by Don Barker | Aug 7, 2019 | Age of Sail, Maritime
Stand in the Place: The Age of Sail returns to Denton and the upper Choptank River Sailing the Choptank was never easy. Even so, schooners, bugeyes, pungies, and skipjacks tied up at Denton from the 1700s till the 1930s. Now you too can sail with us from Denton down...
by Don Barker | Sep 23, 2018 | 20th Century, Age of Sail
The skipjack Flora A. Price was built at Chase, Maryland, in 1910. She was one of the largest skipjacks ever built. Flora lived briefly on the upper Choptank at Denton. Flora A. Price at Old Harford Town Maritime Center, West Denton, Feb 2002. Flora dredged...
by Don Barker | Dec 27, 2016 | Age of Steam
Baltimore to Denton by Steamboat Joppa and Avalon were the two most notable steamboats that ran between Baltimore and Denton on the Choptank River from the 1880s until 1921. What happened to them after they disappeared from the Choptank? Steamboats on the Choptank As...
by Don Barker | Dec 26, 2016 | Age of Steam, Everyday Citizens
The Wheeler Crowd J.S. Dodds tells how Minne Wheeler symbolized the ”hometown” atmosphere and service that Wheeler offered his clients along the Tuckahoe: “After Easton’s debut, Minnie Wheeler was relegated to the role of freight carrying. Although regular Minnie...
by Don Barker | Dec 26, 2016 | Age of Steam, Everyday Citizens
Charles W. Wright was master of the Ruggles, Minnie Wheeler, and Chesapeake. He resigned from Wheeler employ in 1887 to accept the post of captain of the new steamer Choptank, of the Choptank Steamboat Company. Two years later, he joined the United States Steamboat...
by Don Barker | Dec 26, 2016 | Age of Sail, Age of Steam, Everyday Citizens
Caleb Clark Wheeler of Gilpin Point Caleb Clark Wheeler was born in 1839 at Gilpin Point in Caroline County. At age 12 he began work as a cook on a sailing schooner that shipped goods and passengers between the Choptank and Baltimore. By age 18, he was a schooner...
by Don Barker | Aug 10, 2014 | 20th Century, Age of Sail, Everyday Citizens
As many as four or five two- and three-mast sailing vessels at a time were often tied up at the Denton wharves. I often had the job of leading the mule forward to lift the bag out of the vessel’s hold, and backing him up again to drop the bag...
by Don Barker | Jul 4, 2014 | Highways and Byways, Maritime
You fly down Route 404 across the Delmarva Peninsula, like Lawrence and his Arab fighters across the Sinai, 380 horsepower and Camels on the dash. Through a sea of sand toward Suez. Through a sea of corn toward Rehoboth. Traffic comes to a dead stop. It’s...
by Don Barker | Mar 30, 2014 | 20th Century, Age of Sail
I know, I know . . . She still shows up in the Registry of National Historic Landmarks. But I tell you, Joe, Maggie Lee died ten years ago in West Denton! I have photos to prove it. The Chesapeake Bay skipjack Maggie Lee is listed in the Registry of National...
by Don Barker | Mar 11, 2014 | Age of Sail
On MD 404 heading east to Rehoboth, near Denton you slow down for the speed trap then speed up again at the Choptank River bridge. You look downriver toward Denton and see five pleasure boats on the water, each well cargoed with human freight. One is laden heavily...
