Eastern Shore Steamboat Company

In the record (4)

1. 1877

   From Baltimore in 1877 you could reach Ocean City by rail in a day — or overnight by steamer to Crisfield and a fast train that got you there for breakfast.

   The Baltimore Evening Bulletin, reprinted in the Westminster Democratic Advocate on June 30, 1877, laid out both routes. All-land: the 6:55 a.m. train from President Street depot over the P.W.&B. and its Delaware and Maryland connections, reaching Ocean City about 4 p.m. the same day. By water: "By an arrangement entered into between the Eastern Shore Steamboat Company and the Eastern Shore and Wicomico and Pocomoke railroads, through and round-trip tickets may be purchased… The steamers Helen, Maggie and Tangier, three handsome iron steamers, leave South street wharf every afternoon (Saturday excepted) at 6 o'clock, for Crisfield, where they connect with a special fast train at an early hour the next day, which reaches Ocean City in ample time for breakfast." A slower variant took the Tangier up the Pocomoke to Snow Hill on Tuesday evenings and came in by rail from there. The Baltimore party on the June press excursion took the boat home — from Ocean City at 8:45 for Crisfield, the steamer Maggie at 6:30, Baltimore about 5 the next morning.

   Wicomico and Pocomoke Railroad

   Source · checked 2026-08-06

2. 1880 · 1880-07-06

   Ocean City's convention trade starts in 1880: several hundred Maryland schoolteachers in July, the Peninsula's newspaper editors in August.

   The State Teachers' Association of Maryland took its annual session to the beach for three days, July 6, 7 and 8, 1880, and the terms were published statewide from Garrett County to Harford. A membership ticket cost fifty cents and had to be bought from a county school examiner in advance, because it was what unlocked the travel and board rates: half fare on the Western Maryland Railroad and the steamboat, or full fare good for the round trip, tickets valid July 2 to 13; steamboat fare Baltimore to Ocean City and return, four dollars, leaving the foot of South Street at six every evening but Saturday; rail round trip from Baltimore, six dollars, "good during the season"; and board at the Atlantic Hotel "to members, One Dollar a day for the three days the Association is in session. Afterwards $12.50 a week." A. F. Wilkerson was secretary. The Bel Air correspondent who travelled by steamer to Crisfield and then by rail over the Eastern Shore and Wicomico & Pocomoke roads counted "several hundred teachers and educa[tors]" on the beach and called Ocean City "the Cape May of Maryland, and the most popular watering place in the State." Six weeks later the editors came: "The Peninsular Press Association at its session at Ocean City this week elected the following officers: President — George W. Cruikshank, of Elkton. First Vice President — B. Everett Smith. Second Vice President — D. Taylor Bradford, of this city [Wilmington]. Secretary — W. Scott Way, of Middletown. Treasurer — O. P. Johnson." They would be back the following August, waltzing with the girls and passing resolutions of thanks to the railroad officials and to Congress Hall's Mr. Selby.

   A statewide professional convention in July and a regional press association in August, in a town with forty-nine residents. The convention trade is as old as the town charter.

   Atlantic HotelState Teachers' Association of MarylandPeninsular Press AssociationWicomico and Pocomoke Railroad

   Source · checked 2026-08-06

3. 1880 · 1880-09-09

   Getting to Ocean City in 1880: "8 HOURS AT THE SEA-SHORE" from Wilmington, or an overnight boat from Baltimore — six dollars round trip either way.

   The Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore's Thursday excursion out of Wilmington was in its fourth season and had lengthened its stay. The September 1880 advertisement lists the Delaware Division stations and their fares (Middletown $3.61 among them), arrival at Ocean City at 11:00, departure at 5:00 P.M., and the headline that had read 7 HOURS AT THE SEA-SHORE in 1877 now reading "8 HOURS AT THE SEA-SHORE." First-class cars ran "directly through to the surf" — the train went onto the beach. Tickets were good to return by regular train until Monday, September 13, if stamped by the Ocean City ticket agent. H. F. Kenney was still superintendent; Geo. A. Dadmun general ticket agent. A week later the company announced one more: "to run another excursion to Ocean City, the famous watering resort of Maryland, on Thursday next. This will positively be the last opportunity of visiting this resort during the present season" — leaving Wilmington at 6 a.m. and Ocean City at 5 p.m. on Thursday, September 16, 1880. From Baltimore the choice was rail or water, and a West Virginia visitor writing home in August priced both: "Ocean City is distant about two hundred and four miles from Baltimore, by rail via Wilmington, Del., but probably a little more by boat. The fare from Baltimore, by boat to Crisfield, then by rail, is four dollars, or six dollars for the round trip — meals and state room extra. As a general thing passengers prefer the water route, as they can leave Baltimore at 6 p.m. and arrive here at 11:30 a.m. the following day, enjoying a good night's rest and a cool ride on the bay." The Eastern Shore Steamboat Company's boats left the foot of South Street every evening but Saturday at six — a service Baltimore's German-language daily was still puffing to its readers in August as the way to reach "Ocean-City mit seiner reizenden Umgebung."

   Atlantic HotelPhiladelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore RailroadWicomico and Pocomoke RailroadH. F. Kenney

   Source · checked 2026-08-06

4. 1884

   The Baltimore Sun's resort round-up: "The Atlantic is the only hotel advertised" at Ocean City.

   Quoted in the Annapolis Evening Capital of July 19, 1884: "Ocean City, Md., has a fine beach, a beautiful bay and good society. The Atlantic is the only hotel advertised, and it is first class in every respect. The steamer Kent, of the Maryland Steamboat Company, and the boats of the Eastern Shore Company take passengers to Ocean City via the railroad from Salisbury and Crisfield." The Capital's editor was less charitable about the route: "There is no place on the whole coast that has a better beach and all that; but good heavens, what a roundabout way of reaching it. It beats Robin Hood's barn." His fix — eighty miles of rail and a Kent Island ferry from Annapolis — would have put Baltimore "within a few hours" of the beach instead of "a night and a day of tedious travel". The bay bridge he was arguing for opened in 1952.

   Atlantic HotelMaryland Steamboat Company

   Source · checked 2026-08-06