the job, but you will get consistent slices far more quickly with a mandolin or a food processor fitted with a thin slicing blade. Each potato yields just the right number of slices to cover a large baking sheet, so work in batches for the best results.

3 orange-f leshed sweet potatoes, unpeeled and scrubbed 2 T. olive oil 3/4 t. kosher salt Preheat the oven to 400°. Using a mandolin-style slicer, cut the potatoes into 1/8-inch-thick slices (resist the temptation to slice much thinner as the chips will burn too quickly.

Blot the slices between paper towels.

OVEN-BAKED SWEET POTATO CHIPS Makes about 70 chips

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(about 12 ounces) 2 russet potatoes (1 pound total) 6 scallions, white and light green parts, finely chopped 1 t. fresh thyme, minced 2 eggs, lightly beaten 2 T. f lour 1 t. sea salt Freshly ground pepper to taste 1/3 cup peanut oil

Lightly wipe a large baking sheet with 2 teaspoons olive oil and spread a single layer of potato slices on the sheet. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and bake, turning once, until toasted to a dapple brown color with crisp and curly edges, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove, and set aside to cool (the chips will continue to crisp as they cool). Repeat with the remaining potato slices. If not devoured immediately, they will keep well in an airtight plastic bag for 2-3 days.

TWO-POTATO PANCAKES Potato pancakes are divine, but add the rich color and f lavor of sweet potatoes and you have something really spectacular. Grating the potatoes in a food processor is not only quick and efficient, but it also yields the crispiest pancakes.

Serve the pancakes in the fall with roast chicken or pork, or top them with crème fraiche or sour cream and minced chives as a main course with a tossed green salad.

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Tidewater Kitchen

few at a time, over high heat until golden brown and crisp, 1 to 2 minutes per side.

Remove the pancakes with a slotted spatula or a skimmer and place on paper towels to drain.

Transfer to an ovenproof platter and keep warm in the oven while you cook the rest.

Preheat the oven to 200°. Peel and coarsely grate the potatoes, using a food processor fitted with the shredding blade that has the largest holes, or on the largest holes on a box grater. Toss in a large bowl with the scallions and thyme. Add the eggs, f lour, salt and pepper; stir with a fork until moistened and thoroughly combined. The mixture will be wet but not runny.

Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet or countertop griddle over high heat. When the oil is hot (a drop of the potato mixture should sizzle immediately), add ¼ cup amounts of the mixture, f lattening to form 4-inch disks. Cook, a

A longtime resident of Oxford, Pamela Meredith, formerly Denver’s NBC Channel 9 Children’s Chef, now teaches both adult and children’s cooking classes on the south shore of Massachusetts.

For more of Pam’s recipes, visit the Story Archive tab at tidewatertimes.com.

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TIDEWATER GARDENING

by K. Marc Teffeau, Ph.D.

Bulb Planting Time September is the month we start planting spring-f lowering bulbs in the landscape. Bulbs are easy to plant and require minimal care. In return, they reward us with beautiful displays of color in spring. You can purchase bulbs online and at local retail and garden centers. I have found that varieties available

at retail centers can be somewhat limited, so if you’re looking for unique bulb colors and forms, be sure to check online. Also, don’t stick with just the “major” bulbs like tulips, daffodils and hyacinths. Consider planting some of the “minor” bulbs like Siberian squill, common snowdrop, check-

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Tidewater Gardening

their small f lower and foliage size as compared to the “major” bulbs.

The home gardener can adopt a few basic practices to ensure success for spring-f lowering bulbs.

First, good soil drainage is essential. Sandy soils are best, but if you have heavy clay soil, don’t lose heart. Amend heavy soils with organic matter like compost, peat moss or aged pine bark to improve drainage. Bulbs are heavy feeders of phosphorus and potash, so use a fertilizer that is higher in these two elements than in nitrogen. The standard 5-10-5 or 5-10-10 chemical fertilizers work well, or use a fertilizer labeled for bulbs. Bone meal used to be recommended as a bulb fertilizer, but I would not rec-

ered lily, winter aconite, crocus, glory-of-the-snow and Grecian windf lower. These bulb species are considered “minor” because of

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Tidewater Gardening ommend it because its smell can attract squirrels, dogs and mice looking for bones.

Second, it’s essential to plant the bulbs at the right depth to get the best f lower display. A good rule of thumb is to plant large bulbs (tulips, narcissi and hyacinths two inches or more in diameter) eight inches deep and three to 10 inches apart. Smaller bulbs like crocus, grape hyacinth, scilla or galanthus (one inch or smaller in diameter) should be placed five inches deep and spaced one to two inches apart.

Another guide is to plant bulbs at a depth of two to three times the diameter for larger bulbs (two inches or more in diameter) and three to four times the diameter for smaller bulbs. Remember to plant the bulbs pointy side up! If you can’t tell the top from the bot-

tom, plant it on its side and the emerging stem will grow upward.

After planting, it is crucial to water generously to get root growth started. For bed plantings,

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should be planted in our area before the first hard frost in fall. This ensures that the bulbs develop a sound root system in the fall. If you find yourself with unplanted bulbs after the cold weather has arrived, plant them anyway. They won’t keep indoors, but if you put them in the ground, they may surprise you and f lower in spring.

There are also a few general landscape design tips you can follow to produce the most effective spring bulb f lower display. First, group bulbs together to achieve masses of color. If you put masses of color together, you gain a more stunning effect. Use masses of bulbs grouped together by color to create geometric shapes in a bed. Most

it’s good to add two to three inches of mulch, like pine bark, in late November. Mulching keeps the bulbs cool in the event of uneven temperatures and helps prevent frost heave (soil movement caused by successive freezing and thawing).

The mulch will also help keep the soil from drying out.

Fourth, plant bulbs as soon as possible after bringing them home from the store or receiving them in the mail. If you can’t plant them right away, store them in a cool, dry place. Bulbs are not dormant like seeds. They are living plants, and too much heat can kill them.

Too much moisture can cause rotor fungus problems.

As a rule, spring-f lowering bulbs

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create your planting with an eye for how they will look from both far away and nearby. Don’t forget that you can plant bulbs in attractive containers to provide colorful accents to driveways, sidewalks, terraces and porches.

September is a good month to work on perennial f lower beds in the landscape. Dig, divide and replant overcrowded beds of cannas, daylilies, violets, iris and Shasta daisies. Perennial phlox can also be moved now. Every third or fourth year, divide big clumps into thirds. In the perennial bed, spread a liberal amount of organic matter and 5-10-5 or 5-10-10 fertilizer evenly over the area. Mix this into the soil at least six to eight inches deep. Space the divided pe-

homeowners plant their bulbs in rows like soldiers. Consider planting them in odd number groups ~ five, seven, or nine bulbs together ~ to get a better mass effect.

Second, plant low-growing bulbs, such as grape hyacinths, in front of higher-growing bulbs such as tulips. This creates a “double-decker� effect with a carpet of one color underneath and another, taller color on top.

Third, plan your plantings like a painting ~ group pleasing complementary colors together to draw the eye with spacing and color. You can also plant contrasting colors like red and yellow for an excellent visual effect. Finally,

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low ground level. Deeper planting keeps the plants from blooming.

If you have caladiums, the cool nights in mid-September will cause them to begin to lose leaves.

Dig up the tubers, allow to dry and then store in a warm, dry place for next year’s planting. To fill their spot, consider chrysanthemums.

Mums can be transplanted while in bloom, which makes them useful for instant landscapes in early autumn.

Dig the plants carefully several hours or the next day after a thorough watering, retaining as much of the root system as possible.

Gently loosen a small amount of soil from the exposed roots. Plant the f lower clump in the ground

rennials at least one foot apart in all directions so that root competition won’t be a problem for several years.

Plant peonies now, but make sure the crowns are buried only an inch and a half to two inches be-

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and water thoroughly with halfstrength liquid fertilizer solution to help “jump-start” the plants and to help settle them in. As with any transplanting, it’s best to do this early in the morning or late evening when temperatures are cool. Monitor plants carefully for several days for wilting, and shade brief ly during the heat of the day.

Don’t forget about the opportunity for a fall vegetable garden Plant spinach, lettuce, kale, turnips in September as your last crops of the year. Soak seed furrows well before sowing seed, and mulch lightly. Water the rows daily to promote the germination and growth of young seedlings.

vegetables adequately in fall. Crops such as corn, pepper, squash, and tomato will not fully mature if stressed due to lack of water As the tomato growing season winds down, pick off all tomato blossoms that will not have time to bear fruit so that plant nutrients go into existing tomatoes. You can harvest tomatoes that are still green and store them for four to six weeks. They will gradually ripen to a nice red color. The best storage conditions are about 60° with a moderately moist atmosphere.

