We’ve been exploring the region a bit with our 360 camera and helping put a virtual Ocean City online has been really, really fun. If you’re not familiar with the camera, it takes a photo in all directions simultaneously and stitches it together so that a viewer can scroll through and get a tour of a room, area or building right from the comfort of their own home. I’ve been a huge fan of using Google Maps and contributing to it for some time. I always figured that if I was in a place and I could help give people a better or at least a more personal view of the place from afar it was at the very least good cyber-karma. As it turned out it was more than that. Google liked my photos enough that they made me a local guide, so my pictures get right on the Google Maps page and I get fun stuff from them, like a little extra free storage.
When they started this new program of allowing people to post 360 photos on the map for people to see, it seemed a natural adjustment. I do more than a little trekking around the area, so sharing 360 photos as well as traditional photos isn’t any harder than tagging my work photos when I upload them. This week, I was tooling around both the beach and some of the big beachfront hotels taking regular photos for OceanCity.com, and some of them were kind enough to let me explore with the new camera. I’m still working on editing techniques (such as PhotoShop-ing out the camera and making the colors pop a little better) but it is coming along nicely. I thought I’d share some of those photos this week and the story behind them.
Kids taking selfies
This is one of my favorite ways to use this camera. The kids give the photo a little more texture, plus they’re funny.
Sharing Balcony Views many people can’t see
I was at the Grand Hotel on assignment and they were kind enough to let me up into one of the rooms to get a shot of the view. Being a local I’ve never stayed there, so it was cool to imagine coming in from the beach, toweling off and heading out to the balcony to get a little more beach without all the sun.
Virtual Day Drinking
The Clarion is known for Lenny’s, its spectacular beach bar:
But when I wandered into Breakers for a little respite from the heat, the cool dark interior bar was a perfect reversal.
A seat at the head of the table
I was interviewing the guys who run the kitchen at the Captain’s Table restaurant (check out that story next week) and when I was done they gave me access to the restaurant before it opened to try out my fun new camera. Very few people sit at the head of the Captain’s Table, so I thought it would be a fun one to share.
The Triumphant return of Photo Friday on Facebook already is a success, but we would like you to help make it even more successful by both participating and sharing your favorite photos of Ocean City and the surrounding area. For those of you who already have participated, make sure to share your photo to get the most votes. Winning this contest is in the hands of the participants. First take a great photo and then let everyone know about it. There are only 50 or so likes separating first and last place so it still is anybody’s game.
This week a local historian provided some insight into the Assateague Pony origins in celebration of the annual pony penning that takes place between Assateague and Chincoteague islands. He made quite a case for his angle, while taking the others seriously. It’s a long but pleasant read.
OCBP Crew Competition
The Ocean City Beach Patrol takes and afternoon to both show off their skills to the public and also blow of a little competitive steam in the annual OCBP Crew Comps. Each section of the beach is broken up into the responsibility of different crews. Over the course of the summer the crews develop a bond both with the people who frequent their section of the beach regularly as well as with one another.
Take a walk on the Boardwalk
After the crew competition, we took a little stroll on the Boardwalk, which always works great as a Facebook live post. Make sure to follow us if you don’t already, and feel free to reach out and let us know if you want us to cover something live that we haven’t already.
The Chesapeake Silver Cornet Brass Band will perform at the Berlin Heritage Foundation’s third concert on the lawn this season on Sunday, August 14th at 6:00 p.m. This concert is co-sponsored by Berlin Main Street.
Bring a chair and a picnic to enjoy this free concert on the lawn of the Calvin B. Taylor House Museum at 208 North Main Street in Berlin.
The Taylor House Museum is open through the end of October on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 1-4 p.m. Group tours are available anytime by appointment.
For more information contact the Taylor Museum at 410-641-1019 or visit our website at www.taylorhousemuseum.org.
It’s been more than a month since Berlin woke to its public benches draped in knitted afghans, and there’s no really telling how much longer they will be a thing. The quilts appeared as part of a public art project designed to provoke commentary as well as appreciation. They were made by the knitting group that meets at A Little Bit Sheepish, the yarn store in town with the object of covering as many of the benches as the group could muster.
The question many people have asked is ”Why?” but that also is, in a way the answer.
Ivy Wells, town economic director, said this is the first in a series of guerrilla public art instillations aimed at tweaking people’s perception; kind of “Random Acts of Artness.” That quilts aren’t evocative of alternative public art kind of is the point, because now they are.
This summer, Berlin already has erected the first two parts of a mural conceived and painted by local school children and continues fundraising to complete the work. The 2nd Friday Art Stroll have become a nearly regional event, drawing people specifically rather than accidentally to the town to experience art in the shops, and even the number of working artists in the downtown district continues to grow. Punctuating and accenting the town’s art bent is this new project of unexpected art, for art’s sake, popping up without warning.
Ivy said she was surprised how well and long the knitted blankets have held up. The expectation was that they would be up for a couple of days and then, as they began to tatter or lose their shape, the projects would be donated to the humane society. Although the donation part is still planned, the tattering hasn’t yet occurred. The knitters apparently built these works of art to last.
The knitters were approached with the directive to use quality material and to be creative. Ivy didn’t approach them with the completed project in mind, only the concept. The knitters tried out a couple of different ideas before settling on bench coverings.
The next art project already is underway, Ivy said she id waiting for the right time to reveal it. Or let it reveal itself as the case may be.
There are no lack of cool places uptown. Once you get above 40th Street the parking gets a little easier and, depending upon the date and time, the waits get a little shorter, especially at the places that, aren’t strictly-speaking destination restaurants. What we’ve compiled here is a list of places that aren’t just cool, though. They also are cold and perfect places to beat the heat. Midday can be tough. For some it is too early or too hot to eat and, if you need a respite from the beach finding a quiet place can be a challenge. As a general rule, visit places that are known for their nightlife in the early afternoon, and you will find it is easy to chill out with good food and drinks.
