Recollections from generations past. (Katherine S. Etchison- 5)

 

              

INTERVIEWER: Did you ever go to Public Landing?

KATHERINE: Yes, indeed. We used to have Sunday School picnic, a couple of times. Just as we did at Red Hill and Ocean City.

INTERVIEWER: What kind of things. You just had a picnic there?

KATHERINE: Yes, we’d just bathe and eat. We had, oh I guess, supper. Anyway, we’d eat a meal and we used to crab. Catch crab.

INTERVIEWER: You had to get there by boat.

KATHERINE: The Pocomoke River. You have Pocomoke River there. Pocomoke River is a very treacherous river. You can wade in the Pocomoke River, maybe up to your knees, and the next step would be like you were stepping off a hedge top. I remember when we were children, and we used to have a place that we called the Little Winter Quarters. There wasn’t anything there but the river. Sometimes we would go there, take a lunch and go to the Little Winter Quarters and one boy, one of our brothers or somebody would go out find how far we could go and drive a stick, because they could swim. All the boys could swim in those days, but the girls couldn’t, because we didn’t have a swimming pool or anything like that. And they would drive a stick so that we wouldn’t go too far.

INTERVIEWER: And you would just wade in?

KATHERINE: We used to go to the Pocomoke River through Winter Quarters, through the woods out here. We used to get arbutus and teaberries. Teaberries are good to eat. You’ve heard of teaberry chewing gum.

INTERVIEWER: Um-huh.

KATHERINE: Well, same flavor. We used to collect teaberries and arbutus and then go on to the river and have our lunch and wade there at the river. The roads were so that it was hard to visit. Now I am talking about the very early times, probably when I was a child. And people lived on the river and used boats to visit back and forth. But the people inland generally rode horseback to visit.

INTERVIEWER: Do you know anything about Jake the alligator?

KATHERINE: No. Legends and superstitions. I told you about the fairgrounds, haven’t I?

INTERVIEWER: Yea, you told me about that. Do you remember any big storms or hurricanes?

KATHERINE: The windstorm in 1922, no that was fire. There was a storm that cut the inlet. I have forgotten the year that that storm took place.

INTERVIEWER: I think it was around ’30.

KATHERINE: I don’t know, but there used to be, there wasn’t any inlet at all down at Ocean City, from the ocean to the bay. There was land there. And they had a storm there one summer and it made that inlet.

INTERVIEWER: Just cut it in there?

KATHERINE: Yes. Do you know where I’m talking about in Ocean City? Where the bay and the ocean are connected?

INTERVIEWER: Yea. Did you ever go to Ocean City?

KATHERINE: Oh yea. We went to Ocean City. We used to spend the month of July in Ocean City when we were children. This is (unintelligible). They used to have an all-day Ocean City Excursion. The trains would put it on. And we’d get on the train at Pocomoke and change at Salisbury and go on to Ocean City. We’d leave in the morning quite early and return around nine o’clock. And this was how much it cost.

INTERVIEWER: A dollar?

KATHERINE: Yes, round trip. There’s the Excursion. And this was the old station on Clarke Avenue. And then that is the new one. That was a Saturday. Everybody used to come to Pocomoke on Saturday to shop. The farmer’s brought mostly their butter and eggs and their farm products. And then they would take them to the store and trade them for sugar and flour and things of that kind.

INTERVIEWER: They would come from all over?

KATHERINE: Yes, the surrounding country.

INTERVIEWER: Pocomoke has changed then.

KATHERINE: Oh my.

