Old Places Revisited and Historical Towns Explored.
In which we check out old haunts, and visit some history.
As I mentioned in the last edition of the newsletter, we spent last weekend back in Maryland visiting family and doing some exploring. We had a great time visiting a few historical colonial towns on both sides of the Chesapeake Bay.
Getting over to the area of Maryland known as the Eastern Shore means a trip over the spectacular Chesapeake Bay bridge. The first span of the bridge was built in 1952 and was a two-line highway crossing the 4.3 mile span between the state capital, Annapolis, and Kent Island, the locale of the state’s first British colony. In 1973 a parallel three lane span was added, the original bridge becoming the eastbound route, with the newer span for the return westbound journey. As we were driving across we had a great conversation about the quality of the build we were seeing. It’s an impressive structure that makes you feel safe and secure as you traverse the bay around 360 feet above the water below.
Our first stop was the town of Cambridge. I was fascinated by the list of people who have made Cambridge their home over the years, from activist Harriet Tubman, to trick sharpshooter Annie Oakley, Golden Girls actress Bea Arthur, and rapper Jay-Z. Founded in 1684 it’s one of the oldest colonial cities, and although its early commercial success was reliant on slavery, the town’s culture changed prior to the civil war and it became a major stop on the Underground Railroad for escaped slaves. It was also a center of action during the Civil Rights movement in the sixties. Both sides of the town’s history are fully acknowledged around the downtown area with museums, murals, and statues.
It’s a city that is going through a revitalization with a downtown that is thriving with new restaurants, galleries, and more opening up, along with an award-winning artisan brewery.
Walking around downtown we came across the local library and decided to check it out. It was a well stocked and laid out set of stacks manned by a crew of very friendly librarians. While there one of the library volunteers suggested we check out Emily’s Produce on the road out of town.
Emily’s Produce started out as a simple roadside stand for a local farm to sell its produce. It’s now a fun family friendly stopping point. The farm market is still there but grown to fill a barn structure. It's supported by food trucks, a bar, games, a pick-your-own strawberry patch, and the best bit, as far as our two-year-old granddaughter was concerned, a petting zoo. And the best bit as far as we were concerned? The excellent ice cream.
About twenty five miles north of Cambridge is the city of Easton, with a picture perfect historic district downtown. Founded in 1710, as the roundel in one of the parks informs you, it is now renowned for its restaurants, and is a popular weekend destination for folks coming across from Washington D.C. There’s also a thriving theater and some eclectic and interesting storefronts to explore.
Our second day kicked off with a trip down memory lane. We spent our first nine years in the US living in the area of Maryland that lies along the banks of the Severn River. On our last rip we’d visited a few of our old haunts. (see Charm City Revisited ). This time we added our old favorite diner to the list of places to check out (photo at the top). Did it match up to our memories? Yes it did.
Annapolis was the first place I ever visited in the US so it has a special place in my memories. Years later, when we lived in the area we would always take visitors to the downtown and harbor area. Revisiting it on this trip was in some ways like coming home as we have so many memories of almost every corner, store front, or bench. This particular visit sparked memories of a family friend we’d recently lost, as we recognized the spot where we’d taken a bunch of family photos together over twenty years ago.
Gill had the excellent idea of taking the 40 minute harbor cruise. It was a good way to see what had changed around the town as seen from the water (not much as it turned out). It was certainly a breezy experience at times, as my baseball hat will attest to when it made a break for freedom. Thanks to the lady sitting behind us who trapped it with her foot allowing me to retrieve my wayward headwear.
The town itself seems less touristy than I remembered with fewer souvenir t-shirt stores (although there were still a few of those) and more interesting stores and new restaurants with a diverse choice of menus and styles.
One thing I did notice is that as we sat by the harbor waiting to catch our boat, I felt incredibly relaxed, and just enjoyed watching other people appreciate the environment, soaking up the mix of history, and the buzz of an active, thriving community of visitors and friendly welcoming locals.
Other Stuff
Thanks to the new subscribers who have joined since last week. I really appreciate your interest and support. If you would like to join them you can subscribe below.
I’ve already made an initial foray into Substack’s new NOTES function, which you can now access directly from my Substack webpage . Not sure exactly how I’ll be using it yet, but my first thoughts are that I’ll be posting more books and movie reviews, quotes, and the occasional bit of personal stuff not covered in the main newsletter.
Brabazon Bits
One of the things I love about doing research reading is coming across a reference to a new source of information you hadn’t been aware of before. This week was a case in point when doing the research reading around the Brabazon design team, one of the texts I was reading included the phrase “ in his autobiography” when referring to the chief designer, Archibald Russell.
Up until that point I wasn’t aware that he had in fact published an autobiography. What better source when researching the design of an aircraft than to have the words and thoughts of the man who led the effort on hand. A quick bit of googling soon uncovered the details I needed, Sir Archibald Russell’s book A Span of Wings was published in 1992 by Airlife Publications in the UK. The first copy I came across was priced at $55, which did give me a moment’s pause as to did I need a copy that badly. Thankfully I quickly found a copy in excellent condition for sale at just $7. Guess which one now sits on my desk?
Word Slinging
Submitted a short story proposal this week for a licensed property I've long wanted to write.
Hopefully they like it, but either way I'm just glad I got the opportunity to pitch something.
Pages and Screens
Books Read in 2023 - “Nightwing: Guardian of Gotham” by Peter Tomasi, Rags Morales et al.
This collection of Peter Tomasi’s run on Nightwing is oddly titled as it covers his time based in New York rather than Gotham.
While Tomasi clearly has an affection for, and understanding of, Dick Grayson and his motivations this feels like an unfulfilled tenure.
The first story is a bit of a slog, but the book ramps up with an insightful examination of the relationship between Dick Grayson and Harvey Dent / Two-Face.
Then it feels like wider happenings in the DC Universe impacted the storyline that Tomasi was building and dragged his lead characters of in a different direction.
As a result it all comes across a bit disjointed.
On the art front Rags Morales delivers some expertly executed sequences that define how an acrobatic hero like Nightwing would move around the city, as well as delivering fluid, almost dance-like fight scenes.
Podcast Procrastinations
The Before They Were Beatles podcast - In the latest episode, which went live this week, we returned to our story of the Beatles formative years with detailed look at the events surrounding The Beatles change in drummer as we say “Farewell Pete, Hello Ringo.”
And talking of Before They Were Beatles, just a reminder that if you’d like to keep up with the progress of the work on the 20th Anniversary edition of the Before They Were Beatles book you can sign up for a subscription to the dedicated Substack monthly newsletter HERE. -
This week we published a special edition of the newsletter covering our time at the recent Abbey Road on the River festival, along with a look at The Savage Young Beatles series of gigs at the Festival and in Austin.
Rogue Agents - The On Her Majesty's Secret Podcast team of Rogue Agents returns with a look at Raymond Benson's debut Bond outing; the short story "Blast From The Past" that was originally published in Playboy Magazine. You can check out our thoughts and reactions to this often overlooked contribution to the Bond mythos right HERE.
Weekly Web Round-Up
Batman On The Cover - The journey through Batman’s comics publishing history continues this week as we look at the comics from February1968 published in Australia, and Brazil .
As always, thanks for joining me for this week’s rambles through the Forest. And don’t forget to sign up for a FREE subscription so you don’t miss future updates.
See you next time
Alan J. Porter