Harvest the tomatoes in a firm, ripe condition before frost. Remove the stems to prevent puncturing other fruits. It is important that you wash the dirt off the fruit

Keep an eye out for cabbage looper worms on your cole crops like broccoli, cabbage and caulif lower. If you start to see holes in the plant leaves, you have cabbage loopers. Either handpick these pests or use a Bt spray like Dipel to control them. Be sure to water 89

Tidewater Gardening

fruit every week to remove those that ripen or start to decay. You can speed up the tomato ripening process by placing them in a paper bag with a banana or apple. These fruits give off ethylene gas, which will help with the ripening process.

Keep basil, parsley, garlic, mint and sage producing by pinching off the f lowers. Herbs can be used fresh, frozen or dried. When the dew dries, cut a few stems, tie a strong cord around this little bouquet and hang in a cool, dry place until fully dry. Place in a jar for use during the winter.

rather than wiping it off. Wiping causes skin scratches, which leaves the fruit susceptible to decay. If your storage location is quite dry, place the tomatoes in plastic film bags or film-lined boxes to increase the humidity.

Sort the

Winter-type pumpkins and squash, such as acorn, butternut and spaghetti squash, keep for several months in a cool, medium-dry basement, garage or tool shed. Allow the fruit to ripen fully on the vine, and cure in the sun to form a hard rind. Harvest before frost, and leave a piece of stem on each when you cut them from the vine.

If the f loor in the storage area is damp, elevate the squash to reduce the possibility of rot. The best storage temperature is about 60°.

September is an excellent time

Historic

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rows, carefully apply a non-selective herbicide to the vines. Take extra precautions not to get any herbicide on the foliage or green stems of f lowers, trees and shrubs.

For poison ivy that has invaded the lawn, apply a broadleaf lawn weed killer with poison ivy listed on the label. As with all herbicides, read and follow the label instructions carefully.

Happy Gardening!

to get poison ivy under control. If you’re one of those unfortunate individuals who are very suspectable to poison ivy, now is the time to get your revenge on this pest. In late summer and early fall, the vines are slowing down their growth and moving carbohydrates from the leaves down into the roots for the winter. Herbicides applied to the plant will take advantage of the process and be absorbed into the roots.

Using an herbicide now also works well for other tough weeds like Canadian thistle and mugwort. If the poison ivy is growing in landscape beds or along fence

Marc Teffeau retired as Director of Research and Regulatory Affairs at the American Nursery and Landscape Association in Washington, D.C. He now lives in Georgia with his wife, Linda.

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Dorchester Map and History

Š John Norton

Dorchester County is known as the Heart of the Chesapeake. It is rich in Chesapeake Bay history, folklore and tradition. With 1,700 miles of shoreline (more than any other Maryland county), marshlands, working boats, quaint waterfront towns and villages among fertile farm fields – much still exists of what is the authentic Eastern Shore landscape and traditional way of life along the Chesapeake.

For more information about Dorchester County visit https://tidewatertimes.com/travel-tourism/dorchester/.

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Lest We Forget by A.M. Foley

Near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, a bridge connects Gwynn’s Island to Mathews County, Virginia, where a merchant mariner tradition survives from colonial days ~ “water-faring,” as it’s called. In a recent Tidewater Times, while musing on how to properly spell and punctuate island names such as Gwynn’s, I admired the perseverance of the late Mrs. Eleanor Respess. Mrs. Respess is credited with gaining her island its full due on maps, complete with an apostrophe and the letter “s.” So, when I recently chanced upon a picture of Mrs. Respess, she seemed an old friend.

The photo shows Mrs. Respess at Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard in Baltimore, about to christen the World War II Liberty ship John Russell Pope. She’s abloom with a lavish corsage, her left arm cradling a dozen red roses, her right hand gripping a bottle of champagne. The trace of a smile on her face ref lects no doubt of a successful launch of the vessel looming above her.

The 1943 christening celebrated the second anniversary of the first Liberty ship’s launching. Incredibly, after those two years, the Pope

was the shipyard’s two hundred and twelfth Liberty ship. These cargo vessels, created to carry crucial material to war-torn Europe, were designed to be simple, inexpensive and quickly buildable ~ almost expendable.

The United States had become embroiled in the Second World War two months after Baltimore’s

The Thomas McKean, whose captain, Mellin Respess, had survived several ship sinkings by German Uboats, came under attack by U-505 in the Atlantic.

Photo courtesy of the Gwynn’s Island Museum.

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Lest We Forget

“We could see the dark shadows of dunes, with lights here and there . . . even cars and people and lighted houses. . . . These Americans didn’t seem to know there was a war going on!” Admiral King’s seeming inattention drew pressure from President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill as ship losses mounted, sinking vital materials as well as crewmen.

The admiral maintained that a cargo ship best eluded U-boats by sailing alone, trusting to luck, rather than in a convoy. One desperate ship’s carpenter mounted wooden guns, painting his faux defenses gray, but his tanker got torpedoed anyway. By March 1942, forty tankers had been sunk. Oil

first Liberty launch. Germany quickly dispatched U-boats in Operation Drumbeat to hunt U. S. shipping along the East Coast and in the Gulf and the Caribbean. Following Pearl Harbor, the Navy’s crusty commander-in-chief, Admiral Ernest King, had his hands full with military losses. Non-military merchant seamen were left easy prey to enemy torpedoes.

Early in the war, commercial interests and civilians resisted the inconvenience of a blackout. Consequently, a ship plowing between a U-boat and shore lights was backlit, easily spotted and targeted. One U-boat kapitan reported,

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St. Michaels Map and History

© John Norton

On the broad Miles River, with its picturesque tree-lined streets and beautiful harbor, St. Michaels has been a haven for boats plying the Chesapeake and its inlets since the earliest days. Here, some of the handsomest models of the Bay craft, such as canoes, bugeyes, pungys and some famous Baltimore Clippers, were designed and built. The Church, named “St. Michael’s,” was the first building erected (about 1677) and around it clustered the town that took its name.

For a walking tour and more history of the St. Michaels area visit https://tidewatertimes.com/travel-tourism/st-michaels-maryland/.

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Lest We Forget executives went to Admiral King, who agreed to install real guns and assign a small contingent of U. S. Navy Armed Guards to civilian tankers. Instead of ordering a coastal blackout, the admiral issued a half-hearted request for voluntary “dimouts.” Despite explosions and massive fires visible at coastal resorts, the admiral’s dimout suggestion didn’t take.

A successful airman’s terse report was widely quoted: “Sighted sub. Sank same.” Navy personnel newly assigned to cargo ships adapted the slogan to “Sighted sub.

Glub, glub, glub.” None succeeded in sinking a U-boat with a deck gun.

After sinking a ship, a U-boat captain often surfaced to engage surviving crewmen adrift in a lifeboat or raft. Typically he asked their lost ship’s name, cargo, and destination. Despite orders to go no further, a captain often offered survivors drinking water, rations and cigarettes, and provided first aid supplies. He might point them to the nearest land, or even offer to tow them closer. Dialogues ranged from an apologetic katpitan making small talk about the Brooklyn Dodgers, to an ardent Nazi lecturing on the virtues of Adolf Hitler. *** Before one year of war ended, Mrs. Respess represented many Mathews County widows. She was singular only because her husband, Captain Mellin Respess, had been torpedoed three times, in three different ships, losing his life as a passenger aboard the third, Onondaga, a small, slow cargo ship captained by his neighbor, George Dewey Hodges.

The Onondaga was sunk off Cuba on July 23, 1942 by U-129 as the German submarine returned to Europe for resupply.

Kapitan Hans-Ludwin Witt had already sunk eight cargo ships in four weeks, but saved one torpedo in case he chanced on an inviting target. When he sighted the Onondaga leaving Cuba, five Mathews County men were aboard, four of

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Lest We Forget whom would be killed, including Captains Hodges and Respess.

Witt’s ninth sinking in four weeks earned the kapitan an Iron Cross.

