Reflecting on Delmarva’s Past

Welcome to Reflections on Delmarva’s Past. On this blog, I will post articles on the history of Delmarva, both old and modern, and the personal stories of its people, first and secondhand. Installments may include pieces on places, folkways, events, the built environment, people, and about any aspect of the Peninsula’s past that catches my attention. Additionally, I may periodically contemplate current happenings, as I investigate the convergence of dynamics that are changing our region in the 21st century. History, after all, is a continuum and understanding what happened in the past provides context for current developments.

Delmarva’s history has fascinated me since 1968 when I started volunteering at the Historical Society of Cecil County as a teenager. For nearly a half-century now, all of my adult life, I’ve had a wonderful time discovering historical traces in photographs, oral histories, documents, and the material culture. In addition to rummaging through old books, documents, and crumbling newspapers as a way of investigating our past I had the privilege of learning so much from many knowledgeable people during those rapidly passing decades. I hope to share some of those insights here. As I search for windows on Delmarva’s past and post entries, I hope you will find them interesting since the region has so many stories waiting to be told.

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