Recollections from generations past. (Katherine S. Etchison- 2)

 

               

INTERVIEWER: Still on the church, what influence did it have on the community?

KATHERINE: The Presbyterian Church is one, of course, Rehobeth church is the mother of the Presbyterian faith in the United States, I guess. The first Presbyterian minister came over at the Rehobeth church.

INTERVIEWER: What kinds of things did you do for recreation?

KATHERINE: In the summer we had Chautauqua. It was an organization that traveled, and they put on programs. They even had Sousa’s band one time. And they were very, very lovely. They had a great deal of music and lectures and then of course they had hometown musicals and plays, and frequently in winter a stock company would come and put on a show every week. I remember one stock company had a woman in it with the name, they called her Stella May. Well, my mother’s name was Stella. But it wasn’t Stella May, of course. And some of her grands started calling her Stella May after that stock company was here and they called her Stella May all of the time. And then in summer we had excursions to Ocean City. And we had excursions to Red Hills. Now Red Hills is down near Sign Post. I don’t know whether you know where it is or not.

INTERVIEWER: I’ve been there a couple of times.

KATHERINE: We used to go down there on Sunday School picnics and take big baskets of fried chicken and all the things that went with it. And frequently when we were at Red Hills they would send a boat over from Chincoteague and would take us over to Chincoteague. They didn’t have the bridge then. There wasn’t any bridge to Chincoteague. The only way that people from Chincoteague could get off of it is by boat. The only way you could get there was by boat. We used to go over there from Red Hills on these Sunday School picnics. Many times, there were straw rides. Of course, with horses. And I remember one straw ride a girl was sitting up front driving the horse and she fell off. Both the wheels of the wagon went over her, but the road was so deep with sand and mud, and dirt that it didn’t hurt her very much. I mean, she wasn’t injured to any great degree. And then they used to have boat trips down the river, where they’d take the picnics. They used to go down to Williams Point. Well there wasn’t any Shad Landing. But they had a great many stops along the way. I think that’s enough of that. Some of the games we played, I wrote these down. Annie Over. Two sides and we’d throw the ball, we’d have a building between us, and we’d throw the ball over, and if they caught the ball then they could run over and catch you. If you were a prisoner, you had to go over on their side. Then we did a lot of roller skating. Somebody said, “Well where in the world did you skate?” Well there was only one place that had a cement sidewalk and that was the Citizens Bank. They had a cement sidewalk. All of the other sidewalks in Pocomoke were bricks. Of course, you can’t skate on brick walks very much, especially in those days because they were not level. But we used to go down to the bank and skate there. I remember that my roller skates were rather hard to put on. They had clips that clipped to the shoe, instead of straps. I used to hate to put them on and take them off because you had to have a key to work the roller skate. So, we always used tablecloths at our meals. And sometimes I would try to get in the house and get seated at the table so the tablecloth would hide my skates and I wouldn’t take them off. But my mother would always make me take them off if she saw me first. And then we played a game called Hopscotch. Do you know anything about hopscotch?

NTERVIEWER: Mm-uh.

KATHERINE: Well we used to play that an awful lot. And we used to hide our old thing that we used to throw. We’d get a good one that we could throw easy and you’d hide it sometimes. And we played Hit the Wicket, did you ever hear of that?

INTERVIEWER: No.

KATHERINE: Well that was you put a stick up against a tree and you had another stick that you hit it with. And if you were it, somebody else had to hit the wicket and then you had to run and get it, and while you were running to get it everybody else hid. And then it was like Hide-And-Seek. That person had to go look for them. And we had Prisoner’s Base. That was similar to Annie Over except the sides stood on opposite sidewalks. And Croquet of course. And throwing horseshoes. I used to be fairly good at throwing horseshoes. And then as a teenager we used to play tennis. We had one tennis court in Pocomoke.

INTERVIEWER: Where was that?