Ladies love Longboard Cafe
Specializing in inexpensive appetizers and perfect margaritas, the Longboard Cafe is a great place to hang out and stay away from the sun. Tucked off the beaten path a bit, the outside serving area is covered as well in case you don’t want too much sun but are after the bay breezes. Happy Hour gets busy as people wander over from nearby condos and hotels, but it isn’t unreasonably busy, just busy enough to remind you that you’re still on planet earth with other people who like to treat themselves to an afternoon out.
The origin of the Assateague ponies has always been portrayed as an unsolvable mystery. What is always mentioned is a legend that they swam ashore from a shipwreck of a Spanish galleon centuries ago. It was this legend that lured Marguerite Henry to Chincoteague in 1946. What she saw and heard there inspired her to write Misty of Chincoteague which was published in 1947 and was made into a movie in 1961. Up to that time, the prevailing theory or story was that they came from a Spanish shipwreck.
Today, the custodians of the horses, the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, are also the “custodians” of the narrative on their origins. Both agencies are discrediting the Spanish shipwreck theory in favor of two theories that are easily disproved. One theory says that the horses were sent over to Assateague to avoid the fencing laws imposed on mainland farmers. The other theory says that the horses were placed there to avoid taxes. This is the narrative found on their websites and tourist literature disseminated by the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. It has often been repeated by writers as gospel.
Both of these “theories” demand that we are to believe that the owners of these valuable horses just left them there to fend for themselves. Assateague is only hundreds of yards from the mainland in the Ocean City area and about five miles at the widest part of Chincoteague Bay and easily reached by boats or barges from the mainland. This theory of abandonment suggests a solitary event. Otherwise, we are asked to believe that the farmers routinely dumped them on Assateague without bringing any back. Historical documents prove that fences were used as early as the early 1700s. Tax records for Accomack County stored in the Virginia State library in Richmond, Virginia, list the owners of horses and cattle beginning in 1783 when taxes were first imposed. These records show that the horses on Assateague were taxed. The two predominant theories promoted by federal agencies as to the origin of the horses have no basis in fact.
The historical record is clear that the original owners of Assateague in the 17th century, which stretched from Chincoteague Inlet to Fenwick Island, pastured their horses and cattle there. Some early land patents such as Winter Quarter and Winter Pasture reflect this practice. These names tell us that pasturing was a seasonal activity which implies that horses and cattle were returned to the mainland farms—not forgotten about or abandoned. In 1835, Dr. Thompson Holmes, who had a farm on the mainland just south of the Maryland border, wrote an account of the horses and described the advantages of pasturing on Assateague: “Their winter subsistence was supplied abundantly by nature, the tall, dense, and heavy grasses of the rich flat lands, affording them green food nearly all winter.”
Estate records going back to the late 1600s document that when an owner of land on Assateague Island died, his horses and cattle were inventoried, valued, and described. The horses were too valuable to be abandoned. These same records also document that there was a caretaker on Assateague as early as 1696 whose duty was to protect the horses and cattle.
The routine practice of pasturing on Assateague was challenged by Mother Nature in October of 1749, when a devastating northeast storm sent a wall of water over Assateague Island. The tide ran two miles into the woods on the mainland. At Fenwick Island at the north end of Assateague, it was reported that only five of the 500 head of cattle and only one of the sixty horses pastured there survived. At Norfolk, the tide was said to be fifteen feet above normal causing extensive damage. Estate records which followed showed very few horses were left on Assateague.
The Assateague Horses first arrived on a Spanish Galleon
The Spanish Galleon
On September 5, 1750, a Spanish galleon called La Galga ran ashore on Assateague near the Maryland-Virginia border. La Galga had been escorting a fleet of six other ships from Havana, Cuba, to Càdiz, Spain, when the fleet encountered a hurricane off the north coast of Florida. The disabled fleet was propelled by hurricane winds and the Gulf Stream up the American Coast. La Galga sat in shallow water for two months while the locals salvaged what they could. In early November, a northeast storm broke the gun deck loose and the ship sanded in.
In the early 1800s, it was noted that the wild horses on the island were much smaller than those on the mainland. They were described as a “race of very small, compact, hardy horses, usually called “beach horses” which were believed to have been on Assateague since long before the American Revolution. These horses were so small that a tall man might straddle one and “his toes touch the ground on each side.”
By 1805, these horses were dubbed “island horses” and were valued at $40 each while the mainland horses were valued around $75 each. Mainland horses that were pastured on Assateague surely interbred with what was then considered an inferior breed. After the Civil War, the “island horses” were more commonly known as “beach horses” and were still valued far less that their mainland cousins
In 1877, Scribner’s Monthly published an article on Chincoteague Island, the Assateague ponies, and the annual pony penning. The author, Howard Pyle, was told that there was a “vague tradition” on Chincoteague Island that the horses had escaped from a vessel wrecked on the southern end of Assateague and that the Indians then carried the survivors to the mainland.
In 1884, Wallace’s Monthly provided a detailed account of the oral tradition of the Spanish shipwreck: “Away back in the dim and misty past, beyond the reach of the memory of the oldest and perforce most wrinkled and weather-beaten native, a ship, freighted deep with Spanish horses, went ashore on the treacherous sands of Chincoteague Island…some of the horses swam ashore and lived…Just how long ago the ship went ashore, or how many horses saved themselves from the wreck, or whether the crew was drowned or not, or where the ship cleared from or where she was sailing to, no man knows…The account said the ship wrecked either upon…the southern point Chincoteague Island or upon the barren wasteland called Assateague Beach…The original Spanish horses were small…A taint of inferior blood was introduced into the Chincoteague drove through some farm horses ferried across the bay from Maryland some years ago…Many years after the wreck of the Spanish ship a handful of fisherman settled on Chincoteague.”
