When I thought about my last column about the much-appreciated arrival of spring weather and the terrible winter that preceded it, my thoughts harkened back to the winter of 1977.
Old photos in a long forgotten box filled with scrapbooks brought memories of a very rare occurrence: ice boat races on the Miles River in January 1977. A Baltimore television station later referred to the time as “Chesapeake Bay’s Mini Ice Age.”
My wife, daughter and I, recent arrivals in Talbot County, were drawn, as were others, to the Miles River to watch what might be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. And so it was.
In a county rich in boating history, I guess it was only natural to use the frozen rivers for recreation.
One personal anecdote: not long after watching the ice boat races, I deployed for two weeks with the Maryland National Guard to Fairbanks, Alaska, only to find our nation’s northernmost state encountering a heat wave. An ice bridge important to the military exercise melted.
The old photos provided some perspective about our past winter. It could have been worse.
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Carol Voyles says
Nice. Thank you.
Always good to put our experiences into perspective;and these photos bring back memories of our 20+ years in Minnesota, where the “ice age” persists.