KATHERINE: The last fire was 1922. There was a man that was burning some trash in a trash container on Second Street. Right across from, well it was on the corner of Second and Willow Street. And he was burning some trash in the back of his store and it was very, very windy. And the wind took the fire down by the Peacock Hotel now, but it was the Parker House. It burned the whole block where the vacant store is on the corner and the bank and Scher’s. It burned that whole block. And then it went over across and burnt two blocks. And Front Street was completely destroyed, both sides of the street. People moved their furniture out into the street. And the fire even burned that. Every house on Front Street was burned. It went on down to the river. I think the reason it was such a big fire was because the water, there was something about pressure, the water pressure, it didn’t and then the wind was blowing. My father had a store. That wasn’t burned. That was right next to Vincent’s store. He had retail ice cream and that wasn’t burned. My brother at the time, and his wife lived above that and of course they expected that to burn. So, my oldest brother, Sidney, drove downtown to help this brother that lived there, but he didn’t get downtown. There was a Mrs. Lloyd that lived on Market Street opposite the Maryland National Bank, they lived there. And she called him, and he stopped, and he took her furniture out, we lived out to Hartley Hall, he took her furniture out to Hartley Hall. My sister said when she went out somewhere, she went out about the fire. And when she came back to Hartley Hall later on in the afternoon, it started in the morning. She said the porch and the yard was completely filled with furniture that people had moved out there trying to save from the fire. And she said they didn’t have any lights. They got some candles out and I think somebody made some yeast flour biscuits. My mother wasn’t home. She was visiting me in Washington.

INTERVIEWER: You weren’t here when it burned?

KATHERINE: No, I wasn’t here at the time. Rosemary said that she was invited to a bridge party that day. And the hostess gave the refreshments to the firemen. The firemen from other towns that came. They were going to have a dance that night and the refreshments that they planned to have for the dance they gave those refreshments to the firemen too.

(Series continues next Saturday with recollections of another long-time resident.)

County gives go-ahead for new Pocomoke library.

 

(Nov. 15, 2024) A years-long effort to replace Pocomoke City’s aging public library is finally moving forward in earnest, as Worcester County officials have given the go-ahead to fund the $8.4 million project.

(View news story:)

County OKs funding for new Pocomoke City library | News | oceancitytoday.com

Pocomoke mural officially unveiled.

 

PHOTOS courtesy Wulfhause Productions

(City of Pocomoke Facebook)

 

This beautiful mural in Downtown Pocomoke was funded by the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development through their Operating Assistance Grant for beautification projects on Maryland's Main Streets. 

The amazing artists of We Are Limitless Studios took the time to capture the true meaning of Pocomoke: family, home & roots. While also paying respect to the rich native heritage of the land. 

A special thank you to Cypress Roots Brewing Company for allowing their building to be the perfect canvas for this public art that will be enjoyed by the community for years to come!

Rocket Lab looking ahead to new missions from Wallops.

 (WBOC)

(View news story:)

Rocket Lab to Launch Satellite Constellation Missions from Wallops Island | Latest News | wboc.com

 

Goodbye present-day Bay Bridges?

 (Chesapeake Bay Magazine)

Maryland transportation leaders are laying out their vision for a new Chesapeake Bay Bridge, and it means taking out the existing two spans entirely to replace them with new, wider spans. 

(View news article:)

MD Proposes Removing & Replacing Both Spans of Bay Bridge with New Structures | Chesapeake Bay Magazine

SAFE SCHOOLS Tip Line-

 

Parade participants- is your application in?

 Monday, Dec. 2

View links for rules and applications:

Pocomoke Christmas Parade

Late mayor accomplished much for Crisfield..

 
The City of Crisfield is mourning the passing of former Mayor, Kim Lawson. Mayor Lawson served the City in many capacities, City Council, 1990-1994, 2006-2010 and 2010-2014, Mayor 2014-2018 and Park Committee Chairman. He was the driving force for the creation of the Crisfield Park Committee in 2010, where he served as Chairman for many years and was instrumental in the writing of and successful award of grants that were responsible for the park, playground & walking trail on Collins Street He truly loved Crisfield and had a vision for our City.

Thank you for your service to our city, Mayor Lawson.

Blood Emergency-

 

SEE DONATION LINK BELOW

🚨 Blood Bank of Delmarva has declared a blood emergency as we face a nearly 20% drop in donations, putting our community’s blood supply at serious risk.

