Ocean City, Maryland, USA

Tomorrow, the journey begins all over again! May your trek across 2023 be as straight as U.S. Highway 50 across the continent. Be prepared to stop in a few small towns, to brave a passel of commercial strips, and to linger at your choice of innumerable historical sites. Route 50 is one of America's "blue highways." [2021]

Salisbury, Maryland, USA

It's the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. Conversely, it is also the longest night of the year. That may make us unhappy, but if we were night herons, we would be ecstatic! Night herons find their prey and feed at night. They love the wetlands around the Chesapeake Bay. [2018]

Ocean City, Maryland, USA

Life-Saving Stations of Maryland & Delaware: The first structures on the Atlantic Coast's beaches were often life-saving stations complete with surfboats ready to be deployed for offshore rescues. They were always built with their surfboat doors facing the ocean. Compare the doors and ramp above with those in the historical mural art below. [2021]

Boring, Maryland, USA

How would you like to be a Methodist minister with this church on your resume? The Boring United Methodist Church, located in Boring, Maryland. Almost 30 years separate the two signs. Compare them, and the times they represent. What changes do you predict have beset the congregation? [1991 and 2019]

Boring, Maryland, USA

Sometimes the best thing about a post office is the name of the town it serves: Boring, in this case. For that you can thank Postmaster David Boring, who saw to it that his town had a name that was not boring at all, at least compared to its original name: Fairview. How boring was that! [1989 and 1991]

Ocean City, Maryland, USA

Fall comes to the Delmarva Peninsula. Today, in fact, only the third day of fall, the temperatures betray the season. The low-sun season is just beginning, but already there is no mistaking autumn for the summer left behind. Do you think the birds have already closed up their summer homes and headed south? [2020]

Graceham, Maryland, USA

If this lady bug flies away home, somebody is not getting their mail. But why would she want to leave her duty post? She gets fed a steady diet of letters every day. [2013]

Grantsville, Maryland, USA

The Spruce Forest covered bridge was not an engineering landmark. Nevertheless, it served an important function. It was the portal into a popular Appalachian craft village. Unfortunately, Spruce Forest was hit by a severe wind storm in 2020 and the bridge was destroyed (along with other buildings and many trees). Expect it to be rebuilt. [2010]

Annapolis, Maryland, USA

In posh Annapolis, goofy-looking chicken sculptures are completely unexpected. Maybe that is why they have been so popular. It seems their creator was inspired by an inane public debate over whether people would be allowed to raise chickens in their back yards. It went on for over a year. So, which came first, the chicken or the egg? [2018]

Brunswick, Maryland, USA

The Potomac River in Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary, 3rd ed., 1997, p. 951: "River; E U.S. in West Virginia, Virginia, and Maryland; formed by the confluence of N branch and S branch; flows E and SE to form West Virginia-Maryland and Virginia-Maryland boundaries and empties into Chesapeake Bay; 287 mi." [2021]

Ocean City, Maryland, USA

In Ocean City, the power of place is generated by the beach. That power is amplified by the public art that is featured on at least one of the city's power boxes. What else is used to amplify the power of place? Hint: Focus on the horizon. [2021]

Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Anchor Cities of Megalopolis: Baltimore. Fifty million people (one out of six American) live in Megalopolis. Its dominance of the U.S. economy was established centuries ago, and it has held. In fact, wrote Jean Gottmann, in no other place in the world are there so many large cities so close to each other. It's a constellation as unique as that tall ship. Get it? [2021]

Ocean City, Maryland, USA

February is all about the number two, and 2/22 is a palindrome too! A town's economic base can inspire artistic creativity. Let other community's take note: Water towers don't have to be blank slates. Give them a job to do building the spirit of place. Be sure to see yesterday's post. [2021]
 

Baltimore, Maryland, USA

What is so urgent, you ask! Finishing your Christmas shopping. There is only a day and a half left before all gifts must be wrapped and under the tree. But, December 25 is only the first day of Christmas. It took the wise men 12 days to get to Bethlehem, so we should really exchange gifts on January 6, Three Kings Day. [2021]

Snow Hill, Maryland, USA

Here be two elves in the flesh. They may not work at the North Pole, but they do work at Snow Hill, and that can't be far away. Because of its name, we should give Snow Hill a pass on starting Christmas early. As for other places: Please let us celebrate Thanksgiving first! [2021]

Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Here is a 'best practice' for building community pride: Get your community's name out there and keep it in circulation. Make sure it can be seen from every angle, even from high above, as here in Charles Center Plaza at the heart of downtown Baltimore. What's the color of Baltimore? Orange, of course! [2021]

Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Maryland's 9-11 Memorial stands right beside Baltimore's own World Trade Center. On the marble plinth are inscribed the names of all Marylanders who lost their lives on 9-11-01. On top of the marble plinth are steel columns that were salvaged from the remains of New York's World Trade Center after the attacks. [2021]

Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, USA

Of the ten smallest states, Maryland packs the most topographic variety into its political shell (sorry, Massachusetts). What unites that variety is the value of water: Atlantic Ocean, Chesapeake Bay, Potomac River, and Deep Creek Lake. Maryland's largest lake should be proud to be included in a list like that! [2021]

Brunswick, Maryland, USA

Brunswick, Maine, has the Androsgoggin. Brunswick, Maryland, has the Potomac, lots of trumpet vines, and just one purple bench. Thirteen other states also have a town named Brunswick. So, what's a -wick? In this case, a settlement. And brun, of course, means brown. [2021]

Baltimore, Maryland, USA

The day may have been dreary, but the music was cheery: thanks to this busker and his plastic drums. Want to hear what he sounds like? Check out the clip below. Want to see his counterpart perform in northern Thailand? Check out this clip from a decade ago. Want to hear what he might sound like in Holland? Here's another clip. [2021]