June 9, 1900, was a signal day in Chesapeake Country. The Chesapeake Beach Railway began bringing throngs of fun-seekers from Washington, D.C., to a new amusement park and sparkling beach resort at the mouth of Fishing Creek. A small community, incorporated in 1894 as the Town of Chesapeake Beach, had grown up around the park construction site. By 1900, development pushed toward the Anne Arundel County line as the land above Chesapeake Beach was platted for summer cottages. The developers...

On your seventh circle through the auto hell of Historic Annapolis in fruitless search of a parking place, you take traffic personally. Personally is how you take the blockage on Rt. 50 west, gridlock on the Bay Bridge — and your own personal traffic hell, wherever you find it.     David Humphreys, a sailor from Bay Ridge, takes traffic personally, too. His job as director of the Annapolis Regional Transportation Management Association is to transmute the rage we share...

America’s No. 1 animal rights advocate joins state activists to celebrate a landmark legislative year It has been a very good year to be an animal in Maryland. Propelled by the volunteer organization Maryland Votes for Animals and bi-partisan support, five animal protection bills became law in 2011.     “This year was unprecedented,” says Carolyn Kilborn, founder and chair of Maryland Votes for Animals.     It’s about time. The national...

Before it sat for many years at a gas station near Baltimore ... Before it stood guard in front of an American Legion hall ... Before it was a yard ornament for the inventor of Bromo-Seltzer ... And before it battled 19th century pirates in the Chesapeake, the Dahlgren 12-pound Light Boat Howitzer was born in the heart of Confederacy at the Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, Virginia.     After a circuitous journey lasting 143 years, the cannon came home this year to the...