KATHERINE: At the high school when the high school was on Walnut Street. We’d have to get out really early in the morning if we wanted to play because somebody else would get it before we did. And then in wintertime we did a lot of ice skating. I remember the river was frozen over many times in my childhood. And people skated on the river. We used to coast. We didn’t have any hills around here. I remember very well that we used to take our sled and go to the Presbyterian Church. You know the steps are rather steep there. Well they were wooden steps, and we would coast down those steps and go all the way across the street, because there was a drive opposite the walk. Mrs. Costen, that lived in the Costen House, used to sit in her kitchen window, if she’d see us, she’d make us stop. We found out that she’d take a nap every afternoon, so our coasting was done while Mrs. Costen was taking her nap. Enough of that, I think.

(Continues next Saturday here at The Pocomoke Public Eye.)

Somerset schools will go virtual if inclement weather warrants.

2024-2025 Inclement Weather Virtual Day Instruction Plan for somerset county 

public  Schools.

(View the plan:)

SCPS Announces 2024-2025 Inclement Weather Virtual Day Instruction Plan | Somerset County Public Schools

Early voting underway in Maryland.

 

Early voting in Maryland runs October 24th to October 31st.  Voting in Worcester County takes place 7a.m. to 8p.m. daily at the Roland E. Powell Convention Center.

Accomack Superintendent of Schools is terminated.

 

Accomack County School Board terminates Superintendent Dr. Rhonda Hall

(View news article:)

Accomack County School Board terminates Superintendent Rhonda Hall - Shore Daily News

Reminder to Virginia voters-

 

(Shore Daily News)

This Friday, 10/25, is the last opportunity to apply for or request an absentee ballot to be mailed.   

The request must be received at your local registrar’s office by 5 p.m.

Saturday, October 26 will be the first weekend day that registrar’s offices in both counties will be open for early voting.  Both offices will also be open Saturday, November 2.  Saturday hours are 8:30 am to 5:00 pm.

 

THIS SATURDAY, 10/26, 5PM-10PM DOWNTOWN SNOW HILL 

SATURDAY, 10/26, 3PM-430PM 

Crisfield Chamber of Commerce’s Kids Halloween Parade

Get your little goblins and ghouls ready for the Annual Kids Halloween Parade in Crisfield October 26th, 3-4:30pm!  The high-spirited CHS marching band will lead the pack of trick-or-treaters and their guardians from the J. Millard Tawes Museum along the main strip lined with local businesses and organizations ready to fill open treat bags with plenty of goodies!  The Crisfield Lions/Lioness Club will be offering hotdogs and chips and the Crisfield Area Chamber of Commerce has free pumpkins.  You don’t want to miss this spooktacular event hosted by the Crisfield Area Chamber of Commerce!

 

Frozen waffle recall-

 (WBOC)

Over 600 frozen waffle varieties have been recalled in the United States due to possible listeria contamination, including certain brands sold at Food Lion, Walmart, and Target.

(View news story:)

Listeria Concerns Spark Frozen Waffle Recall | Latest News | wboc.com

Your input opportunity- Worcester School Calendar.

 

WCPS Seeking Input on School System Calendar

Worcester County Public Schools

October 21, 2024

Worcester County Public Schools (WCPS) is currently seeking input from all school system stakeholders on what's important to them in the school system calendar. This input will be utilized by the WCPS Calendar Design workgroup to create calendar options for the 2025-2026 school year that will go before school system leadership and ultimately the Board of Education for consideration and approval.

To participate in the survey, simply click here: 

Welcome - Thoughtexchange

or scan the QR code below to be directed to the survey tool. The survey will accept responses now through November 1, 2024.

Time Machine: 100 years ago this week in Pocomoke's newspaper; 1832, 1985, 1931, 1887, 1939.

 

August, 1832

American & Commercial Daily (Baltimore)

March, 1985

                  (see larger text that follows)

Salisbury Daily Times

January, 1931

Salisbury Times

July, 1887

Peninsula Enterprise

      Today-

Pocomoke Public Eye note: There is also a Cobb Island in Maryland off of the Charles County mainland.

July, 1939

(next to the Marva Theater)

Worcester Democrat

tkforppe@yahoo.com

tkforppe@yahoo.com

Don't be a scam victim!

