Maryland....; Baltimore; The Eastern Shore; The Southern Region

Oh. Hello I'm Billy Taylor. This is Baltimore. Pretty impressive isn't it. And

not just to look at there's a great deal to do down there. The science is a hollow place full of shops and restaurants and the Constellation a real revolutionary war sailing vessel. Out of Baltimore modeled on the famous Baltimore Clippers the fastest. Their time the World Trade Center when you visit the top floor you can see from 40 miles the National Aquarium a nearby city like museums and much more. No wonder tourists come here from all over the world. There's no other place quite like it. You know there's an old thing that Rome wasn't built in a day and neither was Baltimore. A great many people. People from all over the world have to do a tremendous amount of hard work. And it took time. More than 200 years. But to tell you that story though

I'm going to have to turn back the clock. This is what it was like in the very beginning. More than 200 years ago it looked much like they did it back then in 1752. There were only 25 houses in Baltimore town and already this place had an advantage over other towns. Location like New York or Boston. It was a salt water port but it was farther west than the others closer to the rich farmland where wheat could be grown. Carted to Baltimore and they're ground into flour to be shipped all over the world. And there was another advantage. Roads Baltimore was right on the main track to practically everywhere everything and everybody that went from the north to the south or from west to east came right through here and from

here you could go practically anywhere in the world well into back when Iran went to England and wheat to the West Indies and the ships didn't come back empty. They bought coffee from South America tea from China. And slaves from Africa as a result of all that trade the port grew and grew. By 1790 Baltimore was the fourth largest city in the nation. And Maryland led the country in shipbuilding the ships that made us famous came to the home of Baltimore Clippers. So they couldn't carry a great deal of cargo but they were so fast because I would steal anything with them and that was important because England and France were at war with each other to keep us from trading with friends. England used her name with the sound of a blockade which our baskets kept slipping right through. And that's why this Fort McHenry was attacked by the British in the War of 1812. They sail up the bay. They said to wipe out that nest of pirates on the Chesapeake. They planned to burn the city to the ground and we couldn't expect help from the government in Washington

because the British had invaded the capital and burned down the White House. So what did the Baltimoreans do they form a committee for the town's folks turned out in force laborers the shopkeepers learned how to march and dig trenches and build fortifications and they won they beat the British twice once on the eastern edge of town and once in the harbor where British gunboat shelled forty seven point five I was free for giving up and sailing away. For a while though the Baltimoreans weren't sure how the battle would turn out. They saw the rockets bursting over the fort and tried to peer through the smoke to see whether our flag was still flying. Their anchors Watts was made famous when one of the observers Francis Scott Key wrote a poem about that night set to music. It was an immediate hit and eventually became our No. So our ports and our sea trade were saved. Getting the goods in from the countryside that was

becoming a problem. And that's why I'm here at the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum. You see clipper ships were fine for the water. But other kinds of transportation when needed for a inland trade. Wagons for example big wagons that could be loaded up with goods and pulled by teams of six horses and mules and then worked for a while but the meat grew for a faster way of transporting goods in people. You see a trip seem to take forever for passengers. Travel was a nightmare. A trip that we can make in an afternoon say from Baltimore to wheeling in West Virginia took eight to 10 days of being tossed around in a cramped carriage. That was another possibility though a brand new idea. Folks were calling a rail type of road. You put iron rails on a road bed and rolled wagons and coaches over that. A group of bull Baltimore businessmen decided to take a chance they would build a rail type of road clear to the banks of the Ohio River. And they call it the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.

