Love Letters To The Shore

By Troy Lowman

The Eastern Shore of Maryland is a state of mind more than a place. Love Letters not only describes its physical beauty, rich history, and unique nature but also emphasizes its greatest asset--the people who live there.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fulton Books, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 25, 2024
• ISBN: 9781639855131

Book preview

Table of Contents

Title

Copyright

Preface

The Idea of the Shore Story

The People

The Towns

The Bridge

The History of the Shore (1600–1900)

The Patriotic Shore

The ABCs of the Shore

The Shore and its Love of Baseball

The Haunted Shore / The Hollywood Shore

The Modern History of the Shore (1900-Present)

About the Author

cover.jpg

Love Letters To The Shore

Troy Lowman

Copyright © 2024 Troy Lowman

All rights reserved

First Edition

Fulton Books

Meadville, PA

Published by Fulton Books 2024

ISBN 978-1-63985-512-4 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63985-513-1 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Preface

From the Author:

In writing this book about where I grew up, I found things that I always loved about the Eastern Shore and things I never knew. My intention was to bring attention to the wealth of experiences, the quality of people, and the great fortune of growing up here on this tract of land surrounded by waterways. I was fortunate to reconnect with old friends and family and meet new and interesting people bound to me by their common love of the Shore. I hope people enjoy the book as much as I had putting it together. My hope is that a story or stories will resonate with each Shoremen and bring them pride and a degree of joy…

Special Thanks to the Editor:

I would like to acknowledge my partner in most all things and without whose help this book would not nearly be what it is. Kim Lynch tirelessly edited and refined the text, contributed storylines, and kept me from often rambling on in certain parts of the book. Born and raised also on the Eastern Shore, she brought passion and care to the project like she does in all things she is involved in. My gratitude and love are boundless for her help on this labor of love.

Finally, many special thanks to the countless people who helped in the six-month documentary journey and year long book journey of Love Letters and the support of the blog and newspaper column that sparked the book. You are what makes the Eastern Shore what it is.

The Idea of the Shore Story

The Eastern Shore of Maryland, the Shore, the motherland. Life has taken me to many places all over the world, but no place is quite like home. You can describe its wondrous waterways, long stretches of beautiful land, and the friendliest people in the world as tangible reasons it is so special, but the real reasons are intangible. It's a feeling that seeps into your DNA. The Shore is part of every Shoremen's family. They love it, protect it, and are proud to call this place home. I decided to do a film about this magical place in the only way it could be done properly, from a Shore's perspective told by Shoremen. Stories and images that show content to its uniqueness.

For six months, between July and December 2018, my production company, BullittPoint Films, tried as best we could to crisscross the Shore, putting on film forever the people and places of our hometowns. As always, the people there stepped up to volunteer, tell their stories, welcome you into their world, and help like Shoremen do in most situations. Some of those filmed are no longer with us but will forever be immortalized in this project. I feel like a snapshot in time was captured of the Shore. I hope you enjoy the journey as much as I did. I revisited the things about this magical place that I have always loved and learned so much about it that I never knew. Hopefully, these stories give you a sense of the place. If you are a Shoremen. I hope it strikes a chord of pride and gratitude to our beloved homeland. If you are not from the Eastern Shore or have never been, I hope it gives you an entertaining and heartfelt glimpse of an extraordinary place.

July 2018—Red Eyes Dock Bar (Kent Island)

On a stormy Sunday in the summer of 2018, we began our journey in the filming of Love Letters to the Shore at the popular dock bar on Kent Island, Red Eyes. The bar is set with a backdrop of the Kent Narrows Bridge to the back of the dock, a large American flag flying in the distance across the water. Boats sail up and down its adjacent waterways, making for vibrant, beautiful scenery as you listen to local bands or grab a world-class crab cake sandwich at one of their outdoor tables. Most Shoremen know and love Red Eyes, making it an ideal starting point in our journey. The owner, Ivano Scotto, graciously allowed us to film upstairs in an auxiliary bar. The backdrop high above the bridge, water, and American flag in the distance was a perfect setting. Here are some of our first interviews; many made our final film:

You get on that bridge coming back from anywhere, whether you have left the country and you're coming back from the airport, or you've just been to Annapolis, and you're coming home. When you come up that bridge, top of the bridge, she's there to welcome you with open arms. It's almost like walking into a ballpark when you were a kid, and the grass is green.

—Albie Kimble, explaining coming home over the Bay Bridge

We always get together and have steamed crabs. One of my brothers was a crabber, a waterman, and he always would get the crabs, catch the crabs, and steam them. And we'd lay out brown paper on picnic tables, great crab feast! [Are you a good crab picker?] I'm from the Island, of course!

—Dixie Hoxter Sala

Interview with Dixie Hoxter Sala, Red Eyes Dock Bar (July 2018)/ photo credit: BullittPoint Films

I'm a twelfth-generation native Eastern Shoreman. I'm proud to let people know that. Whenever I talk to folks that are not from the Eastern Shore, I explain to them about our unique style of living; there are really no other places like this.

—Cody Leach

Land in your family, you sort of dig your fingers into that. Dig it a little bit deeper each decade, a little bit deeper each generation, and it really becomes bound up with who you are. And so I think as a people, here on the Eastern Shore, a lot of our families are of the land.

