Chesapeake Traditions Today

Chesapeake Traditions Today

Chesapeake Traditions Today is a 10-part, weekly series celebrating folklife of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and the Chesapeake Bay region. The series will revisit some of the cultural traditions and community members represented by the Chesapeake Traditions program at the National Folk Festival in 2018, and highlight what tradition bearers are up to today. Chesapeake Traditions Today will also introduce you to new traditions and culture keepers, all representing communities and ways of life on the Shore. Listen to new episodes Thursday mornings on WSDL 90.7 and view new videos here each week, all summer.

This project is produced by the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art, Salisbury University and the National Folk Festival, with support from Maryland Traditions and the National Council for the Traditional Arts, in collaboration with Delmarva Public Media.

Chesapeake Traditions Today- "Hurricane" Hazel Cropper

By • 4 hours ago
Raye Valion-Gillette

"Hurricane" Hazel Cropper is a 16-time world champion crab picker, and is featured in the Guinness Book of World Records for the speed and volume of blue crab she can pick. Learn about this Crisfield, MD resident's long connection to the Chesapeake Bay's crabbing industry, and how she uses her talent to teach the "art" of crab picking today.

Chesapeake Traditions Today- The Sensational Royal Lights

By • Jul 30, 2020
Edwin Remsberg

For over 60 years, the Sensational Royal Lights have traveled throughout Delmarva to deliver their music ministry through quartet-style gospel music. In today's episode of Chesapeake Traditions Today hear from three long-time members of this group that got its start in Cordtown, a small community near Cambridge, MD, and hear what inspires the Sensational Royal Lights today.

Chesapeake Traditions Today- Scrapple

By • Jul 23, 2020

In today's episode of Chesapeake Traditions Today, meet Newell Quinton from San Domingo, near Sharptown, MD. Newell is a culture keeper carrying on the tradition of making scrapple. He does this using hogs he's raised, and cast iron pots and techniques passed down over generations. It doesn't get more farm to table than this!

Chesapeake Traditions Today- Smith Island Cake

By • Jul 16, 2020

In this episode we meet Janice Marshall of Smith Island, MD. Janice is a culture bearer in a long line of women who make what has become Maryland's state dessert, the Smith Island cake. Learn more about this multi-layered confection and its possible history, and get ready to get hungry!

Chesapeake Traditions Today: Captain Harold “Stoney” Whitelock

By • Jul 9, 2020

Captain Harold “Stoney” Whitelock. Born and raised here on the Eastern Shore, Capt. Whitelock discusses his connection to skipjacks and the oyster industry, and the iconic boat’s connection to regional communities' heritage.

Chesapeake Traditions Today: Nause-Waiwash Band of Indians

By • Jul 2, 2020

The Delmarva Peninsula (present day Delaware, and the Eastern Shores of Maryland and Virginia), includes the traditional homelands of the Lenape, Nanticoke, Nause-Waiwash, Assateague, Pocomoke, and Accohannock peoples—all of whom continue to carry on their ancestors’ legacies today. To kick off this new series on Chesapeake traditions, we’re highlighting and paying homage to a community of the region’s first peoples.