 
Worcester County Sheriff's Office

SCAM ALERT!

Please be aware of an ongoing phone scam in which the caller pretends to be a Commander from the Worcester County Sheriff's Office, using the name of a REAL deputy, and demands money for missed jury duty or an arrest warrant. THIS IS A SCAM! Neither the Worcester County Sheriff's Office or any Law Enforcement Agency will demand payment over the phone. Hang up immediately and do not arrange payment. Do not give out any personal or financial information.

Similar scams have involved impostors claiming to be with the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) or the IRS (Internal Revenue Service). If you believe you may have been a victim of a telephone scam (shared personal or financial info), call or office at 410-632-1112.

Recollections from generations past. (Katherine S. Etchison- 1 )

 

Katherine S. Etchison (1895 - 1990)

Date of interview- April, 1982 

(obituary excerpt)

(taught 10 years in Worcester

 County before retiring)

Transcript

Interview Begins

INTERVIEWER: This is an interview with Katherine Etchison

KATHERINE: My name is Katherine Stevens Etchison.

INTERVIEWER: How old are you?

KATHERINE: I am 86 years old.

INTERVIEWER: What are your parent’s names?

KATHERINE: My mother’s name was Stella Adkins Stevens and my father’s name was Alexander Hartley Stevens. My grandparents, my mother’s mother was, Katherine Savage Adkins and her father was John Henry Adkins. My father’s mother was Mary Jane Truitt Stevens Handy. She was married twice. His father’s name was A. Sidney Stevens. He was the first lawyer in Pocomoke. He lived in a house that was torn down to build the Post Office. It was very much like the Costen House. It was the same type of house as the Costen House. What’s your next question after the parents?

INTERVIEWER: Your childhood, and homelife. The chores you did.

KATHERINE: I had to clean lamps every Saturday morning. Frequently my mother made beaten biscuits and I would help beat the biscuits. She’d always make them out. We generally had to clean our own rooms and sometimes yards. But that was about the extent of our chores.

INTERVIEWER: Where did you live?

KATHERINE: We lived in many houses. My father had six children. His father died when he was twelve years old, and he was the oldest of four children. And before my grandmother remarried, married Mr. Handy, my father hadn’t really gotten out and kind of shift for himself. He rented houses. We’d move quite frequently, and everybody said we did because my mother was a great homemaker. And she used to light the house up quite a bit. My father would rent a house that wasn’t especially attractive, but by the time my mother had…that we had lived there for a while and she had sort of taken charge, it was sold. And we’d have to move again. So, we lived in quite a few houses. The last house my father owned was the original Hartley Hall. We lived out there when we were growing up.

INTERVIEWER: How long did you live there?

KATHERINE: How long did we live at Hartley Hall? About 30 some years. 35, 36 years. Of course, I was married, and I lived in Washington. And my sister, Rosemary, was married and lived in Columbus, Ohio.

INTERVIEWER: Did you have any jobs besides the things you did around the house?

KATHERINE: Did I have any what?

INTERVIEWER: Jobs

KATHERINE: I taught school. I’m a retired schoolteacher.

INTERVIEWER: When you were younger.

KATHERINE: When I was growing up? I don’t remember any jobs, except just chores around home.

INTERVIEWER: Where did you go to school?

KATHERINE: I graduated from Pocomoke High School and then I went to the Towson Normal School. It was the Normal School then. It was only two years. I started my first teaching position in Montgomery County, and I taught in Gaithersburg.

INTERVIEWER: What kind of a teacher were you?

KATHERINE: Elementary teacher. I taught sixth grade most of the time. After my husband died, I returned to Pocomoke to live with my mother. I taught here.

INTERVIEWER: In Pocomoke?