—Rob Etgen

Every Sunday, my mother was one of twelve children, and all twelve children came home on Sunday, and everyone brought fried chicken and ice cream from the freezer. We cranked, and we stayed the whole day. We didn't get to go to the river until all the work got done on the farm.

—Mrs. Joan Dawkins, on family and farming

Love Letters 2nd film shoot, Docs Riverside Grille (August 2018)/ photo credit: BullittPoint Films

August 2018—(Doc's Riverside Grille)

Our second film shoot brought us to the heart of Queen Anne's County, to the town of Centreville. On the edge of town, with the long stone-paved parking lot and restaurant/bar built in an old-fashioned, welcoming style, sits Doc's Riverside Grille. The shore's hospitality and ambiance are strong for town patrons and out-of-towners alike at the little restaurant. Its outdoor patio is adorned with a deep blue beach-like mosaic that gives a warm glow. On a steamy day in August 2018 (the temperature topped ninety degrees), the manager Dana and the friendly staff welcomed the Love Letters crew and its interviewees with open arms. Over four hours, we filmed some of the most beloved and knowledgeable people on the Shore, including historian Mary Margaret Revell Goodwin, legendary teacher Madeline Hollis, and long-time journalist icon Dan Tabler. All graciously braved the heat and gave us invaluable insight into the Shore experience:

The Shore is just so calm, and it's so quiet, and everyone here is just super sweet. I think that's what makes it easy to live here, that you can always count on people to support you, count on people to push you where you need to be because they generally care for you.

—musician Duan Wright

Thank the Eastern Shore for giving my family something to live off of. Because my family depends on the Eastern Shore for everything, really.

—Cassidy Ruth

The men who went could not afford shoes. And they marched in the winter in the snow in bare feet, and that's the quality of the American patriot. My hope was to say to everybody this is why you are who you are and where you are now because these men fought so hard.

—Mary Margaret Revell Goodwin, on the Eastern Shore Militia during The Revolutionary War

You have to get in your car and go drive. It may be a half an hour, but it's the scenic view no matter which direction you go in. And people are much kinder to each other.

—Daphne Gannon Young, on beauty of the Eastern Shore

Have you ever been out on a ship when it's in a storm? It's like being out on a rough ocean, and then when you get across the Bay Bridge into Queen Anne's County, you are going into the harbor, its quietness, and peace.

—Mrs. Madeline Hollis

September 2018 (Carpenter Street)

For our third film shoot, we moved down the Shore to the heartbeat of St. Michaels, Carpenter Street Saloon. Located literally in the heart of St. Michaels, a beautiful, idyllic town surrounded by majestic waterways, Carpenter Street, or C Street, is the pulse of the area's activities. Out-of-town boaters and locals alike love the atmosphere and camaraderie of the saloon. Once you enter, there are no strangers, and you will usually come back once you have been there. We had many great interviews for the final installment of sit-down interviews before heading out on-location shooting, including the Shore's cartoonist, Rick Kollinger, respected local farmers, hunters, and watermen.

The Secretary of Fabulous, Morris Barton, who works at C Street, had everyone laughing for a half-hour interview. Local politician and manager Johnny Mautz of C Street was also interviewed. On a more somber note, popular Shore native, Charles Billups, gave a heartfelt interview on how special the Shore was to him and others. Tragically, a week later, Charles unexpectedly passed away. The Love Letters film was dedicated to Charles, and we are fortunate to have his thoughts on film forever.

That's what I enjoy about being on the Eastern Shore because my family is here. I went away to college to Virginia for four years and graduated, came back home, and still have those family ties. I love being close to my family. I grew up in a house, actually next door to my grandmother and great-grandmother. It was special to have that connection.

—Ashley Richar Chenault

To keep community together—that is people that are growing up here, making sure there is a pathway for them to stay here, raise their family here, and those that have lived here to retire here and stay here. Because they have the wisdom that isn't written in the books.

—Johnny Mautz

Carpenter Street Saloon, St. Michaels, Md. (September 2018)/ photo credit: BullittPoint Films

They have the Delmarva Sportsman Festival, and they have the muskrat skinning competition of the world here. There's people who can skin thirty-five muskrats in a minute. I don't know why you want to skin thirty-five muskrats in a minute, but they do. And the muskrat queen from Louisiana comes up. I met her one year. She was in a fur coat. I asked her if she skinned it. She said no, but she had one at home she skinned. I said, ‘I bet you do, baby doll.'

—The Secretary of Fabulous Morris Barton

I think each generation comes along, and they are forgetting the past. The past disappears. I want to preserve the vision of a simpler life.

—Tom Willey, on changes to the Shore

I talk about this all the time. Every time I cross that bridge, I just want everyone I've ever known to be on a bus with me, like a double-decker bus, and we're all sitting at the top looking over the edge and saying ‘Wow,' cause that's what I feel every time I come across that bridge. The closer you get and you start to see the shoreline, and it's just peaceful. Everything in your body sort of relaxes. And you say ‘I'm home.'

—Charles Billips (dedication recipient)

Charles Billups Interview, Carpenter Street Saloon (September 2018)/ photo credit: BullittPoint Films

As Indian summer hit the Shore, I headed back home for our first location shoot. My hometown of Sudlersville was where I viewed the world through its lens in my youth. In the easternmost