With the holiday season approaching, we urgently need donors of all types, especially Type O.

Our community depends on a steady flow of donors to ensure our hospitals remain supplied. As we enter this critical time of year, we’re calling on everyone eligible to roll up their sleeves and donate. 

Your contribution is essential for ensuring that patients in need receive the lifesaving blood they rely on.

Schedule a donation: https://bit.ly/3AmZUxH

Shore native, nearing 100, recalls World War II combat.

 

Charles Robert Corbin Jr. poses in his U.S. Army uniform during World War II. Corbin, who grew up in Accomack and Northampton counties, was injured in Europe during the war. He will be 100 years old next month. 

(View news article:)

20241108_post_up.pdf

Lady Warriors are state champs again!

 (Salisbury Daily Times)

State Champions Again: Pocomoke field hockey defeats Patuxent 3-1, wins 1A State Title

Salisbury Daily Times

The MPSSAA Class 1A Field Hockey State Championship is once again headed back to Pocomoke City, as the Pocomoke Warriors defeated Patuxent 3-1 Saturday night to grab the state title.

After a scoreless first quarter, Patuxent got on the scoreboard first with a goal in the second quarter by Caydence Stone. Down 1-0 at halftime, Pocomoke needed a big second half to grab another state championship, and they did just that, scoring three goals in the final two quarters.

Pocomoke hosted Queen Anne's Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Pocomoke City, Maryland. Pocomoke defeated Queen Anne’s 1-0 in penalty shootouts

The first goal for the Warriors came courtesy of Aubrey Jackson-Bowen, who tied things at 1-1 in the third quarter. And Pocomoke took the lead in the fourth, with Kendall Rayfield scoring the go-ahead goal in the final quarter. One more goal put the game away and sealed the 3-1 championship victory for Pocomoke.

For Pocomoke, this is its 22nd field hockey state championship in program history and its third in the last four years, continuing the school's field hockey dynasty. Only one school, Severna Park, has more Maryland field hockey state titles than Pocomoke, as the Warriors currently have the second most in state history.

(View Delmarva Sports Network video:)

Highlights: Pocomoke Field Hockey wins 22nd 1A MD State Title with 3-1 win over Patuxent | Ott | delmarvasportsnetwork.com

Time Machine: 100 years ago this week in Pocomoke's newspaper; 1884, 1954, 1999, 1939, 1927.

 

January, 1884

The Morning Herald (Baltimore)

June, 1954

Salisbury Times

November, 1999

Salisbury Times

*August, 1939

Baltimore Sun

*March, 1927

The Evening Times (Salisbury)

tkforppe@yahoo.com

Recollections from generations past. (Katherine S. Etchison- 4)

KATHERINE: I remember when the mill used to blow whistles and it was quite a sight to see the people coming from those mills, you know, when the whistle blows, or going to work when the whistle blows. But we used to set our clocks to the whistle. Where do you have transportation?

INTERVIEWER: That’s the next thing.

KATHERINE: We had five trains a day at Pocomoke. And we had one at six o’clock in the morning that went north, I think. And we had two between one and two o’clock, one went north and one went south. Then we had one at eight o’clock and I don’t recall whether that went north or south, I’ve forgotten. I think it went south because it seems to me, I came home on it once. And then we had one at midnight. And then we had steamboats. And the steamboats, I think we had three a week. And I have something here that I want to…. Would you mind helping me lift that up? Now this is when a steamboat arrived at the station. This is something that somebody had written up. It’s perfect because I remember it so well.