KATHERINE: In Pocomoke. I had heard that the third grade was always a nice grade to teach. I was nearly ready to retire. So, I asked the superintendent if he would let me have a third grade. At the time when I first came down, I was principal over to Stockton of just four teachers. And so when I went to Dr. Cooper and asked him if I could have a third grade, he said, “I think you’ve lost your mind!” and I said, “No, I’ve always heard that a third grade was the nicest grade to teach.” And I said, “I’d like to try it before I retire.” So, he gave me a third grade. But I’ve always kind of regretted it, because sixth grade was my…I mean, they told me when I was going to Normal School, they told me then that I should have older children. I couldn’t get down to the third-grade level, I mean, in my conversation and so forth.

INTERVIEWER: Which church did you go to?

KATHERINE: The Presbyterian Church. We were all Presbyterians. The Presbyterian Church, the present one. The Dennises, that owned Beverly, were members of the Presbyterian Church.  And Mrs. Dennis, I remember, Mrs. Jane Dennis, used to come in Sunday mornings, and in those days, they used to go in mourning, and wear their mourning clothes for years. She used to wear a black kind of a turban with long veils, all the way down to the hem of her skirt, and she used to have little white (audio not clear) around here and around her neck. But otherwise, she’d walk into church with this veil trailing in back of her, and she sat next to the front row. To reach church, she came in a carriage, and she had a footman and a driver. And they used to drive in the driveway that approached the side of the church. And the driver went back and parked the cart.

And the footman that she had in those days told a story that I think might be interesting. “I remember my mother saying, that when the Freedom War was over”, this was footman Richard… “I always , remember my mother saying when the Freedom War was over, and there was shouting and yelling, and the slaves were free, Ms. Jane Dennis told the colored people they could go, but that whoever wanted was welcome to stay. Some wandered off, but my people stayed and at Beverly my life had been wrapped like the (audio not clear)) that have cared for me. There wasn’t any schooling then, what learning you got you just picked up. Grandfather was a blacksmith.” Now this is a colored fellow talking. “And wheelwright for the farm. And at seven I was put to work pulling weeds and cutting grass. I was a footman and later a butler. Miss Jane, she had a big carriage with a driver and a baggage man sat up high in front. She in the carriage and me as her footman on the step in the back. When we came to a gate, I’d jump down, open the gate, and jump back up. The carriage never stopped. The Dennises owned farms all over and we really traveled around. All plowing was done with oxen. Horses were for driving only. 

When I was twenty-one, Miss Jane called Pat and me in and she said she wanted to settle with him for my wages from seven years to twenty-one, and she paid him thirty dollars. They kept us good though. We raised tobacco and cotton on the farm and had sheep for the wool. And the old folks spun and made the cloth. And Miss Jane got patterns and cut out our clothes. There just wasn’t any ready-made clothes. Every man on the farm got ten pounds of meat every week. And we had our house and a garden. Everything came off the farm, except for little things and they had a store there for that. One fall they butchered 150 hogs and cured them down in the cellar for the meat for the hams. We used brown sugar and molasses for sweetening. Molasses got so thick in the winter, you could cut it with a knife. We just didn’t have much use for money. On a Sunday, I’d go to the Baptist Church near the farm and sit in the loft and sing and sing all day long. When we had free time in the evening, we’d go down to the river and fish. Many a fat bass I pulled out! It was a sweet time with no cares. And the days went by like heaven. When I got to be twenty-one, with the $30, I had itchy feet and left, and jumped here and there. To Chester to Philadelphia, to Chester to Philadelphia, where I had a new paid sweet job on the trolley line. Then I washed dishes in a big hotel in Berlin. And then I came back to Beverly and never wanted to leave again. I was a gardener and a butler and dressed fine.” The person that had this interview with Richard said, “His memory of his growing years is not to clear. It’s such a long time ago. Miss Jane died and the other Dennises had the farm. Then the Shettles bought it and he stayed on as gardener and butler. When Mr. Shettle died, Mrs. Shettle later married John Butler and they are the present owners. Uncle Richard remembers a great party the Shettles had and their two children. He called them Miss Sandy and Mr. William. When Miss Sandy came out and later when she married the spread of lawn of Beverly was covered with canopies from the stately front door down to the banks of the river itself. It was a sweet time. Everything went lovely and smooth and a person could really live then. He once took a two-weekvacation. Mrs. Shettle called him and said I hate to see you leave but you have earned it, and here’s an extra ten dollars and I want you to telephone me, wherever you are collect if anything happens. He didn’t know much about this telephoning reversing business, but he remembered it. He went on a spree in Philadelphia. At the end of two days the city just went south. I got on the phone, Richard said, and called collect, just like he said, and it worked. And I came running back just as fast as I could. The loyalty he gave Beverly had not been forgotten by the proprietor, who now have installed him in a comfortable room at Hartley Hall in Pocomoke City. They send in the chauffer every so often to take him back to the farm. And he walks once again through the lanes of the spring flowers and along the riverbanks where one of the largest cypress trees in the United States grows.” That’s it.