Two Onondaga crewmen from Mathews County, Second Officer Genious Hudgins Jr. and Bo’sun William Hammond, had been torpedoed once before; Captain Respess twice. He had been unhurt in the loss of the Oakmar, but hospitalized in San Juan, Puerto Rico, after the Thomas McKean’s loss, followed by two weeks in a lifeboat. Released to travel home, the genial veteran mariner passed up one ship to sail as a passenger under his friend Dewey Hodges,

perhaps to be of some use. Respess was last seen cutting lashings to release a life raft. Hodges was last seen descending the ladder from his bridge.

According to Third Officer Russell Dennis, the lone Mathews survivor of the Onondaga, with her heavy load of magnesium ore, “She went down like a brick.”

Communications were spotty at that stage of the war, but the Onondaga could have joined a convoy passing the same way. Other news that apparently never reached Captain Hodges was the loss of his brother, Leslie Hodges, from the Oneida, off the Cuban coast eleven days earlier. When a torpedo struck the Oneida, her captain advised

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Lest We Forget Leslie Hodges not to search crew quarters for the cook, but he went anyway and was not seen again.

One day after the Onondaga sinking, a Cuban fisherman’s rudimentary gear hooked a six-foot shark. When he boated the shark

and gutted it, he found that the stomach contained a human hand wearing a large gold signet ring belonging to Captain Dewey Hodges.

The fisherman took his discovery to authorities in Havana.

News spread along the dock until it reached an acquaintance of Captain Hodges, and, eventually, Mathews County. Dewey’s father, Captain Jesse Hodges, returned home from a voyage to learn that two of his seven sons had been lost. Within days, Captain Jesse was summonsed to ship out again.

He responded with an indomitable courage common and unmentioned among Mathews seamen. ***

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Oxford Map and History

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Oxford is one of the oldest towns in Maryland. Although already settled for perhaps 20 years, Oxford Oxford Bellevue Ferry marks the year 1683 177 166 as its official founding, 155 nd Stra St. 144 for in that year Oxford The 133 was first named by n a 18 8 19 9 hm Tilg the Maryland General k e e Assembly as a seaport Cr 122 St. n and was laid out as a son il W 11 East town. In 1694, OxSt. lair St. t nc 10 e Si rk St. Ma ford and a new town Oxford 9 t.

Park hS called Anne Arundel son Hig 8 Richard .

St (now Annapolis) were n Divisio St. selected the only ports of entry for the entire i Town Rd. non . eek Cr e B Ave Maryland province. n 3 isio t.

Until the American S Div W. 2 Revolution, Oxford 1 t.

S ne enjoyed prominence roli 7 ad Ro Ca d 333 Oxfor To Easton as an international Pleasant Oxford St. Community shipping center surCenter Hbr. Robes t.

4 C rounded by wealthy E. Pier St. Pier St. tobacco plantations.

Oxford Today, Oxford is a Š John Norton 6 5 charming tree-lined and waterbound village with a population of just over 700 and is still important in boat building and yachting. It has a protected harbor for watermen who harvest oysters, crabs, clams and fish, and for sailors from all over the Bay. For a walking tour and more history visit https://tidewatertimes. com/travel-tourism/oxford-maryland/.

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Oxford Business Association September Calendar Sept. 3 – Painting and Transfers Class. 5:30-7:30 pm; $36; The Treasure Chest, 111 S. Morris St. Limited to 3 participants, social distancing, mask required. For more info., go to www.treasurechestoxford.com Sept. 5 – Cars and Coffee & Community “Open House 9-11:30 a.m. – Cars & Coffee in the front, and a Community Open House on the side lawn. Oxford nonprofits and businesses will have information tables. Come meet, grab a coffee and learn more about what Oxford has to offer. Oxford Community Center. Masks, Social Distancing mandatory.

Sept. 6 - Oxford Artists 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. – Enjoy an outdoor “Pop-Up Exhibit and Sale” featuring the artists of Oxford. Free. Masks and Social Distancing mandatory. Oxford Community Center. Masks, Social Distancing mandatory.

Sept. 6 – Oxford Dog Parade and Awards - 5:00 p.m. –Celebrate our four-legged friends and meet our charity partner organization, the Wendy B. Ranch Rescue Foundation, that helps senior dogs get adopted and dogs re-homed that have lost their owners. Oxford Community Center. Masks, Social Distancing mandatory. www.oxfordcc.org.

Sept. 10 - ZOOM Speaker - 5:30 p.m. - “Camino Presentation with Meredith Watters” on her architecture walk from France to Spain. A 5½ week pilgrimage through portions of central and southern France, ending in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Presented by the Oxford Community Center. Register at www.oxfordcc.org to receive the zoom invite.

Sept. 14 – Beginner Chalk Mineral Painting Class. 5:30 – 8:30 pm; $45, includes supplies. The Treasure Chest, 111 S. Morris St.; Limited to 3 participants, social distancing, mask required. For more info or sign up, go to www.treasurechestoxford.com.

Sept. 17 - Virtual Mixology Class on OCC Facebook Live at 5 pm. Join G.L. Fronk as he demonstrates several summer drinks you can make at home. Recipes will be on OxfordCC.org in advance, ingredients available at The Oxford Market. Tasting @ OCC is welcome with social distancing and masks. Limited to first 10 people to RSVP by calling 410-226-5904.

Sept. 19 –Inaugural Oxford Community Center Road Rally (rain date 9/20/20). A beautiful 62-mile drive through the countryside. Continental breakfast at OCC, gourmet box lunch in Chestertown. Auction of Original Watercolor by Polly Cox online now, winner revealed at lunch. Five private commissions also available. $50 Registration, plus $20 for lunch. RSVP no later than 9/5/20 limited to 50 cars.

Register at www.oxfordcc.org or call 410-226-5904 for more info.

Sept. 24 – Intermediate Furniture Painting Class – Go beyond just painting to learn how to use waxes and color blending. Materials provided. 10% off any paint or supplies purchased the night of the class. 5:30 – 8:30 pm; $45; The Treasure Chest, 111 S. Morris St.; Limited to 3 participants, social distancing, mask required. For more info or sign up, go to www.treasurechestoxford.com.

Sept. 26 – Oxford Business Assoc. Picket Fence Auction – 5 p.m. - An outdoor exhibit and auction at Oxford Community Center. Bring your own chair, masks and social distancing req. All fence sales contribute to local charities. See them around town or online now at www.portofoxford.com.

Check www.portofoxford.com calendar for event updates ONGOING… at OCC: Core & More Fitness Rx with Mark Cuviello – every Mon & Wed, 10:30 am; classes will be held outdoors; $12/class Steady & Strong Virtual Exercise Class w/Janet Pfeffer - Tues. & Thurs; 10:15 am; Registration required to get zoom link. Call 410.226.5904; $60/10 classes; $10 drop-in Intermediate Yoga with Suzie Hurley - Saturdays 9:30 – 11 am; Socially distanced or outdoors; bring your own equipment. Advance registration required, 410.226.5904 Beginner/Adv. Beginner Yoga with Suzie Hurley - Mondays 1 – 2:45 pm; Socially distanced or outdoors; bring your own equipment. Advance registration required, 410.226.5904

Oxford Business Association ~ portofoxford.com 109

Lest We Forget If mariners are unusually superstitious, it is understandable. Captain Lewis P. Borum of Gwynn’s Island was twice torpedoed: in the First World War on the freighter City of Memphis, and in the Second World War on the troopship City of Birmingham. (He was credited with saving men adrift in lifeboats on other occasions in both wars.)

Captain Walter Hudgins and his First Officer Harold Davis, both of Gwynn’s Island, survived two Uboat sinkings together. In March 1942, four days after her sister ship Mary was sunk, they were torpedoed aboard the Barbara on their way to Cuba. Two months after los-

ing Barbara, Hudgins commanded the freighter Elizabeth when she was torpedoed within a hundred miles of Barbara’s resting place.

(Hudgins and Davis were the last to leave both ships and each successfully took charge of lifeboats of survivors.)

A mystery never solved involved Paul Grubb of Mathews. He was first officer of the freighter Delisle the night her bow struck a mine, the force of which blew the foremast into the bridge. The captain was knocked unconscious and pinned under the mast. Striking a match, Grubb and another crewman discovered the mast held their captain by a wooden leg. After unstrapping the prosthesis,

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they carried him down and lowered him into a life raft. His leg was retrieved, but the force of a wave washed it overboard. While the captain recuperated from broken bones and pneumonia in a St. Johns, Newfoundland, hospital, a gift-wrapped package arrived, inexplicably containing his lost leg.

