This place (Newtown) is a pretty snug little village, containing about 500 clever and hospitable inhabitants; is has good wide streets, quite clear of that "eye sore," known mostly over the Peninsula by the name of "deep sand"; the houses, though built of frame, are generally built substantially and with some discretion and taste; there are two neat, new, and quite handsome frame churches in it; as for the merchants of the place, suffice it to state that they are very clever and hospitable. F. Mezick, Esq., the landlord with whom I stopped, and his very obliging and jolly assistant, are richly deserving of a passing notice, for the good treatment and the extension of the many civilities to "the stranger."
(Reader Friendly Viewing Of News Archive/Historical Archive Material)
April, 1884
The Family Herald And Weekly Star (Montreal, Wisconsin)
(Note: The article placed Pungoteague Creek in Maryland, not Virginia. I have omitted a portion of the article that detailed, quite graphically, how it was attempted to kill the whale. - tk)
CAPTURING A WHALE
(Excerpts)
An Exciting Experience In a Creek on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
The oystermen and other denizens of the eastern shore of Maryland have been greatly exercised recently over the capture of an enormous whale which stranded a few days ago on a sandbar in Pungoteague Creek. This is the second whale which made a mistake and got into the Chesapeake Bay during the last six months.
Charlie Scott, a young man of Pungoteague, was out in his canoe last Saturday, and was startled when he nearly backed his boat up on top of the monster as he lay quietly on the sand in about four feet of water.
The stir made by the boat aroused the whale, and he began lashing the water with his big tail and spurted water from his blow-holes about thirty feet in the air. Young Scott very fortunately got his canoe out of the way before the whale smashed it, as he could have easily done with one blow of his powerful tail.
Scott rowed back to Pungoteague, told his friends, and an expedition was at once fitted out to go and capture the whale. They took a large boat, and their weapons consisted of an old musket, three axes, a hatchet, three saws, and four sailors' knives.
When they reached the whale he was lying still, having, no doubt, exhausted himself in his frantic efforts to get clear of the sandbar. Scott, a very bold but imprudent whaler, rowed right up to it and struck it with his oar on the blow-holes. This woke the whale, and he opened his enormous jaws, very nearly engulfing the rash fisherman, who dropped on his back in the bottom of his boat...
(the expedition attempted to kill the whale by various methods)
The tide having risen by this time, the whale made a desperate, dying effort and succeeded in getting off the bar, carrying with him the stakes and ropes with which the fishermen had hoped to hold him.
Away he plunged and soon disappeared, much to the disappointment of the fishermen. They got a sailboat, however, and cruised around the next two days in the hope of finding him, knowing that he could not live with all the injuries he had sustained. The carcace of the dead monster was discovered in a creek, some distance from where it was first seen.
He weighed thirty-five tons, and was forty-eight feet long, six feet, eleven inches high, and five feet wide. His tail was nine and one-half feet long. His mouth held more water than the tender of a camel-back engine. About eight barrels of oil were obtained from the blubber.
Footnote: The Denton Journal reported in December, 1891: "A whale recently stranded on the beach of Worcester County, measured 26 1/2 feet in length, 4 feet across the mouth, 18 feet girth."
June, 1969
The Daily Times (Salisbury)
(Excerpt)
'Baby Beltway' Project To Start
SNOW HILL- The start of construction of the long-delayed Pocomoke City "Baby Beltway" was promised by County Roads Engineer, Victor Smullen, as a group of Pocomoke City businessmen met with the County Commissioners, to say they have finally secured the last signature on deeds for rights-of-way for the by-pass.
The by-pass is in the southwest part of the city, and is designed to relieve heavy truck and industrial traffic in that part of Pocomoke.
August, 1998
The Sunday Capital (Annapolis)
(Excerpts)
On September 22 the inaugural season of the Maryland Fall Baseball League will begin, with games continuing until Nov. 1. The league is designed like baseball's other winter instructional leagues, and offers organizations and prospects some additional opportunities for development.
The league will feature some of the best class A prospects in professional baseball, and will include representatives from all 28 major league teams.
The four teams in the league will be Bowie, Frederick, Delmarva (Salisbury) and Wilmington (Del.).