This legend lived on and was repeated in numerous newspapers and magazines prior to Mrs. Henry’s visit in 1946 to Chincoteague. When she arrived at Chincoteague, she met Mrs. Victoria Watson Pruitt who was considered to be the local historian. She was born in 1884 and her family had owned land on Assateague in the late 18th century very close to where the Spanish galleon had wrecked. In her private papers she wrote: “Some people tried to discredit the story of the Spanish shipwreck as a source [from] which the ponies came. Others would like (now that the ponies are famous and have made Assateague and Chincoteague the talk of the entire country for beautiful ponies) to claim the honor. But go where you will, up and down the Atlantic Seaboard, from Maine to Florida you will not find the ponies. In fact Assateague is home of their forefathers and it’s good enough for them.”
Mrs. Henry stayed with Clarence and Ida Beebe while in Chincoteague. The Beebe’s ancestors reached back to the first English settlements on Chincoteague. Clarence was a horse farmer and shared the legend as he had heard from his predecessors with Mrs. Henry. This narrative in Misty sums it up. In the story, his grandson, Paul Beebe, asked the question:
“Grandpa!” “Is it true about the Spanish galleon and the ponies? Or is it a just a legend like the folks over on the mainland say?”
“’Course it’s true!” replied Grandpa. “All the wild herds on Assateague be descendants of a bunch of Spanish hosses.”
“Then it’s not a legend?” Maureen Beebe asked.
“Who said ’twasn’t a legend?” Grandpa exclaimed.
“’Course it’s a legend. But legends be the only stories as is true!”
Grandpa also told his grandchildren “Why I heard tell it ’twas the Indians who chanced on ’em first.”
On a clear day, you can even see all the way out to Assateague Island (though not quite this close-up).
National Park Service discredits shipwreck legend
A major departure from the Spanish shipwreck legend was made when the National Park Service Historian, Mr. Edwin Bearss, published his General Background Study and Historical Base Map: Assateague Island National Seashore. Mr. Bearss concluded, as other historians before him, that the horses today are the result of abandonment. Bearss’ primary source and basis for this assumption was the historian Jennings Cropper Wise who published Ye kingdome of Accawmacke, or, The Eastern Shore of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century in 1911. Wise had concluded that “some of the planters of the peninsula, in order to avoid the expense of fencing off the marshes on the mainland, transported their stock to the nearby islands about this time, and that this is the true origin of the Chincoteague pony concerning which so many fables have been written… Here then is not only a reasonable origin for the pony, but the origin of the pony-penning as well! Why look to shipwrecks and pirates?”
The Spanish Galleon comes to light
In 1911, the existence of a Spanish shipwreck on Assateague Island was virtually unknown, except by legend. It was not until 1908 that the archives of Maryland were published which contained records of this historic event. Of primary interest was the letter written by Don Daniel Huony, the captain of La Galga, to Samual Ogle, the Governor of Maryland. In this letter, Huony describes a survey done that positioned the shipwreck “two ship lengths” north of the Maryland-Virginia boundary line. Years later, this letter would inspire many treasure hunts.
Had Wise known about La Galga his opinions about the shipwreck legend would certainly have been different.
The Assateague horses still retain some Spanish blood
There is more evidence supporting the horses Spanish origins. In 1991, the Journal of Wildlife Management published their research findings on the genetic ties of the Assateague ponies. The study’s conclusion was that there was a “close genetic resemblance between the Assateague Island horses and the Paso Fino breed which descended from animals brought to the New World by the Spanish.” The Spanish archives make no reference to horses on La Galga but there is proof that the Spanish carried horses on board some of their ships. When the Spanish treasure fleet of 1715 wrecked in Florida, the archives record that the survivors ate some of the horses that had been on one of the ships. In the early 1980s, treasure hunters salvaging the 1622 galleon, Santa Margarita, in the Florida Keys uncovered a small horse shoe. In this case, the Spanish archives made no mention of them yet they had been on board. Dr. Eugene Lyon, who provided the historical research which led to the shipwreck’s discovery, surmised that the horses belonged to the soldiers who were traveling back to Spain. The fact that La Galga was carrying nearly sixty soldiers as documented in the Spanish archives further supports the conclusion there were horses on board when she ran ashore.
A Unique Breed descended from Spanish horses
In 1994, the Chincoteague Ponies were recognized as a unique breed. There is no doubt that these horses descended from those aboard the Spanish galleon, La Galga. These horses then interbred with other horses that had been brought periodically over from the mainland. Hurricanes since 1750 have decimated the herd but they recovered thanks to the addition of other horses such as the Shetlands which were added after the loss of half the herd in the Ash Wednesday storm of 1962. With the passage of time, the Spanish blood line has grown thinner and thinner just as the Spanish shipwreck legend is being slowly erased from the public conscience. It can be said that both the Spanish shipwreck legend and theory that the horses descended from those brought from the mainland are both correct. But this unique breed had its beginnings with the shipwreck of La Galga.
The Discovery of La Galga
In 1978, after having read the letter written by Captain Huony of La Galga found in the Maryland archives, I began archival search for more information on this shipwreck in the archives of Virginia and Maryland and in Spain. When I began, I made no connection to this shipwreck and the wild horses. After numerous searches in the Atlantic Ocean, and discovery of documents in the Accomack County Court House that proved that the beach had built out since 1750, I concluded that the shipwreck was buried beneath Assateague. Documenting the 1750 boundary line between Maryland and Virginia was easy using plats found at the courthouse. In 1983, I was directed to a Mr. Ronnie Beebe, the great nephew of Clarence “Grandpa” Beebe. Ronnie Beebe passed on to me the legend about the location of the Spanish shipwreck. He said it went into an inlet causing it to close. He not only pointed very near to where the shipwreck is now determined to be, he told me about a Spanish pistol and a handful of pieces of eight which had been found in the woods opposite the wreck site. He told me it was the Indians who discovered the shipwreck and rescued to Spaniards in 1750. Documents in Spain verify that the crew came ashore in Indian canoes.
