Betterton is a small town of under 400 on the Chesapeake Bay. Looking at it today one would not know that during the 1st half of the 20th Century it was a summer resort with arcades and amusements for people to escape the heat of the cities of Baltimore and Philadelphia. There were daily scheduled steamship service by several lines including the Ericsson Steamship Line.

The town sits where the Sassafras River meets the Chesapeake Bay. First founded as a fishing village in the mid 1700’s by the end of the 19th century it was a point ideally situated for shipment of produce from the Eastern Shore to markets in Baltimore and through the C&D Canal to Philadelphia.

With the opening of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and travel by automobile increased fewer people traveled by the steamships causing the decline of many of the tourist towns of the early 20th Century. Towns that were easy to get to via water were less convenient by road, Betterton included.

While the town relishes its tourist roots, the tourist economy is now nearly non-existent. However the current public beach still gives a glimmer of its grand days. It’s a place for swimming and family picnics. It is equipped with a bathhouse with public restrooms and 500 feet of boardwalk, with benches, lighting and handicap access.

Located where the Sassafras and Elk Rivers meets the Chesapeake Bay the lower salinity of the upper Chesapeake keeps Betterton’s waters nearly free of sea nettles.

On the first Saturday of August each year the town hosts its Betterton Day Celebration. Highlights of the day is a parade down main street and cow-chip bingo, an annual fundraiser for the volunteer fire company.

© Steven G. Atkinson

In the State of Maryland nly Md Route 2, which runs from Solomons Island to Baltimore City at 79.24 miles is longer.

It is the major road of Caroline County running through three of it’s most populated towns including the County Seat of Denton.

There are a few points along its path that it combines with other routes, One of those is near Denton where MD 404, MD 16 and MD 313 are the same road.

At the town of Galena it meets at the major intersection and red light of the town. Two other MD routes meet at this location, those are MD 213 and MD 290.

In fact when you past through the light in Galena MD 313 ends and MD 213 begins. MD 213 reaches the light on MD 313′s left and makes a left turn towards Elkton in reality replacing MD 313.

© Steven G. Atkinson

The are 132 incorporated cities, towns or villages on the Delmarva Peninsula. Incorporation means that they are authorized by their respective state government to have their own form of government.

Maryland’s Eastern Shore has 57, Delaware 56 and Virgina’s Eastern Shore 19.

The smallest of these is the tiny Dorchester Maryland town of Eldorado with a 2000 Census population of 60 and the largest is the City of Wilmington in Northern Delaware with a 2000 Census population of 72,664.

For a list of these towns and their state and resident county see:
delmarvausa.com/towns

There are many more small towns, and not so small towns, that aren’t incorporated. Even though I have not developed a list of these, it is in the plans.

Each of these cities, towns and villages, whether incorporated or not, has its own history that is just a small part of the character of Delmarva.

Bridgeville is the home of the biggest producer of scrapple, Rapa Scrapple. Rapa was incorporated in 1926. For those who aren’t familiar with scrapple it is a mush of pork scraps and trimmings combined with cornmeal and flour formed into a semi-solid congealed loaf. It is then sliced and pan fried, usually served at breakfast.

Along with scrapple another product of the area are Apples. The 800 acre T.S. Smith Farm has been active as an Apple Orchard since 1907.

A festival, two products. Why not combine the two? And that’s how the Apple Scrapple Festival got its name. The annual festival, now in its 18th year, is held on the second weekend in October. In 2009 that’s the weekend of October 7th and 8th. Over 25,000 visitors are expected at the festival. Not bad considering that there was about 2500 in 1992.

The festival begins on Friday evening and runs all day on Saturday. One feature of Saturday morning is an all you can eat breakfast. The breakfast begins at 7 and lasts throughout most of the morning.

Two other popular events are the Scrapple Chunkin Contest and the Mayoral Scrapple Sling.

The Scrapple Chunkin’ Contest features contestants in four categories (Adult Male and Female and Youth Male and Female) chunkin’ (shotput style) packages of Scrapple. Three medals are awarded in each category.

The Mayoral Scrapple Sling is opened to mayors or presidents of councils in Sussex County. They will sling packages of scrapple and the one who slings it the longest distance gains bragging rights as the ‘King of Sling’.

All day long it’s a day of fun that even lasts into the evening with live music and dancing.

Depending on whom you ask, the northern border of Delmarva is different.

The scientific border would make it the fall line that divides the crystalline rocks of the Piedmont from the unconsolidated sediments of the Coastal Plain. This line passes through the cities of Newark and Wilmington, just North of Interstate 95 close to the Pennsylvania Border. Others use the C&D canal as the border.

Depending on which line one use as the border makes a big difference on which municipalities fall within the top 10. Looking at the population estimates from the US Census Bureau for 2006, three of the top five municipalities with the greatest population sit between the Pennsylvania border and the canal. These are Wilmington Delaware, first on the list, Newark Delaware, third, and Elkton, Maryland at number five.

But if one uses only those south of the C&D canal the top ten are:
1 Dover, Delaware
2 Salisbury, Maryland
3 Easton, Maryland
4 Cambridge, Maryland
5 Middletown, Delaware
6 Milford, Delaware
7 Smyrna, Delaware
8 Seaford, Delaware
9 Ocean City, Maryland
10 Georgetown, Delaware

Note: The town of Elsmere, Delaware and City of New Castle, Delaware population estimates are between Ocean City, Maryland and Georgetown, Delaware. These along with Chestertown, Maryland all have a population of approximately 5,000 with the 2006 estimates difference between Elsmere, Delaware and Chestertown, Maryland being less than 1000 and between New Castle, Delaware and Chestertown, Maryland less than 50.

Of the 114 municipalities south of the C&D canal only 5 have a population greater than 10,000 with 67 having less than 1,000. The largest, Dover, Delaware has 34,735, while Salisbury, Maryland has around 7,000 less with 27,172.

The conclusion? The Delmarva Peninsula has quite a number of small towns with small town life.

© Steven G. Atkinson