Everyday Citizens
Century Farm Heritage
The Maryland Century Farm Program was established in 1994 to recognize farms that have been in the same family for 100 years or more. See them in the historic landscape with our Century Farm Heritage Map. Turn on layers for historic maps of Caroline County in 1875 and 1897, and USGS Topographic maps of the Mid-Shore region from 1880 through 1940 and later.
Family Names Search – A Map to Show the Way
This article shows you how to use the Choptank River Heritage Family Search Map to find names of persons who owned farms and businesses in Caroline County in the 1890s.
The black blacksmith with a bellowy laugh
In West Denton … there were two blacksmith Shops serving the farmers and residents of the area. One was operated by a Negro named Walter Moore … I doubt if any kingdom ever fell because Walter’s nails came loose.
#blackhistorymatters
Socialist radicals on the Choptank
Gilpin Point on the Choptank River was once the site of a colony of radical economic reformers. The small colony of “Georgists” advocated the economic philosophy of Henry George. They held property in common at Gilpin Point, called for a single-land-tax economy, and hoped to create a model utopian community on the Choptank River.
How the Wheeler Line served the people on the Choptank and Tuckahoe Rivers
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...
Captains of the Wheeler Steamboat Line
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...
C.C. Wheeler’s Steamboats on the Choptank and Tuckahoe
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...
Your local blacksmith: Not on Angie’s List
A survey of the Denton Journal 1870-1960 shows that blacksmithing peaked in Caroline County around 1895 then declined rapidly soon after. This map shows the locations of blacksmith shops that were marked on county maps in 1875 and 1897. Zoom the map to find...
Skipjack, fertilizer sack, mule, boy. Repeat.
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 onto the wharf and to lower the tongs back into the hold for another bag. You get the picture – the mule and the boy – back and forth all day until the last bag was out of the hold.