Today, another chapter is being written on this historic shipwreck. Archaeologists have recently located numerous magnetic anomalies in the area. One was buried beneath a mound of sand that can be seen from space. It is believed the main portion of the shipwreck is waiting to be discovered nearby.
Day trippers are a central part of Ocean City life and culture. People who live within driving distance come in during the day to walk the boardwalk or hit the beach, maybe grab some lunch and then head home by evening. Kelly and Jeff Doughty are day-trippers of that stripe, king of.
They have a family place in Ocean City where they come occasionally to spend the weekend or even a week’s vacation, but more often the Eastern Shore of Virginia couple shoots up to Ocean City in the morning and just knocks around for the day. That was the case recently when I ran into them. I was in town with BL, our videographer, looking for people to interview.
Our hope was to speak with the Golden Man, a living-statue type busker who stays stock still until you feed his basket with money. After that, well, this happens:
He broke character for a second when we were about to interview him, but then someone hit him with a couple of dollars and we lost him. That the things about being a busker, you really only need to be super famous in a 100-foot radius, so performing for people who are right in front of you is more lucrative than talking to a couple of guys with cameras.
For their part, the Doughtys thought his performances were, in and of themselves, worth the trip.
“We come here and watch his act all the time,” Kelly said. “He’s been out here for years.”
He seemed good natured about it. Hopefully, we’ll catch him when he’s getting off duty and get a proper profile done. Speaking of off-duty…
Krista was up for a long weekend from Virginia and treated herself to a quiet beer at the new Monte Carlo pool bar.
A day trip to the pool
Krista was all on her own at the pool bar atop the Monte Carlo hotel downtown. Her mom had taken her kids to the beach and everyone else was asleep in the room, so she took the opportunity to treat herself to a beer and some sun on the hotel’s roof.
She and Carlo DiFilippo, who runs the bar, were hanging out with some other patrons, letting the lazy afternoon go by. The Monte Carlo rooftop bar is a new attraction at the hotel. It is open to the public serving beer and wine and a great view of the bay on one side and the ocean on the other.
Carlo seems to be having fun getting the place organized, and we were able to do a brief interview with him (catch it on an August episode of Ocean City Stories on our YouTube page). For her part, Krista was happy for the sun and the quiet; and of course she was happy for the beer.
Ocean City, MD – (July 12, 2016): Nearly 200 members of the Ocean City Beach Patrol (OCBP) will gather on Saturday, July 30, to compete in the annual intra-squad competitions between the division’s various crews. The event takes place on the beach at North Division Street beginning at 6:30 p.m. and will host 18crews of guards from the OCBP.
“Our annual crew competition has great spectator appeal and visitors to Ocean City are encouraged to come out and support the lifeguards from their beach,” commented Ocean City Beach Patrol Captain Butch Arbin. “It is a high-energy lifesaving exhibition and competition that our residents and visitors look forward to each year. Even many of our local businesses support the crews from their area by providing banners, uniforms, and food to show their appreciation for the work our lifeguards do every day by keeping their patrons safe.”
With employees dressing up in a crew “theme” for the competitions, citizens are encouraged to come out and cheer on their favorite guards, as they demonstrate their athletic skills in the following events:
Run Swim Run Relay: A team of guards from the same crew will combine their most basic lifesaving skills of running and swimming as they handoff a rescue buoy.
Land Line: A team of guards from the same crew will rescue a swimmer in distress by swimming out a 150 meter line and then be pulled to shore with the “victim” by other members of the crew.
Paddle Board Relay: A team of guards from the same crew will paddle out 150 meter on a 11 foot rescue board and return to shore before handing it off to the next waiting crew member.
Soft Sand Relay:A team of guards from the same crew will each sprint 150 meters before handing off a rubber relay baton, in this pure running race, in soft-sand.
Tug O War: A team of guards from the same crew will pull against other crews drawn randomly in this double elimination event that emphasizes strength and endurance.
“This competition has been taking place since 1976,” Arbin continued. “It is a special event and a great way to spend an evening with family or friends, while also supporting Ocean City’s lifeguards. It has become a tradition that not only do the Beach Patrol’s Surf Rescue Technicians enjoybut an event that many of our residents and visitors look forward to as well.”
The crew competition was renamed in honor of Lt. Warren Williams following his untimely death in May 2003. Warren served admirably for over 40 years, beginning in 1963, when he came to the patrol as a college student. After graduating from the University of Maryland, Warren became an engineer for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). However, this “full time” job didn’t’ cause any reduction in his dedication to the beach patrol. During his many years of government service at the NASA base at Wallops Island, Virginia, Warren, his wife and son lived in Whaleyville which meant quite a commute to his “regular” job but close enough to Ocean City for him to continue his service to the Patrol. Warren Williams held the rank of Lieutenant at the time of his passing and will be remembered by those who worked with him as one who always had the welfare of others as his priority and was always willing to do anything for the betterment of the Patrol and Ocean City.
When I walked into the Delmarva Discovery Center on Friday afternoon, it was the first time I’d done so since the 4th grade. It was quiet as I’d remembered it being as a kid, but that was just on the surface. Little did I know an energetic team was assembled just steps away from where I stood. Something big was happening. Something big indeed; something I would have noticed had I paid attention to the giant sign advertising the Wally Gordon River Otter Exhibit. That’s right. A River Otter Exhibit in downtown Pocomoke City.
Wally Gordon’s Vision
Otters have taken over the Discovery Center Gift Shop.
Upon my arrival, I was promptly introduced to Stacey Weisner, the president of the Delmarva Discovery Center and Museum, and Jackie and Kate Gordon, the mother-daughter duo that donated the exhibit in memory of the late Wally Gordon. Wally Gordon was a prominent businessman in Pocomoke City. He owned a seafood cannery in the business park. Described as extremely outgoing and lots of fun by his wife Jackie, Wally Gordon loved to have a good time. He played a big role in the original concept of the Discovery center and truly believed in what it would do for the city of Pocomoke. The Gordon Family lived on the Pocomoke River. Jackie and Wally would often relax outside, watching the river otters’ antics. So the idea for a River Otter Exhibit in his name seemed appropriate.
