POCOMOKE — The Worcester County Historical Society is planning its annual spring dinner for Friday, April 8, at the Pocomoke Community Center on Market and 14th streets. The dinner will feature the Fire Company Ladies Auxiliary’s famous chicken and dumplings.
This year’s speaker will be Gordon E. Katz, an award winning author, who will speak on “Exploring West Ocean City: The other Side of the Bay.” The talk will be accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation that first briefly outlines the history of the area, beginning in the earliest years of the Maryland colony. That discussion will be followed by a deeper look into one small slice of West Ocean City, drawn in large part from conversations with George Hurley, who grew up in West Ocean City.
Several years ago, Katz published a book telling about the early history of Ocean City from 1875 to 1890. This book received two prestigious awards — an Award of Merit from the American Association for State and Local History and the Tee O’Connor Professional Award from the Lower Eastern Shore Heritage Council. He is presently working on a sequel to that publication, which continues the story of both Ocean City and the surrounding areas of Eastern Worcester County from 1890 through the storm of 1933 that created the Inlet.
There will also be a short photo presentation of the relocation of the Mt. Zion one-room school from Snow Hill to its new location in Furnace Town. Plans are to have the school open by the time that Furnace Town opens for the season, Friday, April 1.
Doors will open for the event at 5:30 p.m. Friday evening and the dinner will begin at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $22 per person and can be purchased by sending a check to Robert Fisher, WCHS Treasurer, 230 South Washington St., Snow Hill, Md. 21863. The deadline for reservations for the dinner, which is open to the public, is April 1.