H. F. Kenney

In the record (3)

1. 1877

   June 26, 1877: fifty Baltimore notables and a party of editors ride 236 miles to Ocean City, bathe until sundown, and file the first detailed description of a night at the Atlantic Hotel.

   H. F. Kenney, superintendent of the P.W.&B., organized a promotional excursion from Baltimore on Tuesday, June 26, 1877. Special cars went on the 9:55 a.m. express from President Street depot carrying "over fifty guests from Baltimore city, comprising some of her most prominent citizens" — Hon. Charles G. Kerr, Hon. R. T. Banks, Henry Clay Dallam, James Hodges, Professor Powhatan Clarke, Judge Henry F. Garey among them. The Westminster editor joined at 6:20 a.m. and reached the beach at 5 p.m., 236 miles, on a day the thermometer showed 92 degrees in the shade; the train once ran 25 miles in 27 minutes and twice stopped to cool its journal boxes. Within half an hour of arrival "a number of the excursionists were out in the surf, and the broad beach was a lively scene, till the going down of the sun." Then supper in the Atlantic's "spacious salon," euchre in the parlors, promenaders on the porticos, and — the line worth keeping — "at eleven the first snore of the season at Ocean City broke the sweet, sad monotony of the moaning surf." Breakfast next morning was Spanish mackerel, fried oysters, stewed chicken, hot rolls, waffles, cakes, toast, coffee, tea, milk and butter, consumed "in alarming quantities," and "mine host Tracey was made to tremble for his larder."

   The single most vivid page in Ocean City's early record, and it was written by a Westminster newspaperman on a free ticket. Read it as advertising and it is still the only surviving account of what the Atlantic Hotel smelled, sounded and tasted like in its third summer.

   Atlantic HotelJohn TracyDr. Hilary R. Pitts

   Source · checked 2026-08-06

2. 1878

   The Wilmington excursion fare to Ocean City falls from $3.00 to $2.00 in 1878 — a third off, in the resort's fourth season.

   The season's standing advertisement: "EXCURSION TRAIN Will be run to Ocean City, THE 'MARYLAND NEWPORT.' On Thursday, August 8th, 1878. Fare $2. Children half price. Leave Wilmington at 6 a.m. Returning, leave Ocean City at 5 p.m. Arrive in Wilmington at 10.30 p.m. Tickets good to return by regular trains until Monday, August 12th only, when presented to and stamped by the Ticket Agent at Ocean City. First class cars run directly through to the Surf. 6 Hours at the Sea-Shore. Ocean City is not surpassed, if equalled, for its natural attractions, possessing the finest surf-bathing, sailing, fishing, &c., to be found on the coast. Meals at all hours and at reasonable rates at Excursion House. H. F. KENNEY, Superintendent; I. N. Mills, Gen'l Agt. Del. Div.; Geo. A. Dadmun, Gen'l Ticket Agt." The 1877 excursion had been $3.00 for seven hours at the sea-shore; the 1878 ad ran at $2.00 for seven hours in July and six hours from mid-August, and it added something new — the ticket was good to return on any regular train until the following Monday.

   A third off the fare and a weekend's worth of validity. Year four is when the day trip started turning into a stay.

   Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore 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 RailroadEastern Shore Steamboat CompanyWicomico and Pocomoke Railroad

   Source · checked 2026-08-06