It is superstition that dictates a bottle of spirits be broken on a ship’s hull on her initial launching: Deprived of her christening drink, she might thirst for the blood of those aboard. So, in honor of Captain Mellin Respess, his widow was selected to perform the ceremonial christening of the John Russell Pope in September 1943.

The previous fall, losses aff lict-

ing Gwynn’s Island and the rest of Mathews County had tapered down. Coastal blackouts had been effected, convoy procedures developed, and radar-equipped air cover given merchant vessels. *** Not being U. S. military, Merchant Mariners sailed governmentowned Liberty ships as employees of private shipping companies. Despite suffering casualty numbers rivaled only by the U. S. Marine Corps, they received no government pay. Postwar, they were eligible for neither benefits under the G. I. Bill, nor for membership in veterans’ organizations.

In addition to reported losses,

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Lest We Forget thirty-three American civilian cargo vessels had simply vanished, presumed torpedoed or otherwise lost to enemy action. Even recorded ship losses failed to account for individual fates in the confusion of explosions and sinkings, or on lifeboats or rafts never known to have reached land. Perhaps because hopes lingered, a year passed before the end of World War II was commemorated in Mathews County.

These stories and many, many more are told in William Geroux’s The Mathews Men: Seven Brothers and the War Against Hitler’s U-Boats. Through the good graces of Easton library’s Books-To-Go

program, I borrowed his tribute to these amazing men and glimpsed Mrs. Respess. Geroux’s latest book, Ghost Ships of Archangel, will be my next quest.

After co-writing pictorial histories for Arcadia Publishing with Gloria Johnson (Cambridge and Dorchester County), Ann Foley wrote Having My Say: Conversations with Chesapeake Bay Waterman Wylie “Gator” Abbott; A Dorchester County Scrapbook: “That Reminds Me of a Story” (with Terry White); and, most recently, Holland Island: Lost Atlantis of the Chesapeake (with P. Smith Rue).

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Friends of Blackwater

The Friends of Blackwater is a nonprofit citizens support group founded in 1987, assisting Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Cambridge, Maryland and the Chesapeake Marshlands National Wildlife Refuge Complex to carry out their educational, interpretive, and public use missions.

410-228-2677 Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge 2145 Key Wallace Drive, Cambridge, Maryland 21613 www.friendsofblackwater.org 114

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Easton Map and History The County Seat of Talbot Count y.

Established around early religious settlements and a court of law, Histor ic Dow ntow n Easton is today a centerpiece of fine specialt y shops, business and cultural activ ities, unique restaurants, and architectural fascination. Treel i ne d s t r e e t s a r e graced with various per iod str uctures and remarkable home s , c a r e f u l l y preser ved or re stored. Because of its histor ic a l significance, historic Easton has earned distinction as the “C olon ia l C apitol of the Eastern Shore” and was honored as number eight in the book “The 100 Best Small Towns in America.” With a population of over 16,500, Easton offers the best of many worlds including access to large metropolitan areas like Baltimore, Annapolis, Washington, and Wilmington. For a walking tour and more history visit https:// tidewatertimes.com/travel-tourism/easton-maryland/. © John Norton

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Frederick Douglass Day Saturday, September 26, 2020 The Frederick Douglass Honor Society is joined by the Talbot County Free Library, the Town of Easton, and Talbot County to present a virtual celebration of the life and legacy of Frederick Douglass on Saturday, September 26, 2020.

Event activities can be viewed on the Frederick Douglass Day website (FrederickDouglassDay.com) and Facebook Live.

Born into slavery in 1818, Frederick Douglass became one of the country’s leading intellectuals in the fight against slavery and racial oppression. He argued that the U.S. Constitution was an authoritative anti-slavery document guaranteeing the rights of all people. It has been more than 100 years since Frederick Douglass’s death, yet we continue to learn from his remarkable life and words.

Frederick Douglass joined the abolitionist movement in 1841, where he used his remarkable oratorical skills as a speaker for the American-Anti-Slavery Society. By 1847, he had moved to Rochester, New York, where he published his weekly newspaper, the North Star.

Douglass said at the 1848 Pioneer Woman’s Rights Convention, “In respect to political rights, we hold woman to be justly entitled to all

we claim for man. We go farther, and express our conviction that all political rights which it is expedient for man to exercise, it is equally so for woman. All that distinguishes man as an intelligent and accountable being, is equally true of woman; and if that government is only just which governs by the free consent of the governed,

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Frederick Douglass there can be no reason in the world for denying to woman the exercise of the elective franchise, or a hand in making and administering the laws of the land. Our doctrine is, that “Right is of no sex”. When I ran away from slavery, it was for myself; when I advocated emancipation, it was for my people; but when I stood up for the rights of woman, self was out of the question, and I found a little nobility in the act”. He remained inf luential in the movement, championing to his death the cause of equal rights for all.

Douglass survived unimaginable personal struggles, witnessed

a nation in wrenching conf lict, shaped unity among women and men, and worked tirelessly for “freedom and justice for all.” He became such an articulate and eloquent speaker that William Lloyd Garrison published his lectures in the Liberator. After numerous attempts, Garrison convinced him to pen and publish his memoirs.

His biography, titled Narrative and Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, came out in 1848.

A masterful writer, astonishing orator, and advisor to presidents, U.S. Marshall, Ambassador, Bank President, and the first American to have his name placed in nomination as a presidential candidate

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for the United States, Frederick Douglass’s life spanned the Civil War, the end of slavery, and the beginning of segregation.

In an address on December 7, 1890, Frederick Douglass said, “I have seen dark hours in my life, and I have seen the darkness disappearing and the light gradually increasing. One by one I have seen obstacles removed, error corrected, prejudices softened, proscriptions relinquished, and my people advancing in all elements that make up the sum of general welfare. I remember that God reigns in eternity, and that, whatever delays, disappointments, and discouragements may come, truth, justice liberty, and humanity will prevail.”

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Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass’s accomplishments are unparalleled. His life and brilliant oratory set an example few if any have equaled.

Born into slavery but destined for greatness, Douglass’s words live on: “A smile or a tear has not nationality; joy and sorrow speak alike to all nations, and they, above all the confusion of tongues, proclaim the brotherhood of man.” “The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.” “The life of a nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous.” “Our destiny is largely in our hands.”

The Frederick Douglass Day celebration kicks off at 10 a.m. with a Welcome Ceremony emceed by Harriette Lowery (Frederick Douglass Honor Society), Invocation

by Reverend William T. Wallace, Sr., Music by Easton High School

students, Terron Quailes, and the U.S. Navy Band, reading by William Peak, Frederick Douglass’s speech “Self-Made Men” presented by Terron Quailes, and special guests Mayor Robert Willey, Talbot County Council President Corey Pack, Superintendent of Talbot County Public Schools Dr. Kelly L. Griffith, and Talbot County Free Library Director Dana Newman.

An original Frederick Douglass portrait by Laura Era will be unveiled at the Talbot County Free Library at 11 a.m. Laura is a teacher and award-winning professional portrait and landscape artist. Her works hang in collections throughout the United States and Europe.

The owner of the prestigious Troika Gallery in Easton, Maryland, Era is donating the framed painting of Frederick Douglass to the Talbot County Free Library in celebration of the life and legacy of Talbot County’s most famous native son.

Following the unveiling of the

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Frederick Douglass Douglass portrait, Shauna Beulah will entertain children with a story time reading about Frederick Douglass and share information on books about Mr. Douglass and his family that are available for

check-out at the Talbot County Free Library. An interview with the National Park Services Curator Ka’mal McClarin focuses on the Douglasses’ Washington, D.C., home. A link to a video produced

by C-Span will provide a full tour of Cedar Hill with McClarin.

The Children’s Village (11 a.m.) offers free coloring books, a map game with prizes (Zoom backgrounds and memes), story time, and more. The Children’s Village is designed for learning and fun activities.

“Around the World with Frederick Douglass” (12 Noon) highlights world-leading scholars, authors, curators, and dignitaries as they speak about Douglass’s life, legacy, and his continuing relevance in today’s world. This onehour session features speakers from Scotland, Ireland, England, and the United States. Speakers will include Dr. Celeste-Marie Bernier, Dr. Fionnghuala Sweeney, Dr. Sarah Meer, Dr. David Blight, U.S. Senator Tim Scott, Dr. Spencer Crew, Fred Morsell,

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Pete Lesher, Dr. David Anderson, Lee Blake, Professor Dale Green, and more.

