Historical Eastern Shore rendezvous
Cambridge hosted their historical schooner rendezvous today, offering folks little pieces of the past that connect right back here to the shore. The Long Horn dock hosted the eleventh annual schooner rendezvous on Sunday, featuring a ton of Maryland’s history.
“Around 1771 and 1772 people starting attacking the Sultana,” said Kalie Borden, the education specialist.
The Sultana served as a coast guard during the Townsend, tea, and sugar act in the 1700s. these acts raised the price of consumer goods like; paper paint lead glass and sugar. So, colonists started smuggling goods.
“She searched over 400 boats during that time, said Borden. “Which is quite a few, she was kept very busy but only one of those boats had smuggled goods on it. So, she was not particularly successful at her job.”
However, the Sultana still got a spot in Cambridge’s taste of history. Additionally, the event hosted Maryland clothing vendors, arts and crafts, hand made jewelry, and Darnell’s Grill and Catering; serving up, what guests called, some of the best pull pork sandwiches on the Eastern Shore. The event even had a rope locker, which is the first and only of its kind in the world.
“I got the idea that if I got a school bus which was larger, I could make that an accommodation that would be comfortable,” explained the owner of Rope Locker, Jim Torbert.
Jim and his wife have lived on this school bus for the past 10 years, traveling the world selling a variation of rope, mostly for boating use. And they tell us, this is the sixth time they’ve come back for the occasion.
“There’s actually a race on the Chesapeake Bay called the great Chesapeake Bay schooner race,” said Jane Devlin, The Richardson Maritime Museum’s executive director. ” Most of the boats head North from Baltimore to ports smith. On the way up we ask them to hang a right and come down the chop tank to Cambridge to liven our town and bring a lot of maritime history with it.”
Richardson maritime museum sponsors the event and they tell us –for them– it’s all about educating the youth about how rich in culture the eastern shore, really is. Aside from bringing a lot of history to the shore, the museum also recently started an educational program that coincides with events; like the schooner rendezvous. One aspect kids can learn from are old boats that the museum has labeled historic – like Lady Maryland and the Nathan or Dorchestor, which is owned by Rodger Worthington.
Worthington not only owns the ship but is also the man that started the schooner rendezvous 11 years ago. On Thursday all the boats were lined up and docked at long horn, available for kids to hop aboard and learn their history.