On the 4th of July an eight hundred twenty eight the first stone was laid. The railroad was a big success. People were looking for a faster way to travel because the road on rails still needed horses. Well there were other ideas but they didn't work very well. Say holes for example. Only you couldn't go anywhere unless the wind blew in the right direction. And this device put a horse on a treadmill that turned the wheels. But even ran into a cow and threw all the passengers into a ditch and so the railroad men kept looking for a better way. Peter Cooper built this contraption a steam engine and since it was so small he call it the Tom foam a one horsepower engine with pipes made of rifle barrels. But it wasn't really practical. It was only one way to find out a race between the Tom Thumb and a horse drawn carriage. Well the contestants were neck and neck at first and the Tom Thumb pulled ahead until one of its engine bells broke and the horse won the race. In time no problems

like that have been worked out. And another challenge had been met by the hard work and ingenuity of a group of Baltimoreans business was booming. The town prospered. There were plenty of jobs. People were drawn here to Baltimore for many foreign lands. Some were fleeing wars to escape persecution. Others wanted to escape poverty. They sought a better life. The English had come first. They settled along the Chesapeake Bay when the whole region was a wilderness. Then the Irish arrived. They work hard at any job they could get. Some wound up the first American millionaires men who made money in shipping banks and the railroads afterwards. There was a great wave of Germans. There were so many of them that at one time one fourth of all Baltimoreans were German. A number of schools were taught in two languages English and German. When the Italians arrived they brought with them skills in Masonry and stone cunning. They helped decorate many of our public buildings. One of the first monuments

dedicated to George Washington was sculpted in Baltimore by an Italian immigrant. Blacks were here from earliest times and not all of them were slaves. Back then there were twice as many free blacks as there were slaves here. There one important part of a big ship building business one of these men was Isaac Meyer born in 1945. You organized a small group of blacks into a company that opened a complete shipyard and in 1869 Isaac became the first black to organize a national labor union. The Jews were among the immigrants who came here as refugees from persecution penniless and unable to speak English. But this woman was determined to help Henrietta hold the daughter of a rabbi and a scholar in her own right. So she rented space in a downtown warehouse and opened an evening school. Over the years she taught English to more than 5000 immigrants Christian as well as you. She also taught them a variety of skills that would help them get jobs in their new country.

Many immigrants who came into the Port of Baltimore didn't stop here. Trains met the ships at the harbor and helped newcomers reach all parts of the country. But many got a look at the town and decided to stay. This flood of immigration pouring into the ports thousands of willing hands to perform the hard work of the city. But even more important they want with them a rich diversity in their customs. Language is a religion. The music and the food. When.

Think.

That's a lot of immigrants who arrive throughout the first 150 years of Baltimore's history founded a place of opportunity. It was a city always growing always expanding always on the move toward its next success. Even through a national catastrophe like the Civil War the town found ways to survive and keep growing. Then in 1904 something terrible happened. On a Sunday morning in February when most folks were in church a fire broke out in a warehouse near the harbor. The wind spread the flame from one building to another and soon the whole downtown was in danger. It became one of the biggest fires in the history of our nation.

Hundreds of firefighters from surrounding states came to help when the flames will finally control more than fifteen hundred buildings had been burned along with everything they contain. The few downtown structures that survive still there the scars of the heat so intense that it melted stone. While the city the fire was a terrible disaster many believed Baltimore would never recover. Not the Baltimoreans though. They formed a committee carted away rubble and in record time rebuilt the downtown and they made it better than ever. The Port of Baltimore continues to thrive. But times were changing and new challenges had to be faced the main activity moved away from the shallow in a harbor area that had been used as the port since the town's earliest days. Large Of course the sillies were built along the deeper parts of the taps were River. I'd left the city's downtown in a state of decline. Businesses moved away leaving empty warehouses and decaying buildings.

People stopped coming down here. It was ugly and no fun. But as you know by now when problems arise we've all to Morgan's have a way of getting together. And once we do that miracles happen. Once again Baltimore's business is booming and when this town prosperous all of Maryland prosperous to have the goods brought here from other parts of the state is shipped out and sold everything from coal and spices to oysters and apples. We work hard around here but we also know how to play.