John Stauffer, a leading authority on antislavery, the Civil War, social movements, and photography will begin his Frederick Douglass Lecture at 1 p.m. followed by a 20-minute live questions and answer session. Stauffer is a Harvard University Professor of English and American literature, American Studies and African American Studies. His 19 books include The Black Hearts of Men: Racial Abolitionists and the Transformation of Race, Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, and The Battle Hymn of

the Republic: A Biography of the Song that Marches On. Two of his books were national bestsellers and several have won numerous awards. He is the author of more than 50 academic articles and his essays have appeared in Time, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, among other publications.

He has been a consultant for feature films including Django Unchained and the Free State of Jones.

A full calendar of events and additional information can be found at FrederickDouglassDay. com.

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Tilghman’s Island “Great Choptank Island” was granted to Seth Foster in 1659. Thereafter it was known as Foster’s Island, and remained so through a succession of owners until Matthew Tilghman of Claiborne inherited it in 1741. He and his heirs owned the island for over a century and it has been Tilghman’s Island ever since, though the northern village and the island’s postal designation are simply “Tilghman.”

For its first 175 years, the island was a family farm, supplying grains, vegetables, fruit, cattle, pigs and timber. Although the owners rarely were in residence, many slaves were: an 1817 inventory listed 104. The last Tilghman owner, General Tench Tilghman (not Washington’s aide-de-camp), removed the slaves in the 1830s and began selling off lots. In 1849, he sold his remaining interests to James Seth, who continued the development.

The island’s central location in the middle Bay is ideally suited for watermen harvesting the Bay in all seasons. The years before the Civil War saw the influx of the first families we know today. A second wave arrived after the War, attracted by the advent of oyster dredging in the 1870s. Hundreds of dredgers and tongers operated out of Tilghman’s Island, their catches sent to the cities by schooners. Boat building, too, was an important industry.

The boom continued into the 1890s, spurred by the arrival of steamboat service, which opened vast new markets for Bay seafood. Islanders quickly capitalized on the opportunity as several seafood buyers set up shucking and canning operations on pilings at the edge of the shoal of Dogwood Cove. The discarded oyster shells eventually became an island with seafood packing houses, hundreds of workers, a store, and even a post office.

The steamboats also brought visitors who came to hunt, fish, relax and escape the summer heat of the cities. Some families stayed all summer in one of the guest houses that sprang up in the villages of Tilghman, Avalon, Fairbank and Bar Neck. Although known for their independence, Tilghman’s Islanders enjoy showing visitors how to pick a crab, shuck an oyster or find a good fishing spot.

In the twentieth century, Islanders pursued these vocations in farming, on the water, and in the thriving seafood processing industry. The “Tilghman Brand” was known throughout the eastern United States, but as the Bay’s bounty diminished, so did the number of water-related jobs. Still, three of the few remaining Bay skipjacks (sailing dredgeboats) can be seen here, as well as two working harbors with scores of power workboats.

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VisitCaroline.org 126

Caroline County – A Perspective Caroline County is the very definition of a rural community. For more than 300 years, the county’s economy has been based on “market” agriculture.

Caroline County was created in 1773 from Dorchester and Queen Anne’s counties. The county was named for Lady Caroline Eden, the wife of Maryland’s last colonial governor, Robert Eden (1741-1784).

Denton, the county seat, was situated on a point between two ferry boat landings. Much of the business district in Denton was wiped out by the fire of 1863.

Following the Civil War, Denton’s location about fifty miles up the Choptank River from the Chesapeake Bay enabled it to become an important shipping point for agricultural products. Denton became a regular port-ofcall for Baltimore-based steamer lines in the latter half of the 19th century.

Preston was the site of three Underground Railroad stations during the 1840s and 1850s. One of those stations was operated by Harriet Tubman’s parents, Benjamin and Harriet Ross. When Tubman’s parents were exposed by a traitor, she smuggled them to safety in Wilmington, Delaware.

Linchester Mill, just east of Preston, can be traced back to 1681, and possibly as early as 1670. The mill is the last of 26 water-powered mills to operate in Caroline County and is currently being restored. The long-term goals include rebuilding the millpond, rehabilitating the mill equipment, restoring the miller’s dwelling, and opening the historic mill on a scheduled basis.

Federalsburg is located on Marshyhope Creek in the southern-most part of Caroline County. Agriculture is still a major portion of the industry in the area; however, Federalsburg is rapidly being discovered and there is a noticeable influx of people, expansion and development. Ridgely has found a niche as the “Strawberry Capital of the World.” The present streetscape, lined with stately Victorian homes, reflects the transient prosperity during the countywide canning boom (1895-1919). Hanover Foods, formerly an enterprise of Saulsbury Bros. Inc., for more than 100 years, is the last of more than 250 food processors that once operated in the Caroline County region.

Points of interest in Caroline County include the Museum of Rural Life in Denton, Adkins Arboretum near Ridgely, and the Mason-Dixon Crown Stone in Marydel. To contact the Caroline County Office of Tourism, call 410-479-0655 or visit their website at www.tourcaroline.com.

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Queen Anne’s County The history of Queen Anne’s County dates back to the earliest Colonial settlements in Maryland. Small hamlets began appearing in the northern portion of the county in the 1600s. Early communities grew up around transportation routes, the rivers and streams, and then roads and eventually railroads. Small towns were centers of economic and social activity and evolved over the years from thriving centers of tobacco trade to communities boosted by the railroad boom.

Queenstown was the original county seat when Queen Anne’s County was created in 1706, but that designation was passed on to Centreville in 1782. It’s location was important during the 18th century, because it is near a creek that, during that time, could be navigated by tradesmen.

A hub for shipping and receiving, Queenstown was attacked by English troops during the War of 1812.

Construction of the Federal-style courthouse in Centreville began in 1791 and is the oldest courthouse in continuous use in the state of Maryland. Today, Centreville is the largest town in Queen Anne’s County.

With its relaxed lifestyle and tree-lined streets, it is a classic example of small town America.

The Stevensville Historic District, also known as Historic Stevensville, is a national historic district in downtown Stevensville, Queen Anne’s County. It contains roughly 100 historic structures, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is located primarily along East Main Street, a portion of Love Point Road, and a former section of Cockey Lane.

The Chesapeake Heritage and Visitor Center in Chester at Kent Narrows provides and overview of the Chesapeake region’s heritage, resources and culture. The Chesapeake Heritage and Visitor Center serves as Queen Anne’s County’s official welcome center.

Queen Anne’s County is also home to the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center (formerly Horsehead Wetland Center), located in Grasonville. The CBEC is a 500-acre preserve just 15 minutes from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Over 200 species of birds have been recorded in the area.

Embraced by miles of scenic Chesapeake Bay waterways and graced with acres of pastoral rural landscape, Queen Anne’s County offers a relaxing environment for visitors and locals alike.

For more information about Queen Anne’s County, visit www.qac.org.

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Kent County and Chestertown at a Glance Kent County is a treasury of early American history. Its principal towns and back roads abound with beautiful old homes and historic landmarks.

The area was first explored by Captain John Smith in 1608. Kent County was founded in 1642 and named for the shire in England that was the home of many of Kent’s earliest colonists. When the first legislature assembled in 1649, Kent County was one of two counties in the colony, thus making it the oldest on the Eastern Shore. It extended from Kent Island to the present boundary.

The first settlement, New Yarmouth, thrived for a time and, until the founding of Chestertown, was the area’s economic, social and religious center.

Chestertown, the county seat, was founded in 1706 and served as a port of entry during colonial times. A town rich in history, its attractions include a blend of past and present. Its brick sidewalks and attractive antiques stores, restaurants and inns beckon all to wander through the historic district and enjoy homes and places with architecture ranging from the Georgian mansions of wealthy colonial merchants to the elaborate style of the Victorian era.

Second largest district of restored 18th-century homes in Maryland, Chestertown is also home to Washington College, the nation’s tenth oldest liberal arts college, founded in 1782. Washington College was also the only college that was given permission by George Washington for the use of his name, as well as given a personal donation of money.

The beauty of the Eastern Shore and its waterways, the opportunity for boating and recreation, the tranquility of a rural setting and the ambiance of living history offer both visitors and residents a variety of pleasing experiences. A wealth of events and local entertainment make a visit to Chestertown special at any time of the year.

