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April, 1880 

 

(The New York Times)

MARYLAND'S SEASIDE RESORT

THE RAPID GROWTH AND MANY ATTRACTIONS OF OCEAN CITY

(In last week's Part 1 of the article on Ocean City's beginnings it was stated that in 1874 "It exists only on paper and in the imagination of its founders" but by just 1880 there were numerous large hotels, and train excursions were bringing up to 20,000 people to the resort on some days from off the peninsula locations.

(Part 2)

The growth of the popularity of Ocean City as a Summer resort has been very rapid, but the cause of this progress is very simple. It is easily reached from any portion of this peninsula, and from Baltimore, Wilmington, and Philadelphia. It offers to the lovers of bathing facilities for the gratification of that pleasure second to no other seaside resort on the Atlantic. For the lovers of the surf, the Atlantic Ocean breaks uninterrupted on a sand-bound shore for 40 miles. The undertow, it is claimed, is less dangerous than at Atlantic City or Long Branch, and the certainty of good surf bathing is absolute, while for ladies and children who are not strong enough, or do not possess the courage to find pleasure in the breakers , the Synapuxant Bay, which is as close to the hotels as to the ocean, affords perfectly safe bathing in water nowhere over six feet in depth, and in few spots over three feet deep. Ocean City is situated on a sand formation or beach, which connects with the mainland 16 miles to the north of this point, and to Chincoteague inlet, 25 miles south of here, and at this point it is less than a thousand feet wide. The Ocean House, which is nearly 300 feet long, and stands with one end toward the ocean and the other toward the bay, is less than 400 feet from either the bay or the ocean. The Synapuxant Bay is a large and shallow sheet of water, 40 miles long, and varying in width from a half-mile to 10 miles. Perhaps that which has done most to make this a popular Summer resort for the people of this peninsula is moderation in all charges to the visitors. Excursion tickets, good to return in five days, have been sold at Wilmington as low as $1.60. The distance from here to that city is upward of 140 miles, making the rates for passage over the railroads amount to little over a half-cent per mile. The charges at the hotels are also moderate. The highest price charged by any hotel in Ocean City is at the Atlantic, and there the best rooms in the house can be had for $2.50 per day, including meals, and all the hotels on the beach have established reputations for the excellence of their tables. The highest rate charged by any hotel to guests engaging rooms by the week is $12.50, and some of the smaller hotels entertain their guests at a charge of about $8 a week. In the matter of dress, the guests are almost invariably democratic, each lady dresses to suit her own inclination and convenience, and plainness in dress is almost universal, but there is a social element in the society of Ocean City, or, at least there was last season, that is not readily understood by the chance visitors from the nearer Northern sea-side resorts. The marked and pleasant familiarity of the guests at the hotels is not measured by dress. Nor is there that separation of circles into different sets, as at many other places. The truth is that in Maryland everybody knows everybody, and Ocean City by common consent has become the place for an annual reunion, where friends meet friends on common grounds, to entertain and be entertained in strict accordance with the far-famed hospitality of Maryland. Ocean City is a sea-side resort within reach of moderate incomes, where health may be recuperated and life may be enjoyed as well as at any other point on the Atlantic coast. The Old Dominion Steam-ship Company's steamers make close connections from New York, at Lewes, for this resort, and for Rehobeth City, another popular sea-side resort 16 miles north of this place, which has grown up during the past few years. 

(Synapuxant and Rehobeth were the Newspaper's spellings.)　

　

April, 1954

Daniel Shaw was elected Pocomoke City mayor. He was former president of the city council and unopposed to succeed Mayor Crady Matthews. Clayton Lambertson, a former Pocomoke mayor and councilman in the 1940's, was unopposed for one council seat that was on the ballot.

　

April, 1977

Plans were proceeding for the opening of a Christian Day school in Pocomoke City offering a state approved curriculum taught by certified teachers. The classes would be conducted at the Glad Tidings Assembly Of God Church on Market Street and Payne Avenue. 

　

　

January, 1912

(The Evening Post- Frederick, Md)

John W. Guy Dead

Thrice Married, He Was Father of 32 Children

Cape Charles, Va., Jan 8.- John W. Guy, 79 years old, father of 32 children, died at his home near Melfa, Va., of stomach trouble after an illness of several months. He was a prosperous farmer and life-long resident of the Eastern Shore of Virginia. He was married three times. His first wife was Mary Ann Redfield, a farmer's daughter, both bride and groom being in their twenty-second year. To this union seven children were born. His second wife was Margaret Elizabeth Ayers, 21 years old. To this union 18 children were born. Lola Crockett, 16 years old, daughter of a farmer, became his last bride when he was in his sixty-fifth year. To this union seven children were born. Of Guy's children, 21 were sons and 11 daughters.

　

　
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