True Tales Of The Eastern Shore

This varied collection of stories, spanning four centuries, is about the people of and visitors to the Eastern Shore of Virginia. The book is well researched and footnoted. It is filled with historical and traditional "True Tales."

"Tales of the Eastern Shore" is a celebrated collection of short stories that bring to life some of the lore, legends and history of Virginia's "lost counties across the bay." Wielding his award-winning pen and unique perspective, John Lewis re-creates the gentle drama of life in the Accomack of yesteryear, often through the eyes and language of his youth. Using a wealth of family recollections and personal observations, Mr. Lewis weaves the culture and spirit of his people into these memorable tales of country life.

"In September 1861 the men of Company A enlisted for three years in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Initially their regiment was intended to serve on the Eastern Shore of Maryland as Home Guard. On August 16, 1862, those men were discharged after only eleven months of service. Some claim that their discharge was the result of the men's refusal to cross the state line into Eastern Virginia. A Year in the Guard attempts to disprove that claim. The story of Company A begins with their enlistment and encampment in Cambridge, Maryland, and follows them through their participation in the invasion into Eastern Virginia. Their duties and camp life are illustrated through newspapers and personal accounts, while military records suggest that the men in fact did not refuse orders and were honorably discharged. A Year in the Guard is a work that sheds light on a previously unexplored aspect of Delmarva history."--

The timeless classic and beloved story of a wild horse’s gentle filly—winner of a Newbery Honor! On the island of Chincoteague, off the coasts of Virginia and Maryland, lives a centuries-old band of wild ponies. Among them is the most mysterious of all, Phantom, a rarely-seen mare that eludes all efforts to capture her—that is, until a young boy and girl lay eyes on her and determine that they can’t live without her. The frenzied roundup that follows on the next Pony Penning Day does indeed bring Phantom into their lives, in a way they never would have suspected. Phantom would forever be a creature of the wild. But her gentle, loyal filly Misty is another story altogether . . . “A thrilling and long-to-be-remembered tale.” —San Francisco Chronicle

Experience the storied Delmarva Peninsula in a fresh new way through this collection of amazing tales from days gone by. Award-winning writer Jim Duffy shares 44 true-life tales that run the gamut: adventure, comedy, romance, murder, and more.

In this classic novel, James A. Michener brings his grand epic tradition to bear on the four-hundred-year saga of America’s Eastern Shore, from its Native American roots to the modern age. In the early 1600s, young Edmund Steed is desperate to escape religious persecution in England. After joining Captain John Smith on a harrowing journey across the Atlantic, Steed makes a life for himself in the New World, establishing a remarkable dynasty that parallels the emergence of America. Through the extraordinary tale of one man’s dream, Michener tells intertwining stories of family and national heritage, introducing us along the way to Quakers, pirates, planters, slaves, abolitionists, and notorious politicians, all making their way through American history in the common pursuit of freedom. BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from James A. Michener's Hawaii. Praise for Chesapeake “Another of James Michener’s great mines of narrative, character and lore.”—The Wall Street Journal “[A] marvelous panorama of history seen in the lives of symbolic people of the ages . . . An emotionally and intellectually appealing book.”—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution “Michener’s most ambitious work of fiction in theme and scope.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer “Magnificently written . . . one of those rare novels that is enthusiastically passed from friend to friend.”—Associated Press

The book is a memoir about growing up Black in Cape Charles, Virginia on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake. It details the origin of the town as a railroad terminus and connecting to ferry barges across the Chesapeake Bay to Norfolk, through its golden age in the Jim Crow South and its decline with the ascendancy of automobiles and the building of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. Its rise again as a tourist destination in the past decade and how the fortunes of the town is chronicled, without acknowledgment of the role of the Black community, which was a robust and thriving parallel community, that evolved in response to the segregation of the Jim Crow South. Now the town is rising again as a tourist destination and replacing the Black section with White weekend second home owners, and the Black presence has considerably diminished. Without a recording of its history, its entire memory will be gone, as if it was never there at all. The memoir details the life of one Black man who is the grandson of a slave but became the first elected Black member of the Town Council and the first Black member elected to the Northampton County Board of Supervisors. It addresses Black and White relations and the experience of being Black and how one navigates the Jim Crow racist era. By reading this account of a Black man's life one may develop a better understanding of why we are experiencing still racial injustice and inequality, after legal barriers had been abolished by the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964. Its target audience would be all who are interested, both Blacks and Whites, in learning how they still carry the legacy of slavery in their hearts and how it informs their behavior at present and how by acknowledging their racist beliefs, they can choose to correct them, with actions that help realize the dream of true equality of the races and fulfill the lofty promise of the Revolution: its declaration of the self- evident truth, that all men are created equal, with unalienable rights to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.