For more information about events and attractions in Kent County, contact the Kent County Visitor Center at 410-778-0416, visit www. kentcounty.com or e-mail tourism@kentcounty.com. For information about the Historical Society of Kent County, call 410-778-3499 or visit www.kentcountyhistory.org/geddes.php. For more info. visit www.chestertown.com.

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All American Part XII of a novel in many parts

by Roger Vaughan Previously: The year is 1988.

Andy Thomas made an ill-advised tactical call during a race in 50foot sailboats that nearly caused a dangerous collision. His father, Mitchell (at the helm), was livid.

Later, at the awards dinner, a drunken Andy delivered a public declaration that made it virtually impossible for Mitchell Thomas, a well-known amateur sailor, not to mount a Round the World Race challenge. Mitchell is CEO of Moss Optical, a company inherited by his wife, Deedee Moss. He was thoroughly outraged by his son’s gaffe.

At a board meeting held in Moss’s planetarium-board room, a proposal for the company to sponsor the first American boat in the Race was presented, and accepted, much to Deedee’s delight. Colorful twotime America’s Cup winner Jan Sargent held one of his high-intensity press conferences to announce he had been asked by Mitchell Thomas to skipper the Moss boat, All American. In his office at Moss, Andy is distraught, having learned his father has made him part of All

American’s crew. He agonizes over this to his friend Jeff Linn, a Moss opticist. Linn jokingly suggests Andy shoot himself in the foot. Gloria, Andy’s secretary, buzzes to tell him his father wants to see him. After an unpleasant meeting with his father, who is adamant about Andy going on the race, he drives to see his mother, Deedee, on the Long Island estate, hoping she will intervene. Andy has a very pleasant sail with his mother ~ her favorite thing to do ~ but is distraught to find her conviction about him going on the race is set in concrete.

When pressed, Ossie, the old Norwegian who has run the family’s waterfront for 40 years, says only that Andy’s mother has a very good reason for insisting he go on the race. Andy spends two weeks with the crew doing an Outward Bound course for training and bonding.

He is subjected to hazing from this fraternity of professional sailors, and he hits back. At home, seated at his powerful telescope, Andy’s proclivity for astronomy is revealed.

His eye-candy girlfriend, Isha, is

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All American discovered being nosy about a secret project of Andy’s. A visit with his mother Andy hopes will result in her reneging about him going on the race reveals family secrets.

After a crew meeting with designer Gibb Frey to learn about their new boat, Andy gets exciting news about his secret project ~ an astronomy-themed hotel and observatory campus. He has another difficult meeting with his father about his mother’s illness. Andy tries to engage Ossie about his mother but learns little. At the launching of All American, the crew officially accepts Andy over a few bottles of rum. Becky Cotton, a childhood friend of Andy’s, shows up and distracts him. After a colossal miss on her first try, Deedee connects with a bottle of champagne and christens All American.

A

***

ndy was in what passed for sleep on an ocean racer sailing upwind in 30 knots, with the rounded bow section designed primarily for off-the-wind speed slamming into jumbled seas every five seconds or so. The number three genoa, a smaller, tougher heads’l, was up, and a “flattening reef” that just shortened the leech a foot or so had been taken in the mains’l. The traveler had also been lowered a foot,

allowing the top of the mains’l to “twist,” spilling wind. Even so, the heel angle was around 15 degrees.

For cruising, the conditions would have warranted at least one full reef, maybe two, but this was racing.

Andy’s bunk, shared with paramedic Joe Dugan, was just forward of the mast. The berths were minimal: PVC pipe racks with thin mattress pads stuck with Velcro on a rectangle of stretched Dacron. No sheets. And “hot,” meaning always occupied by someone from one watch or the other. A hunk of micro fleece served as a blanket. After the first day or two, everything was damp, and of all things damp, micro fleece is probably the most agreeable. The bunks could be adjusted to approximate level given the boat’s heel angel, but that changed several degrees every second.

Everyone slept on the high side of the boat to keep weight where it would reduce heel. If the boat was tacked, the off watch sleeping below had to also tack, dragging their half-conscious bodies out of their bunks and staggering across the clutter to the bunk on the new high side. But for the moment the course was agreeable, no tacking, and the sleepers were heavily into the rhythm, if one could call it that, of the light, overpowered boat’s punishing encounter with open ocean. Talk about David and Goliath. It was like a flyweight taking

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All American on a heavyweight in the ring, hoping to dodge the big one that could knock him senseless. Good helming was critical. Luckily, Andy and the other designated drivers ~ Sargent; Stu Samuels, the Finn sailor; and Richard Crouse, the rower ~ were all very polished helmsmen. The others drove the boat when the conditions were less dangerous.

Andy’s half-sleep this watch was accompanied by a tennis exchange dream he was having with some unidentified woman. He would hit the ball as hard and as high as he could.

His opponent would watch it and wait, like an outfielder positioning herself for the catch, then hit it back

as hard and high as she could, and so on. Each hit was in time with the bow slamming into the next set of rolling seas. Sleeping was exhausting.

A particularly vicious slam of the bow, out of sequence, woke Andy.

It happened to the best drivers.

The hour-long stint at the wheel in heavy going severely tested their concentration. When the slightest distraction coincided with a roguish sea, the result was a smack upside the hull that just about stopped the boat and put a big sudden strain on everything, from mast, rigging, and sails, to crew. But it was okay this time. No telling sounds of anything giving way. On we go. Andy looked at his watch. He had a few minutes

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All American

There’d even been some good times with Isha.

But the day he had to walk down before he had to start dressing for the deck. He shut his eyes, and the the dock and get on this fragile start of the race replayed for the sports car that was hoping to do an armored vehicle’s job of surviving hundredth time. the world’s oceans, all the old horrors came rushing back. What was housands of people had gath- he thinking. . .how could he do this, ered at the enormous U-shaped suspend his life for nine months, race facility on the Southampton put Mountain View on hold? Yeah, docks where all the syndicates were Jeff Linn was keeping track of it, located. Everyone was either buying but there was so much going on.

T-shirts and hats printed with their Andy had suffered a bad setback favorite boat’s name and colors, the day of the start and had taken eating junk food or trying to make refuge in one of the containers, actheir way to the rails of the elevated tually dozed off on a bunch of sail promenade above the floating docks bags until the silence woke him, or where the boats were berthed. so he thought. It was his name beOn board All ing called that had American, Andy was On board All American, actually brought him missing. Over the around, his name Andy was missing many months since being called in a his Round the World nightmare had magical way he’d only heard once begun, he’d finally overcome his in- before, and recently. “Andy. . .hello ability to deal with the prospect of . . .Andy?” going. It had taken major effort, but He jumped up like he’d been he had settled in to the training, lis- stung, disoriented, looking at his tened to Deedee, listened to Ossie, watch, grabbing his bag, saying and his success racing the rock stars “Yeah, here I am, hello. . .” as he on the crew in small boats had made burst out the door of the container a difference. And, there had been a to encounter Becky Cotton standing couple good weeks in Southamp- there like some impossible, angelic ton working on the boat, attending hologram. She couldn’t be real, but to details and getting his personal there she was, her very presence gear organized to fit into the one tweaking every nerve in his body official bag that had been issued like before, talking a blue streak. “I to all hands. There had been some just wanted to wish you well. I went good parties with the crew who had to the boat and you weren’t there. taken him in. That felt pretty good. Someone said you might still be

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All American here. Dad has told me so much, he wanted me to understand. . .”

Andy was frantic. He was very late. The boat should have left already, and in the crowd of tourists he was minutes away. And here was Becky, being friendly, wanting to talk. How had she found him? What the hell?!

“I am so late. Damn. Sorry. I need to run.”

“Wait!” Becky said it quietly, but in a way that would have stopped a train. Andy found himself motionless despite his desperate situation.

“It’s just a quick test.” With that, she kissed him, her lips on his, softly, firmly. It lasted two, maybe

three seconds, but time failed. Everything stopped. There was nothing else, just an extraordinary void bubbling with promise, a heartstopping exchange of electrical charges that made Andy’s legs shiver and the bottoms of his feet tingle.

Becky pulled away.

“I thought so,” she said quietly.

“You’d better go.”

Andy bolted. “Come to Punta del Este, our first stop, Uruguay, can you?” Andy hollered over his shoulder as he dove into the crowd.

“I’ll try,” she said.