Baltimore is not only a big success it is a wonderful place to have fun to see and taste the rich cultural heritage of our state and to learn about history and science. Damn outstanding medical institutions and excellent colleges was my life downtown has become a

model for others it is a quality that doesn't mean that we're free from problems. Some parts of the city are in desperate need of the kind of energy and enthusiasm and creative problem solving that perform this miracle here at the Inner Harbor. And already groups in Baltimore's Navy. It's a hard work to turn things around. Like any major city we have unemployment we have crime we have slums we have problems in the schools and just as Baltimore success in riches the whole state of problems affect the whole state to what happens here is really everybody's business. But when you think about the story of this port that built a city and the city that built an entire state you can't feel discouraged. And we got around to facing the problem head on will form a committee. Everyone will pitch in to strike a railroad or rebuild after the fire to hold off the enemy bombarding the fort over there. The job will get done and done so well that whatever needs fixing will end up ten times better than before.

And that's the way it's always been here in Boston. Maryland's Eastern Shore. Well first let's review where

Maryland is located on the East Coast of the United States. It's Pennsylvania West Virginia Virginia as well as. Maryland can be divided into four regions the Eastern Shore. Southern Maryland central Maryland and western Maryland. As you can see Maryland is split by the Riders of the Chesapeake Bay. The land to the east of the bay is called the Eastern Shore. It's made up of nine counties. Part of Cecil and Kent Queen Anne's tall but Caroline Dorchester with Conoco Wooster and Somerset. The Chesapeake Bay has always been a major influence upon the Eastern Shore.

The bay is very important because so much of the land of the Eastern Shore touches the rotters of the Chesapeake Bay the Chesapeake Bay Bridge crosses the bay and links the eastern shore with the rest of Maryland. We're going to learn more about life on the eastern shore. The people and how they live and work. And that the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michael's and topicality and this is a good place to learn about Chesapeake Bay life. What's it like to live here. How do the people work. Well a group of students

found life on the eastern shore so interesting they started a magazine about shorter life called Skipjack named after this special type of Chesapeake Bay oyster dredging boat. This is one of the students and the editor Skipjack magazine. Diane. Hauser Skipjack team organized an extra curricular activity at school and we meet every morning had a fifth day. And it's divided into three groups one is marketing Quest another have a cation the others laugh. How do you reporters get their stories. Well I've just just come take a tape recorder home with somebody's relative somebody's interested. They've talked to a lot of interesting people. Yeah. 103 blading Isabel. This is where

she was a schoolteacher on this deserted now and alive. We've talked Royster just an average we talk to her. When is crab and saying. The stork. First of all your last December was supposed to having. Been the hot water. For our crabs caught. From different parts of the bank and on time you notice. How do you go about curbing. We pulled up a fresh buttons are back open it gradually going to dry up.

Would you recommend this type of bourbon for young people out today. Let's learn a lot of work has been the thing you know I'll be up to the inventor All right. Well finally. Factory picks for market and X is the 1976 national picking champion. This. Time you spoke of prayer. Where you start. When you. Just. Remember this. Maybe. Some of the sections of it. Were most aback. And the sadness at. The back. And the rests. With you have a flavor at. This point so when you're working you know. Who you first started out. Continue to argue. And. Sometimes it's only. For running for a. Deal to

avoid doing this time. Somehow that. Part of eastern shore life Travers when the sourcing season starts September 15th through the end of March what is the process. First off you have to have a home and then you drop the Killie can be pushed back you have. Your. Money do you catch again anywhere from 25 to 40 bushels. That's the people they depend on the weather. Where. Would you recommend that. Depends on the person if you like the Outdoor Life it. Would be OK. Thank you Mr. Goldens a very big thing on these. Sure we talk with history and you see how it is done. Mr. Dana Bash How long have you been building boats. I've been working on both since I was 16 years old and 30 some years ago

we were Carbone is this. This is a typical Chesapeake Bay Bilbo's. Been lots of build around here and. All the boys usually work with. Just what kind of boats do you build. One boat. Is the first boat that we built and then we built a lot of facing part of boats in a cave where we build a yacht. Would you suggest a young person. To go in there. I really would I think it's a real creative work. Rick or some power skill and I think they would find it very rewarding. Thank you very much Mr. Dane. Come again. I guess Marylanders like I think and I like the show has had a question. Fetters your horses going now I'm going to take these. These have been fresh caught more going to the random truck than These are ready to make a batter. Going to put pepper.

