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 winds. Tents… Read more »
The Log House was one of the most unique buildings in Ocean City for nearly 40 years. Constructed on the southwest corner of 5th Street and Philadelphia Avenue in the late 1930s, the rooming house resembled a large cottage built of “Lincoln Logs.”The Log House went through several changes of ownership and was known as… Read more »
The original Atlantic Hotel in Ocean City was built in 1874 and 1875 and burned to the ground in December 1925.This was Ocean City’s first hotel and many consider its grand opening on July 4, 1875 as the founding date of Ocean City.Rebuilt in 1926 in a different style, the Atlantic Hotel still rents rooms… Read more »
The bus station that was located on 2nd Street and Philadelphia Avenue for decades was a busy place back in the 1940s and 1950s when many visitors to Ocean City arrived by bus and walked the few blocks to the nearby Boardwalk hotels, such as the Plimhimmon, the Colonial, the Hastings, the Breakers and the… Read more »
Postcards were a popular from of staying in touch with the folks back home in the days before cell phones and email made communication so easy.Many of the pictures that survive today of Ocean City in the early 20th century were originally published as postcards. The comic postcard became popular during World War II and… Read more »
In the 1950s, a new town known as Ocean Beach was being promoted on the northern end of Assateague Island about five miles south of Ocean City.The development faced several problems, however, including access — there was no bridge to Assateague in those days and the small ferry could only carry three cars. Another problem… Read more »
(Editor’s Note: With thousands of people converging on the Harbour Island Marina this week for the White Marlin Open, we thought it would be opportune to look back at the site before it was home to a housing community and host to the largest billfishing tourney in the world.)The Ship Café Restaurant and Marina was… Read more »
The Carousel opened in July 1962 after the original ribbon cutting had been delayed several months due to damage from the famous March Storm of 1962.At the time of its construction, it was far north of the existing city limits and stood virtually alone with only sand dunes and a few small cottages nearby. The… Read more »
The hurricane of Aug. 23, 1933, was the single most important event in the history of Ocean City.It created the Inlet, separated Assateague from Ocean City and ended the pound fishing and railroad eras forever. The creation of the Inlet made possible the commercial harbor and brought about the emergence of the sports fishing industry…. Read more »
Billy Heaton Whitworth and his wife Agnes opened Heaton’s Karmel Korn on the Boardwalk near Wicomico Street in 1944. Specializing in saltwater taffy and caramel popcorn, Heaton’s changed both its name and its menu when son-in-law Fred King purchased the business from Agnes after Billy’s death in 1953. Cotton candy, snow balls and candy apples… Read more »
