The Eastern Shore - not like the rest

Although I'd explored the DelMarVa Peninsula a bit, I really had no idea what it was like until I ended up living there.

 I was the hippie district of Wattsville. This was in the early 70s. By chance, the manager of the photo lab at Wallops Station had been stationed with me at the Atlantic Fleet Mobile Photog Group (MOPHOTOGRULANT). Our shoulder patches drew a lot of attention. But that's another story. He didn't remember me since he was on his way out shortly before I joined the outfit. The guy who recommended me for this position was Lamar "Spider" Manning. We'd worked and drank together on Kwajalein. Good guy and I really felt bad when he left. Something about being black in an area where it was common to see "KKK" on the trees. His humor helped a lot, and I think he succeeded a bit in softening the locals' who worked with him a bit, but ten years after the Civil Rights Act was passed, there was still a long way to go. I still think of him and the "reserved" signs on the lunch tables at the bus stop luncheonette and the hate revival and know there's still a long way to go.

The first woman came to work there also. That was scandalous also - men and women working in dark rooms together! So we had the trifecta - a hippie, a black person, and a woman. 

And I lived across the street from this:

An old slide scan - need to work on that. Sometimes I would cue up my tape reel of Virgil Fox on the Wannamaker organ just before the service ended and crank it up as the congregation departed. Not sure if they appreciated it or not.