It's a big you pal but. What a big pair. Thank you class hour and got a half and a half we're hanging Crowley. And Reg wrote I approach the trial. Where we make a sick batter. And. They are gonna. Meet the supplier. And they're ready. I. Know. Only what. I can. I'm also cooking some soft shell crabs and some quiet.

OK. There's nothing like freshly brewed in a just big bag. What are some of those things very well. Probably geese and up. Although many people work near the water not everyone on the Eastern Shore makes his or her living on the water. Many people are farmers and some are called truck farmers because they haul their products to market by truck. These lands produce fruit. Vegetables. And grain. Such as the eastern

shore of. Maryland and along the highway a roadside stand. Is also used to processing plants like this one. Here they are prepared for shipment to the east coast. Industry is also on the eastern shore.

Here you can clone a sausage. Company that makes chemicals. And a company that makes business for. Some very famous people came from the Eastern Shore. Harriet Tubman was a Maryland black woman who helped hundreds of slaves escape from the south before slavery was ended. Frederick Douglass was another black leader who fought to end slavery. TENCH Tillman was an American officer during the revolution and was a General George Washington.

The eastern shore is also proud of a player in the Baseball Hall of Fame Jimmy Fox. There are many historical places on the eastern shore too. The county is a tree over 400 years old and it's the official tree of Maryland. Just a town in Kent County Maryland colonists protested against British power by dumping the Chester river prior to the Declaration of Independence. Also in Kent County is Washington College which is the only college George Washington authorized Trinity Episcopal Church in Dorchester County is the oldest Protestant church in the United States. Another place you'll find interesting is Chris Field in Somerset County is often called the seafood capital of the world. And Winchester mills in Caroline County provided flour for Maryland's troops during the

time of the revolution. Today we've learned a lot about the people of Maryland's Eastern Shore how they live and how they work it. Our thanks to Mr. Morley Joe of South Dorchester. Cambridge High School.

Faculty advisor for Skipjack magazine for his assistance in this production. Right. We recorded one location by the Maryland Center for Public Broadcasting. Last time on a trip around Maryland we visited the Eastern Shore an area tied closely to the

waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay. Now we are in southern Maryland geographically Southern Maryland is very much like the Eastern Shore the region is low and flat and the soil is sandy which is good for raising tobacco fruit and vegetables. The Chesapeake Bay and the streams and rivers that flow into it are also a major influence on the southern region. The two major rivers are the Patuxent and the Potomac. The sandy soil of the land and the water of the bay play an important role in the lives of the people who live here. When we talk about Southern Maryland we're speaking of five counties on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. They are and a Rundle Prince George's. Calvert Charles and St. Mary's remember our state had its beginnings right here in the southern region. The first English settlers who came to Maryland lived here. Saint Mary's City was an early population center and the first capitol of Maryland

and since the early settlement of Southern Maryland the livelihoods of the many people that live here have been dependent upon raising tobacco. Tobacco farming is still a major source of income for some of the people of this area. Right now I'm in a country store and Bryant out in Charles County. Let's go in and talk to people and find out what more we can learn about Southern Maryland and tobacco farming. Are you the proprietor. Yes I am. How do you think I'm trying to learn about tobacco farming. If anybody here can help me. Yeah. Inside the store I met a young farmer named Mike Welsh. His family's been growing tobacco for years near Bryant town. Mike said that the first thing they do to grow tobacco is to get a tobacco bed ready a bed is a small field and it takes one tablespoon of seeds to do a single bed. Seeds may come from the plants or they may be bought in a store after the