Dave Zimmer and Dick Hooper were holding the dock lines, waiting, when Andy raced down the steep gangway to the boat. He jumped on board. Zimmer and

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All American

icing the deal. Now, All American and Ram were neck and neck at the Hooper followed. Looking daggers pin end, with less than ten feet sepat Andy, Sargent angrily shoved the arating the two boats. Their crews throttle ahead, and All American worked hard to ignore one another. moved quickly away to cheers from Andy had to laugh. So much was the crowd. Andy looked up. There invested in the start, people would was Becky, having somehow made think it was a day race around the her way to the rail, just looking at buoys, not the beginning of a 6,759him with a little smile. He smiled mile leg. But any start is a full maback. “Get the number one ready,” cho exercise. All American was to Sargent said to the boys. “Stow that leeward, with Sargent taking Ram shit,” he barked at Andy. “Get in up just a hair as the seconds ticked uniform, for crissakes.” Andy dove off ~ 20, 10 ~ letting Koonce know below, grabbed the #1 genoa and he could run him into the pin if he wrestled it into the hatch so Caskie wished; two old pals getting it on, Kolegeri could get a grip on it. both with broad smiles for the teleThe start on the Solent was the vision cameras, and for each other. usual madness, with hundreds of Andy studied Koonce, seeing spectator boats raisthat same captivatIt was a miracle no ing wakes, or just ing smile that had spectator boats getting in the way.

Deedee so on the got run down The wind was modedge of her seat that erate, less than 10 night at the Yacht knots. Course patrol boats were ev- Club, the same smile that had erywhere, and there were still not caught Mitch so off guard, no easy enough of them. It was a miracle no task, and that had sucked Andy spectator boats got run down by one into the worst gaffe of his life, a of the eight competing yachts. Andy gaffe that had placed him on this was Sargent’s tactician at the start, race boat beginning a 30,000-mile but he had little to do. Sargent had marathon across the world’s major timed it well. He was a great starter. oceans. Talk about shooting himSo was his friend and rival, Alistair self in the foot. The gun went off.

Koonce on the Kiwi entry, Ram Koonce cleared the line and immeBunctious. It was Koonce who had diately tacked away, nearly wiping gotten the whole Round the World out a spectator boat that had come Race rolling with his clever, public in way too close so the women on rap to Mitch Thomas at the New board could wave their bathing suit York Yacht Club two years ago, with tops at the sailors leaving for the Andy’s drunken comment perfectly high seas.

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All American

captain in charge, but he’d better wash his own coffee cup.

Eric dug his nickname. He appre“ beg your pardon, I never ciated the connection, the love expromised you a rose garden. . .” The pressed. He also relished the black CD player was programmed to come humor intended. His bunk was next on at full volume 30 minutes before to the communications gear that included the CD player, and he could the watch changed.

When Andy had done his six almost reach the stop button from months active duty in the Army, his bunk, but not quite. Eric usually the noncom in charge had woken managed to stop the song before the his men up every day at 5 a.m. by line played that he really hated: “So bouncing a metal trash can across smile for a while and let’s be jolly.”

There was nothing jolly about 12 the barracks floor. Lynn Anderson’s bouncy bubblegum song from the men trying to live in a space 30 by 1970s was only a marginal improve- 17 feet. The boat might be 60 feet ment, and since it was Larry Kolig- long, but weight was kept out of the ari’s idea, and the former New York ends to keep the boat from pitchJets linebacker was the strongest ing. That left 30 feet of living space interrupted by the guy on the boat, no Crawling on all fours mast, the bunks, the one considered arwas the safest way drying locker, a tiny guing about it. The to get around stove and sink, the deal was that whonav station, and, oh, ever got out of his bunk first could turn it off. That was yes, the head.

Andy fished in the top of his bag usually Eric Menici, the Black video guy whose nickname on the boat for his toothbrush, grabbed it and was BN, a caustic but endearing re- crawled toward the head over the minder of the old days, one of those long, narrow “turtles” of extra headpolitically incorrect slurs that work sails that were stacked on the floor, on close-knit sports teams. It wasn’t reducing headroom to less than five for public consumption. What hap- feet. Crawling on all fours was the pens on the boat stays on the boat, safest way to get around. The crawlbecause once cast off, all earthly ing would create thick callouses on differences like titles or power had his knees and the heels of his hands better be left on the dock. On board, that would puzzle him when he got raw equality rules. All that counts ashore after the first leg. Joe Duis what you can do. Ask any owner gan helped him figure it out. “It’s who has had the nerve to expect the crawling,” Joe had slurred after preferential treatment. There’s a several beers one night. “The crawl-

I

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All American

on the sail turtles, eating. Peter Dimaris, the navigator, and Eric didn’t stand watches. They were up ing.” It had made everyone laugh.

Richard Crouse came crawling all the time, or so it seemed.

“Here ya go, mate.” It was Teddy out of the head as Andy approached.

“Sorry, man,” Crouse said. “Danger Bosworth, today’s “cook,” handzone.” Andy went into the tiny en- ing him a hot bowl of freeze-dried closure anyway, wet his brush and something. “Last of the blueberquickly took one layer of plaque off ries, enjoy.” Cook was a rotating his teeth while trying to ignore the job because all it took was boiling smell. There was no mirror. The some water and stirring in packets crew had voted against one. The of freeze-dried whatever. But Bohead was filthy and they’d only been sworth could actually cook. Andy out a week. Soon everyone would had been lucky to have had dinner be hanging his butt over the side at his house. He was also a talker.

“The blueberries really make it rather than continue to pretend the edible,” Stu Samuels said. “Good amenities of a head existed, It was wet on deck. Very wet. idea.”

“I got all I thought would last The racket of sailing in these conbefore we left,” Boditions was intense. sworth said. “It’s Sargent's watch was The volume of water repeatedly kicked up soaked, beat up, hungry about process, cooking. Recipes are for by the weather bow and landing on the deck sounded beginners. It’s all about what you’ve like loads of gravel. One couldn’t got in the fridge. Every meal is a stand up below, even if there had creative exercise. You know The been head room. Andy crawled to Iron Chef on TV? This guy in long the heater locker where one hung robes looking like Japanese royalty foulies and boots in hopes they comes out into the ‘arena kitchen’? would dry a little. They didn’t, but A gong sounds, and the prince guy it was a nice idea. Andy toasted his tells three competing chefs to open arm on the heater. His head made their baskets and make an appetizer painful contact with the door frame out of crazy shit like some hot pepwhen the boat slammed into a wave. pers, a bag of bean sprouts, a chunk He grabbed gear, checked to make of ginger and a beef tongue, stuff sure it was his name on the back like that. Great show, because that’s of the jacket and crawled back to what cooking is about.”

“Ten minutes! Cut the crap!” It where the other guys on his watch ~ Roger Davis, Joe Dugan, Stu Samu- was Sargent poking his head into els, Caskie Kolegeri ~ were sitting the companionway and yelling at 148

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All American the new watch. His guys were beat up, soaked, hungry. The boys below scurried. It took at least ten minutes to wrestle damp gear over damp clothing. Stu Samuels, the watch captain, was talking with Peter at the nav station. They had been making good time, speeding through the always-dangerous Bay of Biscay with sails eased a bit, getting a thrilling taste of what All American could do when the wind came aft a little, and passing the Faro de Cabo light on Spain’s northwest point the previous night. The light had a range of 40 miles on a good night, and it had looked bright. Peter was keeping them in close, stay-

ing as near the rhumb line to Punte del Este as possible. GPS had them 2,100 miles out of Southampton, off the southern end of Morocco in just a week, not bad. Ram, the boat they all cared most about, was farther west, going after a storm front Peter and Jan had decided to ignore. The others were scattered around. All American was farthest east. That was ocean racing, trying to pick the best weather.

“It’s time we tacked,” Peter told Stu. “I’ll confi rm it with Jan when he comes down.”

Roger Vaughan lives, works and sails in Oxford. Previous chapters of All American are available at tidewatertimes.com.

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The Virtual

Chesapeake Film Festival October 1 through October 4, 2020 Four Days. 45 Films. FREE! Stock up on the popcorn! The 2020 Virtual Chesapeake Film Festival is coming to you Oct. 1 through 4, wherever you may be.

To register for this FREE celebration of film and filmmakers, go to chesapeakefilmfestival.com.

You’ll receive a personal All Festival Passcode to access any or all of the 45 films selected from more than 200 submissions.

The Virtual Festival is our gift to film lovers in our community, and beyond, in the difficult times precipitated by COVID-19. While participation is free, donations are appreciated.