Can you spot Mac? Look to your right.
Meet Mac and Tuck
It wasn’t long before I was being introduced to the stars of the exhibit: McKendree and Tucker or Mac and Tuck for short. The two otters had just arrived that morning and were getting used to their new home. Mac, who was named fittingly after Wally, seemed to be adjusting well, while Tuck was taking a bit longer to warm up. Mac was active and adventurous, swimming around the aquarium and finding hiding spots. Tuck on the other hand, chose to hide out in the crate the two otters had arrived in for the duration of my visit. We were left searching for his silhouette in the box.
Mac and Tuck were rescued. They were originally from Louisiana where they were considered nuisance otters, causing problems on a local crayfish farm. They were live-trapped before being sent to a rehab facility in Ohio. From there, they traveled to the Salisbury Zoo where they stayed for a week before arriving at the Discovery center. The zoo has been a great partner in the process.
The otters are being well-cared for. They are fed three times a day and their habitat is cleaned twice daily. They are carefully observed and have been vaccinated. More so, they are being handled by well-trained keepers, like Hannah who has gone through extensive training in aquariums on the East Coast.The keepers have plenty of enrichment activities planned to keep the otters occupied and happy, as they are rather intelligent animals.They will play a big part in the museum, with many events being planned around them. One that is already in planning is a sleepover with the otters–a “Night at the Museum” affair, where people of all ages are invited to spend the night at the Discovery Center. Participants can sleep in front of the aquarium, play otter-themed games and hopefully watch an otter-themed movie.
A scale model of the Wally Gordon River Otter Exhibit.
A Year in Making
The River Otter exhibit was over a year in the making and required thorough planning and a great team effort. A team effort that was quite apparent at the museum on Friday. Walls were being painted, and banners were being hung, among many other tasks that were being completed in preparation for the exhibit’s grand opening. Local contractors contributed to the construction of the exhibit and Holly Grove Christian School made a banner to be displayed when it opens. But the effort and cooperation extends past Pocomoke City’s bounds.
A shot of the exhibit from the side. Featuring the hand-crafted log.
The exhibit was designed by Luke and Ron of Makers-of-Things, based in New Orleans. The pair has done work for the National Mall and the World War 2 museum in New Orleans. The River Otter exhibit started with Luke sketching drafts and building a model, which you can find in the front lobby of the museum. 85% of the exhibit was designed in his New Orleans backyard before being transported to Pocomoke City. Stacey Weisner noted that this makes the whole project come full circle, because Mac and Tuck were from Louisiana too.
The designers paid close attention to details. Pocomoke Cypress knees are featured in the background to include the river’s famous trees. Seashells lay on the bottom of the water to represent Wally’s seafood cannery. The logs in the tank were meticulously crafted out of wire and cement to serve as hiding places for Mac and Tuck. Everything was considered in the design process. The museum is happy with their work says Weisner, calling them true professionals. The donors are happy too. They were very hands-on in the process, investing their time as well as their money. Kate explored the exhibit from the inside noting that it was very exciting from the otter perspective.
If you would like to meet Mac and Tuck yourself, visit the Delmarva Discovery Center in Pocomoke City, Maryland. It is open seven days a week from 10am to 4pm on Mondays through Saturdays and from 12pm to 4 pm on Sundays. Visit delmarvadiscoverycenter.org for admission rates or buy an annual family membership for a one time cost of $50. The Wally Gordon River Otter Exhibit opens to the public on Monday, July 25, 2016. You don’t want to miss this exciting new attraction or the history behind it, trust me.
When we’re out talking to people on the boardwalk, sometimes we get the opportunity to go a little further than just having a conversation, sometimes this happens:
Scoping out the beach
As part of our continuing Ocean City Stories coverage, we spoke to Ferris Berlin, a scoper who was working the 39th Street beach and had a great time being Ferris. We also got him on video:
Crew 7
With the crew competitions on the horizon this weekend, we headed out to speak with Crew 7 Crew Chief Kevin Johnson. OceanCity.com sponsored Crew 7 this year and intends on being out on the beach to cheer them to victory.
Fun on the boards
In case you hadn’t picked up on the trend, we really enjoy Facebook Live, and we know you do as well. We’re doing our best to bring you some of the beach scenes you may be missing while you are away from Ocean City.
Broadway reimagined
Our contributor Jeff Smith talked to two professional television actors who are part of an original play being performed in Princess Anne. The pair reworked an acclaimed original one act play into a full length one.
Great excuses
If you’re looking for a good excuse to visit the beach after Labor Day, let us suggest returning to the beach for a beer festival at Hooper’s. Spend the afternoon relaxing in the September sun and enjoying some of the best beer the region has to offer. Follow that up with an afternoon nap and then an evening out on the town. There is seriously no better way to spend the weekend. Trust us.
Return of Ocean City in 60 Seconds
We were off for a couple of weeks, but we finally returned with a wicked-cool hat and great recommendations for the week ahead. This week we’re thinking about North Ocean City and why you should spend an evening knocking around up there, or a day there on the beach.
and one final recommendation
Saturday is the Crew Competition on the Inlet, featuring different rescue and endurance games among the Ocean City Beach Patrol members. It’s certainly worth the trip downtown.
(July 25, 2016) With heat indices through Saturday expected to range from 95 to 105, the public is invited to escape the heat by visiting the Worcester County Recreation Center (WCRC) in Snow Hill as well as any of the five Worcester County branch libraries in Ocean City, Ocean Pines, Berlin, Snow Hill and Pocomoke. Senior citizens over the age of 55 may also seek relief from the heat at any of the four Worcester County Senior Centers, which are located in Ocean City, Berlin, Snow Hill and Pocomoke, during standard operating hours.
The WCRC is open Monday – Thursday from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday from 6 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and closed Saturday and Sunday. For more information, call Recreation and Parks at 410-632-2144.
