Democratic messenger., 1902-08-02
AROUND OCEAN CITY.
Reminiscent of Col. ShOweiI, Pc
ter Lindell and Others.


american staff had an interesting letter
in the lmcricdn last Monday regarding
historic associations in and around
Ocean City. Here are extracts from the
article:
Long before the coming of the sea-
shore pleasure and health seeker from
the city, Ocean City was known to the
residents of the interior of the Eastern
Shore 1t was not then Ocean City.
1t was long, narrow, desolate and
barren sandbeap, without leaf or "a
sprig of grass. Hither however. in
summer came the country people from
| Wore ester. Their lighthouses were rude
tents. The bathing costumes for the
men were linen trousers and faded
shirts For the women old calico dress
es served the same purposes which the
blue fannels of to-day serve Fried
chicken, ham, bread and butter were
served in abundance. The gay parties
came in the morning and returned in
the evening to the mainland.
The leadar of these parties 80 years
ago was Col. Lemuel Showell who for
Many years was the most influential
resident of Worcester In 1919, when
John Lee Carroll was nominated by the
Democrats for governor, Col. Shovel
was also considered for the nomination,
and had he chosen to make fight for
the honor he would have proved a dan
gerous competitor. Far and wide over
the Eastern Shore travelled Colonel
Showell's fame for wealth. No one
knew the beginning and ending of his
estates By his own enterprise and
largely by his own capital he built a
railroad from Berlin to Salisbury, thus
securing an outlet to the North. His
vessels sailed up aud down the coast.
The burdens which he carried were,
however, too great for one man and he
fell victim to financial disaster. He
lived to see Ocean City spring from
sand heap and spread out over the bar
rem waste.
The first impetus to the founding of
Ocean City was given i'll 1878, when Mr..
Taber. of New York, while OH hunt
ing expedition, saw the possibilities of
the coast aS "a summer resort. Atlantic
City was then i'll its infancy. He So
cured Il patent of ownership of portion
of the sandy beach, now the site of Ocean
City. This particular spot was selected
because IL was nearest to Berlin, the
eastern terminus Of Colonel Showcll's
railroad and because the Sinepuxent
Bay is narrowcst at this point. In 1873
an excursion party. which included
Hon. w. I. Hamilton, who was later
governor of the state, and delegation
of prominent Baltimore business men
came to the beach. That was the real
beginning of Ocean City.
TWO FAMOUS RESORTS.
Long before Ocean City was. however.
a reality there were two famous sea-
shore resorts on the Worcester coast-
Scott's Beach and Coffin's beach. They
were south of Ocean City and owed
their origin to parties who sought the
coast i'll quest of bird shooting. By
sta yes they developed into summer re-
sorts and were visited by the most prom
inent families of the Lower Eastern
Shore counties.
Ocean City is in land of legendary
lore. For more than two centuries be.
fore the coming of the city visitor Wor-
cester county was the home of the most
prominent families of the state. a few
miles south of here, at Rehoboth. was
built the first Presbyterian Church in
the United States. On the mainland.
almost within echo distance, are houses,
now in decay. where once lived families
whose names appear in the Colonial re-
cords of the state. Here were the an
ces trail homes of the Martins, of the
Henrys, of the Spences. of the Upshurs.
of the Showclls, of the Cadwalladers,
of the Robins family of Philadelphia.
One tires i'll recalling the list of promi-
nent men of the nation whose forefathers
lived in Worcester. 1t was in this coun
ty, at Beverly, lived the Dennis of
~ e.. Al. n Il
that long line of men bearing the Dennis
name who have served their state OH
the bench, i'm the United States Senate.
House of Representatives and i'll the
legislative chambers at Annapolis
Judge J. Ups iur Dennis. of Baltimore,
| is the latest member of the family who
has worn the ermine. He was very
young man when Ocean City was found
ed Only during two summers, when
he was in Europe. has he failed to visit
Ocean City since it was established.
PETER LINDELL'S CAREER.
Near Ocean City was born Peter Lin
dell, who was foremost in building St.
Louis. His birth year was l776. He
spent his youth on "A coast trading vessel.
being called home by the death of his
rived at the corn planting season aud,
following the example of his neighbors.
he invested in a cargo of "old wives, y"
the fertilizer fish now known as menha
den. In each corn hill he dropped an
| "old wife" and covered it up. Then he
went to Snow Hill to celebrate his
debut as farmer When he returned
he saw buZzards, attracted by the un-
holy odor of the decaying fish, perched
on every top fencerail surrounding his
field of corn The uncanny sight and
the far reaching smell drove him i'll
great haste back tn Snow Hill, where
he continued his celebration. He came
to the conclusion that Il seafaring man
was not properly trained to endure
those odors. He disposed of his farm,
went to Baltimore. and invested in Il
"prairie schooner" which he loaded
with shoes Then he started West,
selling his shoes as he proceeded. When
he arrived in st. Louis he had gathered
good sized pile of cash. He went in
to merchandising on small scale. He
invested his profits in land which grew
enormously in value as the city grew in
population. The Lindell Hotel, Park
and Boulevard in st. Louis bear testi
mony tn his prominence in that city. 1t
was his delight to tell Marylanders
whom he met i'll st Louis that but for
those decaying "old wives" i'll Worces-
ter county he would have never gone
West and would have never accumulat-
| Oh his large fOrtnue