You can select the films you want to watch, and when and where you choose to enjoy them. The Virtual Festival benefits our filmmakers, too, with the amazing opportunity to present their films to an audience without borders.

Now in our 13th year, the Chesapeake Film Festival invites you once again to savor an explosion of cinematic f lavors, including dramas, comedies, documentaries and animations. From 5-minute shorts to 90-minute features, the

Festival offers something for every cinematic taste.

These are a few of the diverse, innovative, independent films our jury selected for the 2020 Virtual Chesapeake Film Festival. A full program will be accessible on our website soon.

Narrative Features: About Us, Directed by Stefan Scwartz ~ In an effort to rekindle their troubled marriage, a young couple revisits the location where they spent their honeymoon eight years earlier. They navigate the beauty and the pain of love, culminating in a heartbreaking finale as truths are revealed.

Fort Bliss, Directed by Claudia Myers ~ A decorated Army medic and single mother (Michelle

153

Chesapeake Film Festival Monaghan) returns home from an extended tour in Afghanistan to discover that the bond with her five-year-old son has been shattered. In her absence, the boy has attached to his father (Ron Livingston) and his new girlfriend (Emmanuelle Chriqui). As she struggles to reclaim her son’s affection and reintegrate into civilian life, she meets a mechanic (Manolo Cardona) with whom she becomes romantically involved.

Buffalo Bills, a life-threatening tragedy forces Bill Costen out of his dream. Saying goodbye to a career on the turf, Costen takes to the air to become the first African-American Master hot-air balloon pilot in the nation.

Documentary Features: Balloon Man, Directed by Chantal Potter ~ Made in Maryland ~ After being drafted by the

The Penny Black, Directed by William J. Saunders.

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and his own nefarious legacy as he searches for the rightful owner of a mysterious, million-dollar stamp collection.

You Don’t Know Nothin’ Bout Groove City, Made in Maryland, Directed by César González. In the mid-1970s a musical revolution with roots in the emerging New York City hip hop scene explodes on Pine Street in Cambridge, MD. One block away on Race Street, nobody knows anything about it. You Don’t Know Nothin’ Bout Groove City includes such greats as Count Basie, Ella Fitgerald and James Brown, while exploring the racial tensions that continue to divide the town where

Harriet Tubman was born.

International Features: Imaginarius, Chile ~ Directed by Juan Ignacio Bello A total solar eclipse draws thousands of astronomers and tourists to the Elqui Valley of Chile, where skies stand out as the clearest of the planet. Amid the unusual frenzy that surrounds their town, four friends take a journey of learning and friendship. A story filled of humor, fantasy and creativity.

Our Gorongosa, Netherlands ~ Written and produced by Carla Rebai. Gorongosa National Park has become one of Africa’s most celebrated wildlife restoration sto-

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Chesapeake Film Festival

Directed by Antonio De Palo. Vera and Roberta are abjurants, meaning women who refuse to adhere to the Eugenics Program imposed by the Government. They consequently are confined to an unknown location and used as test subjects.

Their only purpose in life is recalling their lovers’ faces.

ries. After a decade of renewed protection, Gorongosa’s large mammal population has increased 10-fold to over 100,000 animals. But the Park must also find a way to co-exist with the 200,000 people living in surrounding communities.

No Dominion, United Kingdom ~ Directed by Georgios Dimitropoulos. On a random winter weekend in beautiful Wales, three travelers, an American and a French couple, come to a Swansea getaway for very different reasons.

International Shorts: The Abjurants, Italy ~ 2087.

Environmental Shorts: An Island Out of Time, Made

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in Maryland ~ Directed by Sandy Cannon-Brown and Dave Harp.

This is a film about a remarkable couple, Mary Ada and Dwight Marshall, whose lives personify Chesapeake Bay’s waterman, seafoodharvesting culture and history.

It is also about the four children who chose to break with that tra-

dition. The film, like Tom Horton’s 1996 book, An Island Out of Time, is both celebration and elegy for a place beset with rising sea levels and erosion, pollution and harvest restrictions, and young people seeking opportunities older generations of islanders never dreamed of ~ all this seen through the lens of the Marshall family of Smith Island.

Heartsounds, Directed by Alan Chriest. The loving backdrop of penguins illustrates the similarities of their family life to that of humans, especially when grieving.

Emerging Filmmakers (Student):

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Chesapeake Film Festival

Fund to help him tell his story.

Never Too Small, Directed

by Mason Mirabile. The Earth is dying. Climate change is the most important issue the world is facing today. Never Too Small is a short documentary about climate change and how kids can help. Nine-yearold director Mason Mirabile, who filmed, edited and scored the film, asks experts at the World Wildlife

Night of Crabs, Directed by Elyas Masrour. A group of citizen scientists help a peculiar species with unique characteristics, the Horseshoe Crab. Learn more about the Horseshoe Crab and how modern science is trying to save it.

Animations: Fridge, Directed by Eugene Kolb, US, 2019 ~ A woman is overcome by her carnivorous desires.

Shy & Ketchup, Directed by Teresa Romo, Chile, 2019. A shy girl obsessed with ketchup has to get out of her comfort zone when she runs out of her beloved condiment.

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213A South Talbot St., St. Michaels 410-745-8072 158

The Bird & the Whale, Directed by Carol Freeman, Ireland, 2018 ~ The Bird and the Whale is a story about a young whale struggling to find his voice. After straying too far from his family to explore a shipwreck, he discovers its sole survivor, a caged songbird.

Together they struggle to survive lost at sea.

Check chesapeakefilmfestival. com for more information or call Nancy Tabor, Executive Director at 443-955-9144. Schedule of films is subject to change.

The Chesapeake Film Festival is generously supported by the Shared Earth Foundation, Maryland Film Office, Maryland State

Arts Council, Talbot County Arts Council, Talbot County Department of Tourism, Artistic Insights Fund, Richard and Beverly Tilghman, Karen and Langley Shook, U.S. Small Business Administration, Talbot CARES Small Business Grant and The Ravenal Foundation. Funding has also been provided to the Chesapeake Film Festival from Maryland Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) as part of the 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020.

Celebrating 25 Years Tracy Cohee Hodges Vice President Area Manager Eastern Shore Lending

111 N. West St., Suite C Easton, MD 21601 410-820-5200 tcohee@ďŹ rsthome.com

www.tracycohee.com

NMLS ID: 148320

This is not a guarantee to extend consumer credit. All loans are subject to credit approval and property appraisal.

First Home Mortgage Corporation NMLS ID #71603 (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org)

159

NEW WATERFRONT IN NORTHBEND

Located just 5 minutes from downtown Easton and 10 from St. Michaels, this lovely 3 bedroom home is situated on the banks of picturesque Chapel Cove ~ just around the bend to the Miles River. House includes a spacious 1st floor master suite and has a long list of recent upgrades including kitchen and baths. Call for price.

Janet Larson, Associate Broker 410.310.1797 jlarson@bensonandmangold.com www.shoremove.com

BENSON & MANGOLD REAL ESTATE

31 Goldsborough St., Easton, MD 21601 · 410.822.6665 · www.bensonsandmangold.com

160

REDUCED

OAKLANDS 1 mile from Easton on Oxford Rd. Comm. dock. 4 BR home w/formal and informal living/entertaining areas. Kitchen open to FR, hardwood floors, fireplace. Garage. 2 acres, partly wooded. $429,000

EASTON - JUST LISTED! Contemporary barn inspired 4 BR, 3.5 BA bath home. Two 1st level BRs. Large 2-car garage, deck. Cedar siding, efficient HVAC, Anderson windows, encapsulated crawl space. $459,000!

109 GOLDSBOROUGH ST., EASTON Large bright, comfortable home zoned for res. or comm. use. Fully remodeled and beautifully maintained. High ceilings. Oak floors. Large lot with offstreet parking and garden. $499,000

THE SHIRETON Easton. Great 2nd floor east view. LR with fireplace. Large DR, study, 2 BRs, 2 baths. Washer/dryer. Remodeled kitchen with 2 entrances. Parking garage. Elevator.

1/2 block to Tidewater Inn. $340,000

SHORELINE REALTY 114 Goldsborough St., Easton, MD 21601 410-822-7556 · 410-310-5745 www.shorelinerealty.biz · bob@shorelinerealty.biz

Create Your Backyard Retreat

When your normal activities are on pause, create a new routine that the whole family can enjoy. A space where you can unplug, unwind, and connect with what matters most.

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