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 with refreshments. All of them launched at the Denton town bridge, their prows pointed toward Adams Landing, one mile up the river. You can see the landing on your left.
At Adams Landing, beneath the wide-spreading boughs of the murmuring pines and hemlocks, the party lands and makes merry, the joyous shouts and peals of laughter reverberating among the trees of the dense cripple opposite. Music, dancing, and various outdoor sports are pleasing diversions. The refreshments, which number last in the order of entertainment, consist of ice creams, water ices, confectioneries, fruits, and melons, etc,
The company, which then re-embarks, is composed as follows:
Mr. and Mrs. B.H. Johnson in the lead boat with their daughters Miss Nellie Johnson and Miss Lizzie Johnson, and with Miss Mamie Evitts, Miss Clara Downes, and her sister, Miss Ella Downes.
Yes, you remember Ella Downes.
The other boats carry Miss Morgan Beaston, Miss Fannie Wilson, Miss Virginia Hicks, Miss Bessie Rochester, Miss Annie Russell, Miss Minnie Fields, Miss Jennie Fisher, and Messrs. M.B. Stephens, Alex. Hardcastle, Jr., Will Downes, Harvey L. Cooper, A.G. Towers, John Garey, R.F. Rochester, G.C. Skirvin, Ormond Downes, B.F. Field, and C. G. Griffin.
It’s 1893 at Adams Landing on the Choptank.