The Orioles.... will probably be most interested in the play of catcher Jason Werth, the team's first round pick (21st overall) in the 1997 draft. Through August 9, Werth was batting .266 at class A Delmarva, with 18 doubles, six homers, and 44 RBIs in 338 at-bats. The organization is grooming him to become the catcher of the future.
Footnote: The Salisbury team in the fall league was known as the Delmarva Rockfish. After the 1998 season the league relocated to the warmer clime of California but didn't find success there. Prior to his major league debut in 2002, Jason Werth was traded by the Orioles organization to the Toronto Blue Jays. After playing in the majors with the Toronto team he went on to play with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, and (currently) with the Washington Nationals as an outfielder.
June, 1919
(Cumberland Evening Times- Cumberland, Md.)
DISCHARGED SOLDIERS IN FIREMEN'S PARADE
(Excerpts)
Salisbury, Md., June, 13- The biggest parade ever seen in Salisbury was that of the Maryland State Firemen and returned soldiers of the Twenty-Ninth and Seventy-Ninth Divisions here yesterday afternoon. Business was practically suspended and thousands of visitors from all over the peninsula came in automobiles and by train. More people were in Salisbury than ever before in its history. Lieut. Col. Amos W. W. Woodcock, United States Army, was marshal of the parade....
It is estimated that the visitors numbered 20,000. Several of the visiting companies made fine displays of decorated apparatus.
The prizes were each $50 in cash given by the Salisbury Fire Department.
Last night there was a ball in honor of the fire ladies, and today all the visiting delegates, firemen, with wives and sweethearts, boarded a special train and automobiles for a day's outing at Ocean City, where they enjoyed bathing and had a big seafood dinner.
Before the (business) meeting adjourned a committee was appointed by the association to take up the work of selecting a fitting monument to be erected at Annapolis in memory of those members of the association who lost their lives in the world war.
Footnote: Nominations for officers included L.I. Williams of Pocomoke City for President of the state fireman's association.
May, 1994 (Time Machine archive)
The Capital (Annapolis, Md.)
Pet cougar escapes from owner
POCOMOKE CITY — A pet cougar continued to roam free after escaping from its owner last week, officials said. The 3-year-old male cougar was raised as a pet and has been de-clawed, officials said. It escaped from its pen Thursday night while a handler was feeding it, said its owner, Mark S. Frostrom Jr.
TIME MACHINE ... August, 1902
The Times (Washington, D.C.)
(Continuation of Tangier Island article from last week)
The whole island is Methodist in religious belief, and a very enthusiastic and prosperous Methodist Church is located on the island. This church is one of the first objects that is noticed upon nearing the island, as its tall spire is readily seen above the tops of the other buildings and the small trees which grow on the island. This church is the finest and most ambitious building on the island, and next to this the parsonage is probably the best building. Religion has secured a strong footing here, and the people are almost universally members of the church.
Outside of the church, there is little in the way of entertainment, for the islanders, and consequently the church is the leader in society as well as in morals. The Fourth of July is quietly side tracked into a festival for church purposes, and the sisters of the church furnish the dinner, of which all the islanders are expected to partake, at a reasonable expenditure. Other sisters preside at booths covered with the sails from the vessels at anchor during that day, and from these booths dispense lemonade, candy, and cakes, all for the benefit of the treasury of the church.
The women of Tangier are a hardy class, and not at all wanting in good looks, and greet the stranger upon the street in as cordial a manner as if it could not happen that any but gentlemen and gentlewomen would ever visit Tangier, and the formality of an introduction is waived. This kindly custom of speaking to strangers is also notlceable among the children, and Tangier is famous for the quantity of children that may be seen on the streets, or playing at the waters edge at almost any reasonable hour.
(More of this article next Sunday)
Do you have a local memory to share with PPE readers.. such as a big snow storm, a favorite school teacher, a local happening, something of interest your parents or grandparents told you about? It can be just a line or two, or more if you wish. Send to tkforppe@yahoo.com and watch for it on a future TIME MACHINE posting!
"Somewhere over
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Bluebirds fly..."
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