Oxford is a small town on the Eastern Shore of Maryland with approximately 1500 residents, some part time. It is on the banks of the Tred Avon River and presents a beautiful, peaceful. quaint presence.
My husband’s family had lived in Oxford for a very long time. His father was a waterman, his mother a nurse. Their home had been built in the 20’s and was a tight fit for the family with five children. They didn’t have indoor plumbing till the late 60’s.
I came here with my husband, then boyfriend, in the 70’s. I couldn’t get over how different life here was from any of the many places I had lived as an Air Force brat.
Oxford was small, quaint and quiet. There were families here, working families. Some worked on the water, others in a variety of occupations.
On the weekends, we spent time at Pope’s Tavern, a local bar with a pool table. Sometimes we went to Easton for softball games or to Dorchester County to play darts. The local crab restaurant was called Pier Street and young people could tend bar and wait tables there to make extra money.
There was a little league team coached by local fathers. Kids could run the shore line, fish, get in a boat, swim and just play.
As the years went by and the real estate market beckoned more rich retirees and refugees from D. C. and Annapolis, Oxford changed. Fewer families, more out of town part time residents. Locals died and their families sold their homes. Or they just sold their home to find a place where they could have good jobs.
And so the elite came.
With the DC elite came a different set of problems and expectations. Less friendly town and more condo association.
This current election and the attitude of some of the folks who have moved here has prompted me to write this blog. It’s about what Oxford used to be, what it is now, and what we hope it doesn’t become.
I’ll be blogging about local events, politics, education, and a variety of other topics. Sometimes it will be factual, sometimes funny, sometimes argumentative.
Quotes
Do not be so open minded that your brains fall out.
GK Chesterton