plants grow to a height of about 12 inches. They moved or transplanted from beds to a field after transplanting. You wait for about two weeks until the tobacco is firmly rooted in the soil. Now that Mike continue the story of how tobacco is grown why don't you cultivate. Cultivating it for killing grass and working the fertilizer from the back and. Then if you have a very dry summer you have to hear again. Weird gait by using kind of large lawn sprinkler. We move it to a new location in the field every three hours. The weather is everything when you're raising tobacco. In July we top the plains. We do this by hand. In makes the top Leeza tobacco grows larger. After all this has been done. Then comes the cutting. This takes the whole family in some hard hands to. Everybody works and it always seems to be the hottest time of the year.

After spending it on a stick you hang it up in the barn for drying. After the plants are dried out you take them down and strip the leaves off the stalk and to the leaves have been stripped off the stalk you tie them in bundles. Now while you're stripping you separate the tobacco in four different grades there's the bottom of these which we call the second. Next up on the crowd which of the quality leaves to bring the best price then the dollar and the tips which bring the lowest price. My own tobacco is known for its mild and slow burning qualities and the crowd pleaser the best for this. If you stripped it and tied it in you have to use when you put

it in a large fish and put it up to a height of about 5 feet. Just ready for the warehouse at the warehouse the ocean owner and buyers from American and foreign companies bid on it and Whoever bids for your tobacco for their company. Want to want. One. All types of farming in Maryland is because farms produce the food for.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's national headquarters for farm research is the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center located in Prince George's County. The Beltsville try to find ways to fight disease. The plant's props and farm animals are. More than 2000 people work here and they conduct their studies in experimental plasters orchards gardens fields and woods. There are about 3500 large farm animals including beef and dairy cattle hogs and sheep. There are 3000 turkeys and chickens and several thousand laboratory and scientists use all these resources to increase crop yields and farm animal production of meat milk cheeses eggs and other products insects are also study Beltsville. The research is aimed toward controlling troublesome insects and protecting useful ones. Other scientists work on conserving our natural resources such as water and soil. This project converts sewage waste into fertilizer.

Here is a fascinating research project in which a cow is put into a Plexiglas chain. Scientists study how to use the food that she is fed. How much goes into the body tissues How much into milk production and how much is wasted. The information becomes so complex that scientists use a computer to find out which types of feeds such as corn or hay produce the most milk for the least amount of money. All the experiments at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center whether with animals plants or insects are designed to increase or improve our food. It is one of the largest agricultural research centers in the world and is frequently visited by scientists from many nations. Just as the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center is interested in conserving our land resources the Chesapeake biological lab in Solomons Maryland is dedicated to preserving our water

resources. Solomons is located in Calvert County. Mike Ribeiro a scientist at the lab tells us about the work done in the animal and plant life in and around the Chesapeake Bay must be protected because the bay is so important to the people of Maryland at the Chesapeake biological lab. We tried to get a better understanding of life in the bay by gathering samples of baby plants and animals and studying them. It is important for us to know what effect people's activities have on the day. Are their activities helping or hurting life in the ballet. To answer that question we often take a boat out into the bay to examine different creatures. We even have lab equipment on board the boat to help us study our catch. We use large nets and other equipment to catch everything from very tiny bay animals calls up plankton. All the way up to the large fish crabs oysters and clams. One of the big creatures we study is the oyster. Perhaps you have eaten one before. Here you can see two

oysters spawning. This is the way they reproduce themselves then by using a microscope. We can study oysters when they are very small. No this isn't a science fiction monster. It is another of our bay animals the crab in order to protect itself. The crab buries itself in the sand. It also has a very funny way of walking sideways like the oyster the crab is another delicious Marilynn meal. All of the creatures of the bay are dependent upon other creatures. This dependency or link is called a food web. One creature eats another one his food the little bay animal is eating a smaller creature and in turn will probably be eaten by a larger animal. This food web works itself all the way up to people we already talked about Forster's and crabs. Well fish is another favorite Maryland dinner. These pictures are in the song that goes with it and I just one of the exhibits at the Calvert

