President Bill Clinton made his only visit to Worcester County on Memorial Day weekend of 2000. He visited Assateague State Park to announce federal initiatives to protect America’s beaches, reefs and shoreline from pollution.Clinton arrived by helicopter and never actually set foot in Ocean City, but the publicity generated by his speech brought national attention… Read more »
English’s Chicken House was built on the corner of 15th Street and Philadelphia Avenue in 1963. For the next 51 years, it would serve some of the best fried chicken ever cooked on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The chicken was breaded with a secret recipe. When served with English’s fresh baked sweet potato biscuits,… Read more »
The northwest corner of 3rd Street and Baltimore Avenue is one of the most historic spots in Ocean City. Known today as the location of City Hall the building became the site of the Maryland State Normal School – a college to train school teachers – 1915. The teacher’s college would only exist there for… Read more »
The Nordica was a Victorian-style hotel on the Boardwalk between Dorchester and Talbot streets. Built circa 1905, it was originally on the American Plan (meals included with the cost of the room) for the first half century of its existence.Pictured above during the World War II era, the Nordica featured a front porch with rocking… Read more »
Sept. 22, 1994 will long be remembered as the date of the “Sunfest Disaster,” a day which taxed Ocean City’s emergency services to the limit. As vendors were setting up for the opening of Sunfest, the annual end of summer arts, crafts and music celebration, a windstorm hit the Inlet Parking Lot with 50 mph… Read more »
Surfing became popular in Ocean City in the mid-1960s. George Pittman and Bill Wise opened Ocean City’s first surf shop (called the Eastern Surfer) in 1964 in the basement of the Sandy Hill Motel.The less crowded beaches of north Ocean City quickly became the favorite surfing areas in the days before the high-rise condominiums.This 1965… Read more »
Assateague reached its peak as a sportsman’s paradise in the years immediately following World War II.During this period, the only access to the isolated barrier island was by boat with duck hunters and surf fishermen as the most frequent visitors. Local kids often accompanied their fathers to Assateague and collected shells that had washed ashore… Read more »
Jackson’s Casino was Ocean City’s most popular nightclub in the late 1930s and throughout the 1940s. Music, drinks and slot machines were the main attraction at the big wooden building on the Boardwalk between 9th and 10th streets.Jackson’s was where the locals hung out and many still recall the special façade built to meet blackout requirements during… Read more »
The Stowaway Motel was built by Bill Carrier in 1956 and occupied the entire ocean block between 21st and 22nd streets. It was the largest motel in Ocean City in the 1960s with 120 units spread throughout three sections. Home to the biggest pool on Motel Row (local kids would sneak in to swim in the summer)… Read more »
Dr. Nathanael “Nat” Thomas came to Ocean City from Scranton, Pa. in 1945 with the thought that he would serve as a temporary doctor until the end of the summer. He made many friends, built a good practice and stayed in Ocean City the rest of his life.His first office was in the alley between… Read more »