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March, 1874
(Bucks County Gazette- Bristol, Pa.)
LETTER FROM MARYLAND
Newtown, Md., March 22, 1874
(Four years before Newtown's name was changed to Pocomoke City.)
(Excerpts)
Newtown... is a specimen town of the South in every sense of the word. The
majority of the buildings are old, some very much dilapidated from the wear and
tear of time, and all, with the exception of those built in the last few years,
constructed on the plan so much used in the long ago throughout the South. With
their high, sharp roofs, chimneys built out-of-doors, and their general forsaken
look, they remind one forcibly of a deserted village, or one which had gone to
sleep in some previous age, and had never been able to shake off the lethargy
which had taken possession of it.
But in spite of appearances, Newtown is not asleep. She has one large hotel,
the "Clarke House," capable of accommodating 300 guests, and one or two of
smaller dimensions, several restaurants and drinking saloons-although the latter
do not add anything to her credit- and the usual number of dry-goods, grocery,
trimmings, and other stores, which go to make up the trade of a Country town;
and there is one thing about these stores which would be well for some of your
Bristol storekeepers to take pattern by- they nearly all are run on the cash
system- and in conversation with the proprietors of one of the largest of them
they pay better than the practice of giving a miscellaneous credit.
There are two barber shops, one run by a white and the other a colored
engineer, and even here we find the usual sign, "Friend, do not ask for credit,
as I cannot and will not trust."
There are two saw-mills, a ship-yard (where there are two schooners now on
the stocks), a carriage manufactory, and a canning factory.
Oysters are here in abundance, and large fresh oysters, only one day out of
the waters of the Chesapeake bay, sell for 25-cents per bushel. On arriving at
the hotel on Friday evening we were greeted with stewed oysters for supper, on
Saturday morning we had them fried for breakfast, at noon oyster pie for dinner,
and since that time up to the present writing (Sunday evening) we have had them
in various ways four different times- so you see a man need not go hungry here
for oysters.
There is one printing office here, from which are issued three weekly papers,
"The Newtown Record And Gazette," "The Berlin Times," and "The Crisfield Index,"
the two latter being published for the towns whose name they bear, and which lie
about thirty miles from here in opposite directions.
The people of Newtown can not be said to be deprived of religious influences,
having five churches from which to take their choice. There is a Baptist,
Methodist, Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Methodist Protestant, beside two colored
churches, one of which is a Baptist and the other Methodist.
... The people here, as a general thing, are of refined and intelligent
manners, social in the extreme, and, like those of some or our northern country
towns, anxious to make the acquaintance of a stranger. We had not been in town
more than two hours before the business that brought us, the time we were to
stay, and our name were known by the majority of the residents of the place, and
we have almost begun to feel as though we were one of the "olden" inhabitants.
Newtown is known for its good looking ladies. We have here seen some young
ladies as handsome as it has been our pleasure to meet with anywhere, and in
style and arrangement of dress they will compare favorably with those of any of
our northern country towns.
The weather here is very unsettled. There has fallen a large amount of rain
during the past week, but to-day has been beautiful, with the exception of a
strong northerly wind.
Wishing you the continuing success which has crowned your efforts since
starting your newspaper, I am respectfully, D.M.S.
