Awhile back I spoke to a woman on the phone from Northern Wisconsin. She believed that the entire east coast is just an extension of New York City, stretching from Maine to Florida, with 1,000 miles of sidewalks and never ending taxi cabs. Her belief was painful for me. "The City? You think I'm calling you from a big city?" I remember chuckling and rolling my eyes. "This is far from the Big City, ma'am. There is guaranteed to be a cornfield within a five mile radius." Her disbelief is what pained me the most.
Sure, I may have big city dreams... But in no way am I a big city girl. I sometimes refer to myself as a country girl, but that doesn't really fit. I'm not from the country. The place may be rural, but when I think of country, I think of cowboy boots, ten gallon hats, and denim...lots of denim. No, I am not a country girl, and I never will be a country girl. I am from the Pocomoke Forest, and I am a Forest-Folk.
About 10 miles from Princess Anne; 8 miles from Pocomoke City; round about 15 miles from Salisbury; and maybe 100 miles from Baltimore Maryland, lies the Pocomoke Forest. A place with a rich history, that I realized I know nothing about. How did I grow up in a place, calling myself a true Pocomoke Forester, not having any idea of the rich history that laid there in?
Today, with inspiration from a fellow Forest Folk, I have decided that it will be my mission to delve into the past and decipher what truly was the beginning of the little community we Forest-Folk commonly call Perryhawkin. Who settled there? Why did they choose the Pocomoke Forest? Why was there a basket factory? Who really burnt down the saw mill? Was there truly a lady of Fleming Mill Pond Bridge? And were there ever 5 Bridges? When Route 2 became Dublin, why did they choose that name? Who was the Preacher and where did he come from? Was a baptism in the Pocomoke River better than those on Fleming Mill? And what about all the arrowheads my late-father collected??
This is only the beginning of finding what's been lost in the forest, all these years.
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| Baptism Photo from Perryhawkin Church |