INTERVIEWER: So, he lived in Hartley Hall after that?

KATHERINE: Yes, he lived at Hartley Hall. There is the carriage that they drove to church. A picture of it.

INTERVIEWER: They must have been awful rich to drive something like that.

(Continues next Saturday here at The Pocomoke Public Eye.)

Katherine Etchison was my great aunt. She was very much into reading and in late 1959 she gifted me with a subscription to National Geographic magazine beginning with the January 1960 issue. It was an amazing gift, opening up a world of things which I never imagined existed. After a few years, however, it resulted in great consternation from my parents, as one NEVER discards a copy of National Geographic. I had literally hundreds of copies under my bed and each night I would pull one out and review wonderful things from previous browsing.

Eventually I graduated high school and departed for college. When I first returned six months later my collection had mysteriously disappeared. My parents said they had to go because the weight was causing the floor joists under my room to sag.

Your friend,
Slim

Marching Ravens instruments for Pocomoke and Snow Hill-

 

(View news announcement:)
Ravens Marching Band Donate Instruments to WCPS | WORCESTER COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS (worcesterk12.org)

Keeping it legal: Personal use of Pocomoke's city vehicles.

 

Take-home vehicles subject to IRS rules

(View news article:)

https://easternshorepost.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/20241018_post_up.pdf

Outdoor burning bans-

Outdoor burning bans have been implemented in Worcester, Somerset, and Wicomico Counties.

Effective immediately, Worcester County Fire Marshal Matt Owens issued a burn ban, and ALL outdoor burning is banned for an indefinite period of time in Worcester County.

The ban applies to all outdoor ignition sources, with the following exceptions: proper use of gas and charcoal grills, campfires at the County’s commercial, State, and Federal campgrounds, permitted official Ocean City bonfires, private property recreational campfires that are limited to a fire area of two feet with a height of three feet, public fireworks displays, and volunteer fire company training exercises.

“Due to the County’s current dry conditions, the burn ban is effective immediately,” Fire Marshal Owens said. “This ban should reduce the number of out-of-control outside fires, which cause safety concerns for area residents, visitors, and especially responding fire personnel.” 

The ban will remain in effect until the dry conditions dissipate.

All existing outdoor burn permits have been rescinded,” Environmental Programs Director Bob Mitchell said. “Our water tables are extremely low, and this is confirmed by County and USGS monitoring well networks. We have extremely low precipitation totals, and the US drought monitor has the county under a moderate drought category.”

For further information, contact Fire Marshal Owens at 410-632-5666.

Public raises unsettling issues at Accomack School Board meeting.

(Shore Daily News)

 

(View news story:)

Accomack School Board Meeting highlights controversy - Shore Daily News

     

Reminder: Pocomoke Halloween Costume Contest-

 (Photos courtesy WULFHAUSE PRODUCTIONS)

Random sampling.  See all the contestant photos before voting. 

                                                    

                                                                                                        

Scroll to the costume section on the Pocomoke City Facebook page.  After viewing all of the contestant photos vote for your favorites.

https://www.facebook.com/pocomoke/

Pocomoke's Halloween Costume Contest voting is LIVE on the Pocomoke City Facebook page! Simply "like" the picture(s) of your choice to cast your vote through October. Winners will be announced on Halloween!