Drusilla “Dru” Gladden was maybe not the most prominent Eastern Shore woman I’ve researched, but hers is the type of story and recipe I like to uplift in my work – everyday people – and in this case, a prized local ingredient. Dru Gladden liked gospel music and lighthouses, according to her 2023 obituary. At…
The header for Miss Olivia Harper’s 1899 marriage announcement read “Wedded to a Marylander.” Olivia’s mother, Mary C. Harper, and her father, storekeeper George W. Harper, were both born in Delaware. But 1880 and 1910 censuses show the Harpers living in Kent County – Maryland, not Delaware, so the announcement title is somewhat curious. Olivia Harper herself was born in 1876, in Maryland. But that’s no matter. Olivia, daughter of a shopkeeper, married William Medders, who would eventually become a merchant himself.
His store became a famous local fixture for nearly 70 years.
Eliza Leslie’s “Strawberry Ice” isn’t exactly a Maryland recipe. I made this dessert to partake in the Dundurn Recipe Challenge. Since I didn’t get to a dedicated blog recipe, here it is. Dundurn Castle is a historic site operating as a civic museum in Hamilton Ontario. The mansion was built in 1835, on the site…
Prince George’s County hasn’t made many appearances on this blog thus far, despite being my place of origin. Awhile back, I came across some “Maryland Cooking” recipes printed in The Washington Times in 1921, from “The Melwood Cook Book.” I managed to find a copy and photographed it for archive.org before passing it along to…
“If alum is something to be proud of why conceal it on the label in type as small as the law permits?” – Alum in Baking Powder, 1927, Royal Baking Powder Company “Today, the Royal Company is manufacturing and selling a phosphate type of powder such as they condemned and classed as a mineral…