For library branch hours of operation, contact the Worcester County Library closest to you or visit www.worcesterlibrary.org.
Worcester County Emergency Services urges residents to drink plenty of fluids, avoid alcohol and caffeine, and take frequent breaks from stressful activities to avoid becoming dehydrated and overheated, which can lead to heat cramps, heat exhaustion, or heat stroke. Be aware that heat exhaustion and heat stroke are both serious conditions.
Heat cramps are painful spasms that usually occur in leg and abdomen muscles and are accompanied by heavy sweating. Administer first aid by placing firm pressure on cramping muscles, or gently massage to relieve spasms. Give an individual suffering with heat cramps small sips of water. If nausea occurs, discontinue use.
Heat exhaustion is a mild form of heatstroke. Symptoms may include heavy sweating, extreme weakness, muscle cramps, nausea and headache, vomiting or fainting. Heat exhaustion can be treated by drinking liquids and resting in a cool, shaded area.
Heatstroke is a severe medical emergency characterized by a body temperature greater than 105 degrees. It can develop quickly and is often accompanied by dry, red skin, convulsions, disorientation, delirium and coma. The victim should be kept in a cool area, and emergency medical care should be obtained immediately by dialing 911. Delaying assistance can be fatal.
They both stand when I approach. Michael O’Leary is tall. He has a warm face that invites conversation and his handshake is firm, strong. Here is a man who exudes confidence, a man accustomed to sitting down and chatting with total strangers about his life and his work. He wears blue jeans, a black T-shirt and a gray jacket which he takes off halfway through our conversation. It is a warm day in Berlin but not hot, and as we sit on the porch of the Atlantic Hotel a breeze drifts lazily over us. His silver analog watch seems large on his arm, but it is big enough for me to read from afar.
Grant Aleksander has a shock of blonde hair that is cut medium length and frames his youthful face. He has piercing eyes and when he talks he looks directly at me. I am almost pulled into him, and I can see why millions of television viewers for years were enraptured by his charisma. He folds his hands across a black shirt, blue jean clad legs crossed at the ankles. He rocks in the chair and looks out onto the street.
“This is a lovely little town,” he says.
“The coolest small town in America,” I say with a grin.
Michael and Grant speak with an easy going style, and they seem remarkably comfortable with one another, an ease that comes from years of friendship and experience. They are both former cast members of the longest running drama in American television history, Guiding Light. Over the years they became close friends and developed something of a shorthand together. While they don’t complete each other’s sentences, they do seem to read each other’s thoughts. And when it comes to the play they have come to Berlin to promote, they are of the same mind.
Set in the south during the Korean Conflict, Breathing Under Dirt is about Patience, a woman plagued by the memory of the dead: her father, her sister, the dogwoods in the garden. She tends to her father’s chrysanthemums in that same garden with her wheelchair-bound mother. Grace gives Patience brutal honesty and tough love. The two women clash over the past. Patience has put her father on a pedestal as a way to deal with her own painful memories. Grace, with biting sarcasm, refuses to let her dead husband’s image be falsely polished.
In the midst of her struggle Patience meets Jack Riley, who is the epitome of all the good she wanted her father to be. He is strong and firm, he has eyes only for her, and best of all he doesn’t drink. “Only grenadine and coke, like me,” Patience tells her mother. But Jack may be just as unreal as her memories of her father. When we first meet him he’s a little too perfect, and as their relationship unfolds we see a darker side of the man Patience believes to be her savior.
The play started as an entry to the Manhattan Repertory Theatre’s One Act Play Competition in the spring of 2016. After it won first place, Michael, in a furious month of writing, expanded it to a full length show. Grant, who directed the one act version, was eager to stay involved as the play grew in length and depth.
“There is no way I could do this play without Grant,” Michael says.
“The writing is compelling,” Grant adds. “The play leads you to believe it is about something bigger than itself.”
The two men struggled with casting for the part of Jack until Grant had an idea. “I wondered if I could still play the young Marine,” he jokes as he flashes a grin that soap opera fans across the world remember. The casting was a perfect fit. Jack is a jaded soldier just back from the Korean Conflict who, unlike Patience, does not believe in the power of love. “War conquers everything,” he tells her, “Including love.” He is the antagonist to Patience’s fragile ego, and it seems to be a role suited to a man who spent more than twenty years playing the troubled Phillip Spaulding.
Grant will also direct the play, and for him that dual role is the biggest challenge. “As a director I get caught up in directing the play, in standing back and observing the actors and giving them notes. As an actor, though, I have to be engaged in the moment.” He smiles warmly. “My wife will be there at every performance, though, giving me notes.” He laughs. “She tells it like it is.”
The play, according to Michael, is about reconciliation and rebirth, about coming to terms with your own mistakes and recognizing that in order to ask for the forgiveness of others we must first seek that forgiveness within ourselves. For both of them seeing the play produced will be the culmination of some intense hard work. “It’s one thing to write the play,” Michael says. “It’s another thing entirely to see it produced.”
Grant adds, “Michael has written some real truths. The production, and the performances, will be full of the same heart.”
In that vein, Michael and Grant have recruited some bigs names for the production in Princess Anne in August. Tina Sloan, another Guiding Light alum, will play Grace. Cynthia Watros, who also spent some time on Guiding Light (and is well known to those of us who watched Lost), plays Patience. “Cynthia perfects this role,” Michael says. “I am in awe of her talent.” Rounding out the cast will be local actor Robert Forrester as the father.
It was Robert, in fact, who helped bring Breathing Under Dirt to the Eastern Shore.
“It’s impossible get a play produced in New York,” Michael says. “So we knew that if we wanted to take the first step to get this together then we wanted to do it in a regional theater.”
Robert has been a life-long Guiding Light fan and follows Michael through social media. When he saw the play had won the competition he sent Michael a congratulatory note, mentioning that he was part of the new Lower Shore Performing Arts Company (LSPAC) and they were looking for a show to help raise money.
