Mark’s Score 7.7
When I lost my job in Boston several years ago, we decided that we would move to our retirement destination. At the time we were not certain where that might be. We wanted to live somewhere that had New England’s cultural/historical charm, but didn’t have New England’s brutal weather. We settled on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The Eastern Shore has many charms four seasons with mild winters, pretty historical towns, beach and bay, farms, forests, proximity to major urban areas, and several universities. In short, it is New England with better weather.
Pemberton Historical Park is an excellent example of the Eastern Shore’s historical heritage. The historical and cultural context of the Eastern Shore is very different from New England’s. The Eastern Shore marks the beginning of the South. Plantations and slavery are part of the historical tradition here. Wicomico County has preserved, as a community park, 273 acres (110 hectares) of Pemberton Plantation’s original 1,000 acres (405 hectares). Pemberton Hall grew tobacco and had slaves. It is still a working farm but these days they grow sorghum and corn.
Several years after moving here Katerina developed cancer. She had a successful surgery to remove the cancer, but from that day forward she refused to walk in the woods. We would come to the park and she would walk around the parking lot and in the field in front of the farm house, but she would not go near the woods. I think she was convinced the frog was responsible for her surgery. She passed away last autumn and Arturo and I once again walk through the forests and marshlands. We have run across a frog or two on our new adventures, but they are not so scarry now, so we walk right past them.
The park has bathroom facilities, a picnic area, and both indoor and outside meeting space. They host a number of events and festivals throughout the year and there are a variety of day camps held on the property during the summer. There are no organized sports facilities such as baseball diamonds, football field or tennis courts. But there are many trails and they are well maintained, though it can get a little muddy on the trail that runs by the river near the parking lot. You can rent both the hall (holds 35 people) or grounds surrounding the hall for private events and parties.
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