“The Arrival of the Steamboat. There was always a crowd on the wharf when the steamboat was due. The farmer’s sons all newly washed and combed. The more sophisticated white-collar town boys and the neighborhood girls in finely starched dresses. Negros with their shining teeth indulging in wild horse play, but careful to avoid jostling white folks. One would have a (audio not clear) and a group would start dancing and clapping hands. All of these vessels are remembered with brushed carpet, easy chairs, shining brass on steps and rails. Everything as clean as a pin. The fare to Baltimore from Easton was fifty cents which included a clean berth, a private stateroom with extras. When the deep-throated whistle sounded,” and I’ll say here that many people went to see the steamboats come in. That was one of our pastimes, was to go to the wharf and watch the boats come in. “When the deep-throated whistle sounded every eye would be fixed on the bend. A whiff of smoke might be seen in the sky and at last she swims into view. Here she comes! What a moment! She drifts slowly alongside, with engines stopped. How big she is! What majesty and what grandeur! The white coil lines are flung ashore. The wharf tender jumps, catches the line and hauls it on the holster, drops the heavy loop over the wharf post. The captain on the hurricane deck signals to the engineer to reverse speed, while every face on the wharf turns admiring regard at that Superman in blue and gold. In those days, every small boy on the shore dreamed of becoming a steamboat captain. The gang plank was run ashore and a scene of (audio not clear) activity took place. The passengers did not go aboard yet, that would have been to miss half the fun. Jazz had not been named, but the Negro roustabouts with their banging hand trucks conducted all their operations in the rhythm of jazz. Prancing, shaking their shoulders, rolling their empty trucks on one wheel, and singing in time. The racket was terrific. After the dead freight was on, the cattle were loaded. If the beef had horns two grabbed him and pulled while a third walked followed behind pushing his tail. An animal would often escape where upon a mad chase took place, everybody hollering to get her. At the very last the passengers walked over the gangplank and were hustled on board. The steamboats left Pocomoke in the afternoon, arriving in Baltimore in the early morning. The service had traditions that helped to make each trip on a steamboat a festive occasion. For one thing it was an unwritten law that the captain should be a gentleman as well as a navigator. He was expected to play host to the passengers to see that everyone had a good time.” That expresses exactly what happened because I been dancing the wharf many times.

INTERVIEWER: Everyone went down there to watch them come in?

KATHERINE: No, not everybody, but that was one of things we liked to do. We used to enjoy going down and watching. The trains, I didn’t tell at the time, but there used to be a bus. There used to be two buses that met the trains from the livery stable and the buses took the people to the hotels or if you wanted to go to the station you’d call the livery stable and they’d stop for you. One thing I have overlooked that I hadn’t told you. We had a fair in Pocomoke. Had horse racing. And that fair ran for years and years and years, every summer and that was quite a big event.

INTERVIEWER: What kind of things? Was it just horseracing?

KATHERINE: Horse races and it was an agricultural fair too. People would take their products there and they would give them prizes. They had side shows like a carnival, but it was a fair. But the horse racing was really very good. Of course, they had a bandstand and they had a band. Pocomoke used to have a band, from the Pocomoke adults had a band. Here’s a picture of the fairgrounds. Alright, what’s your next question?

INTERVIEWER: Do you remember when you got your first car, when your family got a car?

KATHERINE: I remember the first automobile in Pocomoke. That was Dr. Walters. I’m sure you don’t know him, well it’s Henry Walters’ grandfather. He had the first automobile in Pocomoke. He was a dentist. There used to be a man down in Virginia that had a great big automobile, and Mr. Parker, the proprietor of the Parker House, was a good friend of my mother’s. And Mr. Bodley would come up in his big automobile and Mr. Parker would come around and collect all of us children, ours and friends, and take us for a ride. Oh, that was, we thought that was just a wonderful thing to happen. Probably I was six or seven years old, but I remember it very well.

INTERVIEWER: Did you ever learn to drive?

KATHERINE: Oh yes.

INTERVIEWER: Did you just get in and start driving? How did you learn to drive?

KATHERINE: No. I think my husband taught me to drive. I drove until I broke my hip. After I broke my hip, I kept my car two years thinking I would do better, you know, and I would be able to drive.

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