Spooky Solomons

09/07/2026

Last night’s historical ghost tour was a bit later than normal, but the last light of the sun over Solomons was beautiful.

Thanks to everyone who has taken a ghost tour, commented on or shared a post, told me your stories or otherwise engaged with me, waved at me on the boardwalk, or otherwise been supportive and kind. I appreciate all of you! This community is awesome!

Today, Labor Day, there is a Historical Ghost Tour of Solomons Island at 7pm. It seems like the perfect way to unofficially end the summer... with a little history, a few ghost stories, and an evening walk around Solomons.

Happy Labor Day!

09/07/2026

Calvert County Oyster Shuckers Strike

For Labor Day, I thought I would share a little piece of Calvert County labor history.

In the 1930s, the oyster industry employed lots of people here in Southern Maryland. Watermen caught the oysters, but inside the packing houses were hundreds of shuckers, many of them African American men and women, who spent long days opening oysters by hand. They were generally paid according to how many gallons of oysters they could shuck.

In December 1938, several Calvert County oyster houses reduced the shucking rate from 30 cents to 25 cents per gallon.

The shuckers were understandably unhappy about losing part of their income, particularly just before Christmas. They asked that the reduction at least be delayed until after the holidays. When that didn't happen, they walked out.

But the oyster houses were in a difficult position, too. The packers pointed to poor oyster quality, unusually warm weather, falling prices, weak markets, and competition from Eastern Shore packing houses as reasons for lowering the rate. It was an industry already facing some serious challenges.

The strike started at Broomes Island. Shuckers from Warren Denton's oyster house at Broomes Island then traveled to Sollers & Dowell on St. Leonard Creek, where 35 workers joined them. From there they continued to Solomons. Workers at H.M. Woodburn & Son joined the strike, followed by workers at J.C. Lore & Sons.

Altogether, roughly 300 oyster shuckers participated in what newspapers at the time described as Calvert County's first organized strike.

Police were called, including the Calvert County sheriff and Maryland State Police. There were allegations that some people who wanted to continue working had been threatened, but police reported witnessing no violence.

The oyster house owners warned that if they couldn't operate at the lower shucking rate, they might close their houses for the season. That put the shuckers in a terrible position. Continue the strike and risk losing their winter employment altogether, or return to work at the reduced rate.

They returned to work.

However, on November 13, 1939, 252 Calvert County oyster shuckers went on strike again.

This time workers walked out at five oyster houses: Warren Denton at Broomes Island, J.C. Lore & Sons and H.M. Woodburn & Son in Solomons, Sollers & Dowell on St. Leonard Creek, and Daniel Barrett at Hellen Creek.

The second strike was more formally organized. Norman Phillips, an organizer with the American Federation of Labor from New Jersey, came to Calvert County and attempted to negotiate between the workers and the oyster house owners.

Again, the two sides found themselves facing the same basic problem. The shuckers needed to earn a living. The oyster houses needed to remain economically viable in an industry that was becoming increasingly difficult.

A lot of folks want to point fingers when looking back at labor disputes, often blaming greed. But the truth is, there were few, if any, villains in this particular dispute. Most records indicate that shuckers and oyster house owners generally maintained good relationships. Tough economics, however, can create tension between everyday people who are all trying to make a living.

Not long after the strikes, shucking rates actually rose to 35 cents per gallon. Calvert County's oyster houses continued to adapt to a changing industry. Changes in oyster populations, markets, transportation, refrigeration, processing, and the economics of the Chesapeake seafood industry gradually transformed a business that had once employed hundreds of people here.

So, on Labor Day, I think it is worth remembering this little piece of Calvert County history.

The oyster house owners were trying to keep their businesses viable. The shuckers were trying to protect the value of their labor and support their families. For two winters in 1938 and 1939, those pressures collided right here in Calvert County.

If you have not visited the Calvert Marine Museum recently, I highly recommend it. There is so much more great information there about the lives of oyster shuckers.

One display in particular allows you to hear the shuckers' stories in their own words. Hearing the voices of the people who actually did this work adds something that no history book really can. It is a powerful experience.

09/06/2026

A Rare and Beautiful Corner of Calvert County

These hauntingly beautiful photographs were published by the Maryland Geological Survey in 1907 and show Cypress Swamp at Battle Creek here in Calvert County.

More than a century later, you can still visit this remarkable place.
Today, Battle Creek Cypress Swamp Sanctuary is a 100-acre preserve and county park. What makes it so special are the bald cypress trees (taxodium distichum) growing in the wetland. These trees are much more commonly associated with the swamps of the South, yet here they are in Calvert County.

Battle Creek contains one of the northernmost natural stands of bald cypress in the United States and the only natural stand in Maryland west of the Chesapeake Bay. Maryland DNR describes these trees as remnants of a species that was once much more widespread in our region before the last Ice Age.

(You may have heard of Cypress Creek Swamp in Anne Arundel County, but it isn't the same type of swamp. Its "cypress" is primarily Atlantic white cedar, sometimes called white cypress.)

Bald cypress are fascinating trees themselves. They are conifers, but unlike most conifers, they lose their soft needles each fall. Around their massive trunks grow the strange woody projections known as cypress knees, some of which can be seen in these 1907 photographs.

The swamp also creates a little world of its own. Rare plants, birds, frogs, insects and other wildlife thrive among the cypress. Three species of moth found here actually feed exclusively on bald cypress, including the rare cypress sphinx moth.