Marine Museum. This is Tom. He also wrote and sings a song. We're going to the water of the Chesapeake Bay is very important to the people of southern Maryland. The comic also in Solomons is a very good place to learn about our Chesapeake Bay. In the museum's exhibit rooms you can see the many boats and tools that people used to boys and crab on the back. And some of the displays like this old time diving how many people find out first hand about the water. Working on the water is a way of life passed down through families for generations by visiting the governor port the Chesapeake Bay. The people of Southern Maryland rather. Than.

Just a big boat. Another important Southern Maryland landmark is the United States Naval Academy. The Academy is located in the state capitol at Annapolis which is in and around lookout. The Naval Academy trains its students to be naval or Marine Corps officers. Students at the Academy are called midshipman. Like other colleges in the state the women and men of the Naval Academy receive plenty of classroom instruction. The studies of the Naval Academy are long and difficult. Part of the class is given at the academy also take place in laboratories where the midshipmen work with

equipment that will help them perform a particular job. However unlike most other Maryland colleges the midshipmen wear uniforms and march in parades and carry on other naval traditions. The colorful June week parades and ceremonies attract many visitors every year. Because they are being trained to be naval officers. The midshipman spend a great deal of time on the water. They learn how to sail and how to navigate boats and ships. Once the midshipman have learned to navigate they often hold sailing races along the Severn River and the Chesapeake Bay.

It's also a big part of the schedule at the Naval Academy. Their football team plays the other service academies and other colleges. The biggest game of the year is always against their arch rival the United States Military Academy from West Point New York. However the football team is not the only group to play in sports. Everyone at the Academy becomes involved in some athletic activity whether it be baseball the Cross Ball rowing softball or another sport in the United States Naval Academy has been an important part of the nation's defenses since 1845. Southern Maryland is also noted for its great food and fine traditional recipes. And much of that fine food can be found at the Amish market in St. Mary's County. Just a couple of

miles down the road from the tobacco warehouses of. The Amish people have been attracted to the rural farming nature of Southern Maryland called the plain people. The Amish sell their products at the open air farmers market on Wednesdays and Saturdays. They're horse drawn buggies on the road to the air. But the Amish aren't the only people who sell their goods at the market. Farmers come here from all over southern America. The Farmer's Market is a fun place to shop for produce goods antiques clothing and a wide variety of other products. You're. You're. You're. You're. You're. Southern Maryland has many other interesting features.

This is Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant. The first in Maryland. The power plant generates electricity for the Baltimore Gas Electric Company. One of the few remaining towers lighthouses can be found at Cove Point in Calvert County. That St. Mary's City and St. Mary's County is the site of Maryland's first capital and the old state house another St. Mary's County site is Point Lookout. Over 100 years ago this was a popular summer resort and then later during the Civil War it was a prisoner of war. The town of Port Tobacco in Charles County built more than 300 years ago was once a major seaport and is currently being restored to look like you did in quiet times. The Northern two counties of Southern Maryland and a run toward Prince George's. Are more populated than the others. Many of the people who live there work in Washington D.C. Annapolis and Baltimore. Also in Prince George's County is the huge campus of the University of Maryland one of the largest universities in the world.

And over in and around the county is the Baltimore Washington International Airport. We've seen that the southern region is located on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. The five counties of Southern Maryland are Anna Rundle Prince Georges Calvert Charles and St. Mary's and Southern Maryland is a great place to visit. So why not plan to do so very soon. We courted one location by the Maryland Center for Public Broadcasting.