1949: Tracking the Underground Pony Express
Herds of ponies once roamed Maryland, though they were rarely seen my most people. They were mining ponies whose job it was to haul the coal from Maryland’s coal mines. In one instance, Ray O’Rourke wrote for the Baltimore Sunday Sun Magazine, “Twenty-odd ponies that haul coal from under some 2,000 acres of Maryland territory are never seen in this State, and never breathe the air over it.” These ponies hauled coal for the Stanley Coal Company in Crellin, Maryland. Though the mine was under Maryland, the entrance was in nearby West Virginia. Miners had to walk from Crellin across the state line and then backtrack once they were in the mine. The mine’s location also created some political headaches with Maryland and West Virginia governments fighting for the tax revenue from the mine. Eventually a compromise was reached where Read more…
Get the "Between Rail and River" e-book FREE Jan. 22-24
To celebrate Canawlers coming back into print in paperback, I’m offering the second book in the Canawlers series, Between Rail and River, for free on you Kindle from Jan. 22-24. Between Rail and River picks up where Canawlers ends. As the Fitzgerald family struggles to make it through the winter of 1862-1863 and what has been a poor boating year on the C&O Canal, the Civil War is drawing ever closer to being fought aboard the Freeman. George Fitzgerald’s unexpected return from the war pits him against David Windover, an ex-Confederate spy, who now works and lives with the Fitzgeralds. Alice Fitzgerald struggles to hold her family together as a vindictive sheriff and a haughty doctor’s wife work to tear them apart. Tony, the street urchin from Cumberland, has found a life aboard the Freeman, but Sheriff Lee Whittaker has Read more…
"Canawlers" back in print!
It’s been a couple years since I allowed Canawlers to go out of print. I still kept getting requests from bookstores and some individual buyers to get copies, though. I went back and forth about it, but since I’m hoping to bring the third book in the trilogy out around Christmas time, I figured I would need to have the first book available, too. So I gave in and brought the book back in print. It is available today and it is still only $17.95. You can order a copy from Amazon and if it’s not in your favorite bookstore yet, they should probably be able to order it. Canawlers is a family saga set on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal during the Civil War. Hugh Fitzgerald proudly calls himself a “canawler.” He works on the C&O Canal transporting coal Read more…
The Man Who Made Personalized Movies
Sometimes even heroes need saving. Don Newland showed the country that everyone could be a movie star. One day a person might be driving a taxi, practicing law or simply a mother caring for her children and the next day Newland would have them in front of his movie camera saying lines and becoming a movie star. It was the classic “A Star is Born” discovery except that it wasn’t happening to Lana Turner who was discovered at a soda bar in Hollywood. It was happening to John Q. Public in Cumberland and dozens of other small cities across the country. Don Newland Newland was an “itinerant filmmaker,” which is a filmmaker who traveled from city to city shooting a film with local actors before moving on to the next city. He is known to have filmed dozens of Read more…
Who is “Genl. Scofield”?
As the country remembers the men who fought in the Civil War 150 years ago, a general lies forgotten in a grave atop Meadow Mountain just off of old U.S. Route 40. The only clue to who this man was is a grave marker that answers few questions and raises more. In Memory of Genl. Scofield Civil War Veteran Killed on this Mountain 1894 Donated by A.J. Irwin & Son For years, Marie Lancaster of Addison, Pa., cared for the grave making sure the grave was trimmed and occasionally bringing flowers or a U.S. flag to leave by the marker. “We just saw the grave while we were taking a Sunday drive and, after looking at it up close, my husband and I were of the opinion that a high-ranking military man like Gen. Scofield deserved a more prominent burial Read more…
Coming in June!
I thought I would let everyone have a peek at the cover art for my next book, which should be out just in time for the Heritage Days Festival in Cumberland in June. I think Stephanie E. J. Long did a great job with it. I definitely looks like it is part of the series. This volume is 150 pages and 47 stories from Western Maryland along with 33 black-and-white photos. It contains stories of lost treasure, train wrecks and successful residents. You’ll also find out where Albert Einstein liked to get away in the summer and the story of Allegany County’s lost automobile manufacturing industry. Looking Back II: More True Stories of Mountain Maryland will retail for $14.95.
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