“I felt I knew Robert through our emails pretty well,” says Michael. “I liked the idea of bringing the first production of the show to a small theater. And if we could help with this new company, help them raise some money, that would be great, too.”
Grant, who is from the Baltimore area, loved the idea of bringing the play to a small community. His wife, in true Eastern Shore, everyone knows everyone way, is old friends with Kathryn Redden, a producer of the play and another founding member of LSPAC. Bringing the play to Princess Anne seemed a perfect fit. The team wanted to draw on the community and held auditions to round out smaller parts with local actors. “There is a lot of talent here,” Grant adds.
During our nearly two hour chat on the porch of the Atlantic Hotel we are interrupted half a dozen times by fans. They do not seek autographs, but instead want to have their photos taken with “Rick” and “Phillip.” Both men are gracious and kind with fans of a show that has been off the air for seven years. One young woman tells us it is her mother who is the bigger fan of the long running soap opera.
“You’ll have to drag her out to see the play in August,” Michael jokes.
She laughs. “Oh, I don’t think I’ll have to drag her.”
Breathing Under Dirt, written by Michael O’Leary, directed by Grant Aleksander and starring Cynthia Watros and Tina Sloan, will be presented at the Ella Fitzgerald Center for Performing Arts in Princess Anne, MD, on August 13 and 14, 2016. For more information and to purchase tickets go to lowershorepac.org.
Early bird registration is now open for the inaugural Delmarva Paddling Weekend, which will be held September 30 through October 2, 2016. The event features guided excursions and clinics by kayak, canoe and stand-up paddleboard on the Nanticoke and Pocomoke Rivers, Broad Creek and Nassawango Creek, the historic mill ponds near Laurel, Delaware, and Chincoteague Bay behind Assateague Island east of Snow Hill, Maryland.
Social events and special camping packages are available for this new outdoor event that celebrates the paddling experiences around Laurel and Snow Hill and showcases the towns as paddling “Trail Towns” — central locations to stay, play, dine and drink before and after paddling experiences. Both Laurel and Snow Hill are situated on beautiful waterways with easy access to amazing outdoor recreation opportunities and proximity to excellent state parks, and the towns’ natural beauty and rich histories make them prime destinations for both nature and heritage tourists.
Modeled after the successful Delmarva Birding Weekend, now in its 21st year, participants can choose from an à la carte menu of clinics and paddling trips. They can learn basic kayaking and SUP skills, and try their luck at kayak fishing. Interpretive paddling tours guided by local naturalists and historians will focus on the birds and wildlife of local waterways, connections our local rivers have to historical luminaries as Harriet Tubman and Captain John Smith, and twilight ghost tours on the water.
Participants may bring their own human-powered boats or boards, or local outfitters will provide kayaks, canoes and SUPs for those in need. Participating outfitters include DelMarVa Board Sport Adventures, Quest Kayak, Coastal Kayak, Delaware Paddlesports, and the Pocomoke River Canoe Company.
Locals and visitors alike are invited to participate. For those wishing to stay or camp, special accommodations will be offered at Trap Pond State Park, Pocomoke River State Park, and the bed & breakfasts of Snow Hill.
Event sponsors include the University of Delaware’s Sustainable Coastal Communities Initiative, Delaware Sea Grant, the Town of Snow Hill, Delmarva Almanac, the Delaware Office of Tourism, the Greater Laurel Chamber of Commerce, and DelMarVa Board Sport Adventures.
The Delmarva Paddling Weekend is organized by Conservation Community Consulting, LLC along with a host of other partners. To register and learn more, please visit www.DelmarvaPaddling.com.
Southern Delaware Tourism supports and encourages the identification, development and promotion of sustainable, year-round tourism in Southern Delaware that contributes to economic growth and improves the quality of life. For more information, call Southern Delaware Tourism at 302-856-1818 or visit their website, www.VisitSouthernDelaware.com.
It is pretty rare that a fad has the tacit or even explicit endorsement of the older generation but even for those of us who don’t play at (participate in?) Pokemon Go there is something of an admission of excitement that the game encourages kids to get out of the house. For those kids who can be a little persnickety about enjoying the great outdoors, Pokemon Go presents grownups the opportunity to add a little color to their days and even learn to like watching kids play video games for a change. What follows are some of our favorite ways to make Pokemon Go fun (or at least tolerable) for people who aren’t playing but whose young or old traveling companions are under the Pokemon thrall.
Check the Ocean City Life Saving Station Museum
As we wrote last week, many businesses can use Pokemon Go as a way of enticing people to their doors. It works well enough that there even are guidelines. If is a fact, though, that Pokemon creatures are naturally attracted to cultural places. The Ocean City Lifesaving Museum is right along the boardwalk, so it is already an attractive place to hunt Pokemon. Poke your head inside and take the tour and you can learn a lot about the beach culture of bygone times so you get to leave with a little knowledge as well as a potential Pokemon capture.
The horse-naming lottery allows people to make donations for the opportunity to name the new horses.
Check around the Assateague Island Visitor Center
If the prospect of seeing wild horses isn’t appealing enough, maybe seeing wild horses while hunting for Pokemon will do the trick. There are plenty of nooks and crannies near the visitors center where the creatures might be found and, when you’re done, you can learn all about life on the island past and present. Out behind the visitors center is a nature trail that covers lots of different places including the restored Rackliffe House and astounding views of the Assawoman Bay. Once you’re done there, pop across to the National Seashore which is certain to be a creature hotbed.
Photo (and capture) by MegaCallum
Hunt on your way to the beach
If getting out to Assateague isn’t your bag, remember that when you step out of your hotel, there is a very good chance a Pokemon creature stands between you and the beach. Hotels all over the island have made an effort to attract creatures for their guests to hunt, so don’t be afraid to encourage exploration of the immediate area before you head out on larger quests.
