Hunting wolves in the Catoctin Mountains
While you would be lucky to find a wolf in Maryland nowadays, in the early 19th Century, Frederick County farmers kept their eyes peeled for lurking gray shapes stalking their livestock. In 1821, Captain Harman and his good friend Christian left Catoctin Furnace one morning with their hunting dogs. They hiked into the Catoctin Mountains hoping their dogs would catch the scent of a wolf. Wolves have been hunted for nearly 13,000 years for sport, their skins and to protect livestock. It’s uncertain as to whether the two men were hunting wolves for sport or to protect the livestock of farmers in the area. Harman and Christian had walked about four miles when the dogs returned with their back hair standing up and their tails erect, which was the sign that they had either caught the scent or found 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…
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…
Saving Shallmar: Christmas Spirit in Coal Town
If you’re looking for a great Christmas gift, consider getting a copy of my latest book, Saving Shallmar: Christmas Spirit in a Coal Town. It’s a true story that will also give you a picture of what living in a coal company town was like in the mid-20th Century. In fall turned to winter in 1949, the residents of Shallmar, Maryland, were starving. The town’s only business, the Wolf Den Coal Corp. had closed down, unemployment benefits ended and few people had cars to drive to other jobs. When children started fainting in school, Principal J. Paul Andrick realized the dire situation the town was in and set out to help. He set out to try and get help for the town’s residents and succeeded beyone his wildest dreams just in time for Christmas. You can order a copy here.
Greenbelt, Maryland's 75th Anniversary
For most people, Greenbelt is a typical Washington, DC, suburb. However, at its heart is a federally recognized National Historic Landmark: the original portion of the city. You might think, “So what? Lots of cities and towns have historic districts.” The difference is that Greenbelt’s is only 75 years old—hardly mature enough to be considered historic. But the Prince George’s County city is unique because it was one of the federal government’s first forays into housing created under the Resettlement Administration in 1935 under authority of the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act. “From the beginning it was designed as a complete city, with businesses, schools, roads and facilities for recreation and town government. Greenbelt was a planned community, noted for its interior walkways, underpasses, its system of inner courtyards and one of the first mall-type shopping centers in the United States,” Read more…
Remembering Battle of Antietam in 1937
As Western Maryland prepares to remember the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Antietam in Sharpsburg, no actual Civil War veterans will be attending. The last major anniversary event for a Civil War battle that saw actual veterans in attendance was the 75th. Antietam’s 75th anniversary was in 1937. For Washington County residents, the event also represented the bicentennial of the settling of the county and the 175th anniversary of the founding of Hagerstown. The latter events had been originally planned for 1935, but they had been postponed because of the country’s poor economic condition. The money just wasn’t there to plan for a big event. However, remembering Antietam was not only a big event, but it was a federal one. President Franklin Roosevelt created the National Antietam Commemoration Commission and appointed Maryland U.S. Sen. Millard Tydings to chair it, Read more…
"Battlefield Angels" Review
The Citizen’s Companion and the Camp Chase Gazette recently reviewed my book, Battlefield Angels: The Daughters of Charity Work as Civil War Nurses. The book is a non-fiction recounting of the rarely recognized work of 300 Daughters of Charity during the Civil War. These Catholic sisters provided care on battlefields like Antietam and Gettysburg, on troop transports on the James River, in POW prisons like Point Lookout in Maryland and in hospitals like Satterlee in Philadelphia. They earned the nickname of “Battlefield Angels” because their wide, white cornettes looked somewhat like angel’s wings. They could be found in just about every state involved in the war. The Citizen’s Companion noted, “The stories are told in a compelling narrative, though the story tends to jump around because it is told chronologically. … Battlefield Angels is a non-fiction history book that reads Read more…
For All the Baseball Fans Out There…
“Babe” Ruth was a baseball legend. You can find out why in When the Babe Came to Town. My new ebook shows how the Babe connected with the fans through his many exhibition and barnstorming games.When the Babe Came to Town is a collection of some of these stories highlighting games that Babe Ruth played in Emmitsburg, Maryland; York, Pennsylvania; Oakland, California and Cumberland, Maryland. It was big news when Babe Ruth came to town. Many residents of these smaller towns unused to seeing Major League baseball games in the days before television. They had only read about Babe Ruth’s talent in the newspapers or heard about it on the radio. The Babe came to town and showed them what they were missing as he hit home runs out of the park. There are a lot of these stories out Read more…
Thurmont's House of Matches
Note: Since the world’s eyes were focused on Thurmont this past weekend, I figured I’d post a historical story about the town. Jacob Weller was a blacksmith and the grandson of one of the founders of Mechanicstown. He knew how to make tools and he did that well in his shop across the street from his house in Mechanicstown. He was proud of his work, so proud in fact, that you often see his name as “Jacob Weller, B.S.” for Jacob Weller, blacksmith. Jacob was born on January 25, 1775. He was the oldest of nine children born to Jacob and Anna Krall Weller. Jacob married Anna Margaret Weller in 1800. She was the granddaughter of another unrelated Weller family who were also one of the founders of Mechanicstown. They had five children before Anna died in 1816. Jacob remarried 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…
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