Fortunately, this remarkable piece of Calvert County was preserved. The Nature Conservancy protected Battle Creek Cypress Swamp in 1957 as its first preserve in Maryland, and in 1965 it was designated a National Natural Landmark. Today it is operated by Calvert County Parks and Recreation.

There is an amazing nature center and you can walk the boardwalk through the swamp and experience it for yourself. It is one of those places that reminds us just how beautiful and diverse the natural landscape of Calvert County really is.

09/05/2026

Lynn is so much fun and a wealth of great information. As you may know, I am a skeptic. But Lynn is worth talking to!

The Psychic Ghost Tours are filled with history (by me) and Lynn goes further than what I can share from the stories of the locals and historical record.

It is always a fun evening!!

09/04/2026

Just to be clear... no one has been chased by a ghost on my tour. Not yet at least.

What you WILL get is a fun evening exploring a different side of Solomons Island, filled with local history, legends, lore, and quite a few ghost stories gathered from the people who lived here.

I have a tour tomorrow night, Saturday, at 7pm!

October tours are also starting to book up. Spooky season will be here before we know it!

Book at SpookySolomons.com

09/03/2026

Such a great article from The BayNet.

Looking forward to all the amazing photos submitted!!

Thank you to SOMD Photography and St. Mary's County Arts Council!

Southern Maryland residents are invited to submit photos of local haunted landmarks for an October gallery and storytelling project.

09/03/2026

With school starting back up, I know kids approach this time of year with mixed emotions.

It is good to see your friends again, get out of the house, join activities, and start something new. But then there is the other side of it... getting up early, schoolwork, homework, tests, and, well... learning.

But we really do take education for granted these days.

It wasn't all that long ago that getting an education could be a genuine struggle.

For much of Maryland's history, whether a child received an education depended heavily on where they lived, their family, their community, their economic circumstances, and their race. Wealthier families could hire teachers or send their children to private schools. Poor and rural families often had far fewer opportunities.

Maryland did not establish compulsory school attendance until the early 20th century. The 1902 law required children between eight and twelve to attend school, although there were exceptions, and Maryland's compulsory attendance system continued to develop in the years that followed.

Even when schools were available, education was far from equal.

For Black children in Southern Maryland, segregation created enormous obstacles. Maryland formally established segregated schooling after the Civil War, and although the state required free public schools for Black children beginning in 1872, "separate" certainly did not mean equal.

The great Reverend Irvin Beverly grew up right here in southern Calvert County. He was born in Lusby and eventually graduated from Brooks High School in Prince Frederick.

Reverend Beverly has told of waking early and walking to school through the snow, rain, or heat, while the school bus carrying white children passed him by.

His mother taught him the value of an education, and he pursued one despite those difficulties.

If you haven't met Reverend Beverly, you are missing out. He is a man of seemingly eternal optimism and compassion, and someone I have tremendous respect for.

There is an excellent book that tells many more stories like these: In Relentless Pursuit of an Education: African American Stories from a Century of Segregation (1865–1967), prepared by the Unified Committee for Afro-American Contributions of St. Mary's County.

The book contains the personal experiences of people who grew up in St Mary's County when getting an education sometimes required extraordinary sacrifices, not only from students, but from their parents and communities.

Alonzo Gaskin recalled:
"Our teachers were relentless. They did not let up on you because they knew what you had to do to make it in this world..."

And on the back cover, Gaskin offers a reminder of why these stories matter:
"If you don't know your history, you're destined to live it again."

He goes on to speak about the sacrifices people made to build this country and the importance of recognizing the parts of our history that too often went untold.

Education is a blessing.

So the next time that alarm clock goes off and you dread getting out of bed for school, remember that there were generations of children right here in Southern Maryland who desperately wanted what we sometimes complain about having.

Parents sacrificed for it. Communities fought for it. Children walked miles for it.

Sometimes while watching a school bus pass them by.

09/03/2026

From the very first year I organized Spooky Solomons, I knew I wanted to be supportive of the community. It has been a pleasure helping to put on the Fourth of July Celebrations.

There is a lot of chaos, politics, and costs associated with the celebration. But also... a lot of great community spirit and a real opportunity for Solomons to show off their stuff.

Whatever happens, Spooky Solomons will continue to donate to support community events.

Future Of Solomons July 4 Fireworks Uncertain As Business Association Prepares To Dissolve

READ THE STORY: https://thebaynet.com/future-of-solomons-july-4-fireworks-uncertain-as-business-association-prepares-to-dissolve/

09/02/2026

Spooky season approaches… and this story is a doozy.

I talk about the Great Chesapeake–Potomac Hurricane of 1933 on the Historical Ghost Tour of Solomons Island. The storm devastated communities all around the Chesapeake Bay.

But over on Hoopers Island, one old waterman supposedly survived the storm in a way I have certainly never heard before.

As the water rose around his house, he ran upstairs and waited. Then he heard something tapping against a second-story window.

Floating outside was the wooden coffin of his recently deceased wife.

According to the story, he did the only sensible thing one could do in such an utterly bizarre situation: he climbed into the coffin with his dead wife and floated away.

By morning, the coffin had carried them safely to another island.

When asked about his remarkable escape, the old waterman reportedly had a simple explanation:

“Thanks, old woman. You always did look after me.”

This wonderfully macabre bit of Eastern Shore folklore appeared in The Baltimore Sun on Halloween, 1972.

I have only summarized it here because the original is MUCH better. Take a minute and read the entire clipping. It is the kind of Chesapeake Bay lore that deserves to be told again.