Scour quaint, charming Pokemon-ridden Downtown Berlin
If the Pokemon hunting is cutting into your shopping time, or if you want to sit and grab a snack or a cold drink between sorties, pop over to Berlin, where it is quiet and the sidewalks are wide and creatures are out in force. From the porch of the Atlantic Hotel to the Taylor House Museum, there always is the opportunity to let your kids hunt Pokemon while you enjoy your vacation.
After 11 years working the inlet, OCBP crew chief Kevin Johnson moved uptown. Part of the attraction was a new view and new patrons to look after, sure. But the move was also tied to a larger culture wherein getting to know as much of the beach as possible both enriches the job and gives the crew chiefs and other OCBP members a better overall view of the beach they call home for the better part of every summer.
The Ocean City Beach Patrol is helmed by people who have been guards for a decade or more. What makes is effective and functional is that the management structure is build upon this kind of commitment to the beach and to the job. Being talented is important, but so is being wise. OCBP management cultivtes a kind of beach wisdom by learning all of the job in as many of the places as possible.
Kevin Johnson became an SRT after graduating from Stephen Decatur. His brother was on the beach patrol and Kevin thought it would be a fun summer job. More than a decade later it has become much more than that.
“It just grew on me,” he said.
Friends hanging out on the 39th Street Beach. For people who spend the whole summer in Ocean City, staking out a regular place is pretty common.
Moving up the ranks in the Ocean City Beach Patrol
It didn’t take Kevin too long to realize that he wanted to move up in the beach patrol. He was substitute teaching off season and in season he thought he had more to contribute. Taking on more responsibility for a job that already comes with life and death decisions isn’t something he went into lightly, but it was something he felt he was ready for. He not only wanted to contribute more to the OCBP, but knew that he could be helpful in cultivating crews for the coming generations.
When he started as the crew chief of crew one, down in the inlet, he had his chance to start affecting the OCBP’s big picture in small ways.
Samantha Snyder and Melissa Thornton riding the waves at the 39t Street Beach.
‘A different way of guarding’
Starting at the inlet and working your way north the character of the beach as well as that of the patrons begins to change. The inlet beaches tend to attract shorter term guests. Day trippers and weekenders, people who may be less familiar with Ocean City or who may visit less regularly. This isn’t a hard and fast rule, but as broad stoke descriptions go, it is close to the mark.
Moving north, the blend changes. The proportion of people who are there for the week or two or even for the entire summer flips. Lifeguards get to know the people on the beach in a different kind of way. The intellectual requirements are different.
At the Inlet, there are more general questions and more of them. As you move uptown, the relationship between the guards and the patrons changes to one that is based on longer term interactions. The training for each, though informs the way guards respond.
Kevin said keeping interactions friendly, accurate and brief while scanning the water is something that is ingrained as part of the OCBP training.
“You learn to answer any questions beach patrons have keeping your eye on the beach,” he said. “During the academy, it is reinforced, ‘Eyes on the water.’”
In the heard of the Crew Seven area of responsibility.
Keeping in Shape
This is the last year Kevin will be a 20-something crew chief. Looking 30 in the face, he knows that the physical part of the job is the challenge he will have to rise to every year for the rest of the time he works for the OCPB.
“The job keeps me young, we’re working out all the time,” he said. “It does get a little harder.”
Hanging out with the younger people doesn’t just help keep him young, it also wakes his competitive urges. After 11 years he still is one of the top swimmers on the patrol, and he expects to keep it that way by keeping in shape during the off season. But in the middle of July, the off-season seems a million years away.
He’s young and good-looking and equally good natured, so it is hard to give Ferris Berlin too hard a time about his name. I met him while I was hanging out at the 39th Street beach taking photos of OCBP Crew 7 members and waiting for an interview. He’s a scoper. That is, he takes photos of people on the beach or boards in Ocean City and the company he works for makes them into those little telescope photo souvenirs (or key chains or about a thousand other things) you can buy as a memento. He gets either a commission or a flat rate depending upon the gig. He told me. It isn’t critical.
When I was a reporter in Berlin, I interviewed one of the early scopers, a woman who (if memory serves, I can’t find the story) was one of the first “girl” scopers. She would use a camera, but they still could turn the whole production around in a day. Ferris, suing a digital camera and a couple of SD cards turns in over in a few hours.
When he’s on the beach (he shares the 10 blocks between 34th and 44th streets with a buddy) a courier comes by at about 2 p.m. and people can pick their photos up (if they choose) as early as 2:30 p.m. Once he’s taken his last photo at about 5 p.m. he hustles back to the shop and has them turned around by 5:30 p.m. Hustle, here, is the operative word.
Scopers are hustlers in the positive, rather than the pejorative sense. They make their living by being fast and charming all at the same time. Ferris is charming enough. Mostly, he took the job to spend the summer on the beach. In the name of simplicity, he’s from outside of Philadelphia and hadn’t really intended on spending the summer at the beach.
He and his 34-44 street buddy met some girl scopers and thought it was a cool way to spend the summer. They applied together for summer of 2017 but were surprised to receive a call and an offer for the 2016 season.
“We didn’t even know they were hiring still for this year,” he said.
They got a place and now spend their days and early evenings working their sections of boardwalk and beach, taking the best photos they can and hoping to convince enough people to buy the occasional trinket that makes their time on the beach worthwhile.
If the Pokemon hunting is cutting into your shopping time, or if you want to sit and grab a snack or a cold drink between sorties, pop over to Berlin, where it is quiet and the sidewalks are wide and creatures are out in force. From the porch of the Atlantic Hotel to the Taylor House Museum, there always is the opportunity to let your kids hunt Pokemon while you enjoy your vacation.
When he’s on the beach (he shares the 10 blocks between 34th and 44th streets with a buddy) a courier comes by at about 2 p.m. and people can pick their photos up (if they choose) as early as 2:30 p.m. Once he’s taken his last photo at about 5 p.m. he hustles back to the shop and has them turned around by 5:30 p.m. Hustle, here, is the operative word.