Eastern Shore

GETTING THERE: Go east on Route 50 to Route 13 south to Cape Charles (about four hours), or go south on Interstate 95 to I-295 south to I-64 east across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel to Route 13 north to Cape Charles. WHEN TO GO: Anytime except winter. Fall migration attracts bird-watchers. Several popular outdoor festivals are also held in fall. The Eastern Shore of Virginia Birding & Wildlife Festival (757-787-2460, http://www.esvachamber.org ), featuring nature workshops, birding field trips and boating excursions, is Sept.

ACCOMAC, Va. — Two people suspected of setting a string of fires on Virginia's Eastern Shore have been found competent to stand trial. The conclusion followed a court-ordered psychological evaluation of Charles R. Smith II and Tonya Bundick. Police have said the couple is responsible for most of the 77 arsons on the Eastern Shore since last fall. They were arrested April 2. The Daily Times reported Friday (http://delmarvane.ws/11Kty95) that the psychological evaluations of Smith and...

One of Virginia's worst serial arsonists eluded a massive police hunt for five months, setting nearly 80 fires on the Eastern Shore. Following night after night of futility, authorities finally got a break Monday: They say they caught him in the act. A surveillance team watched as the man torched an abandoned home in Accomack County and then escaped in a gold minivan, police said. The stop and the arrests that followed didn't put an end to the mystery for a frightened community, but only raised the question of why. ...

BALTIMORE — Timothy Marcin, a would-be journalist who won the nation's largest literary prize for undergraduate college students Tuesday night, isn't too worried about the future of the news industry. "Everybody tells me to be discouraged," Marcin said after winning the Sophie Kerr Prize. "But it's something I'm really passionate about and will try to do. " Marcin, 22, beat out four other finalists to win the $61,192 prize. The Washington College senior will get a check at commencement later...

A 44-foot U.S. Navy surveillance drone crashed Monday afternoon in a marshy area near Bloodsworth Island on Maryland's Eastern Shore, the Navy said. No one on the ground was injured, and no significant damage was done by the more than 10-ton aircraft, the Navy said . Naval officials said the drone was on a test flight, but they could not immediately say whether drones are routinely tested over the Chesapeake Bay or Eastern Shore. They were also not certain from what ground-based facility the aircraft was...

The bodies of three boys were found Sunday in a creek on Maryland's Eastern Shore, and authorities said they apparently had drowned. The boys, two 12-year-old cousins and an 8-year-old family friend, were found in Marshyhope Creek in Federalsburg, where all three lived. Their names were not immediately released. The boys were last seen playing basketball Saturday afternoon at a church near the creek. Authorities said it was possible that one or all of them had entered the creek to cool...

Salisbury University announced Thursday that an Eastern Shore philanthropy is giving the school $8 million to help build a new academic commons, including a library. The gift from the Guerrieri Family Foundation honors Patricia R. Guerrieri, an alumna of the public university in Maryland who died in May 2010. It is one of the largest donations in the school's history. "The Guerrieri family has been a longtime friend of Salisbury University," university President Janet Dudley-Eshbach said in a statement.

BALTIMORE — A Delaware man has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for plotting to sell heroin and cocaine on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Thirty-seven-year-old Maurice Kenneth Hardy of Bridgeview was sentenced in federal court in Baltimore on Tuesday. According to his plea agreement, Hardy, with others, distributed more than 15 kilograms of cocaine, a kilogram of heroin and cocaine base in Wicomico County and elsewhere. Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All...

ACCOMAC, Va. — Two people suspected of setting a string of fires on Virginia's Eastern Shore have been found competent to stand trial. The conclusion followed a court-ordered psychological evaluation of Charles R. Smith II and Tonya Bundick. Police have said the couple is responsible for most of the 77 arsons on the Eastern Shore since last fall. They were arrested April 2. The Daily Times reported Friday (http://delmarvane.ws/11Kty95) that the psychological...

Maryland officials are vowing to appeal a decision by the Obama administration to deny individual disaster aid for hundreds of lower Eastern Shore residents who suffered damage during Superstorm Sandy. The federal government issued a disaster declaration for Maryland that provides help in repairing public property. But the Federal Emergency Management Agency informed state officials this week that the storm did not cause enough damage to grant aid through programs that help...

BALTIMORE — A Delaware man has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for plotting to sell heroin and cocaine on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Thirty-seven-year-old Maurice Kenneth Hardy of Bridgeview was sentenced in federal court in Baltimore on Tuesday. According to his plea agreement, Hardy, with others, distributed more than 15 kilograms of cocaine, a kilogram of heroin and cocaine base in Wicomico County and elsewhere. Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

ST. MICHAELS, Md. — Runaway slaves, captured women and children, British officers bestowing suspicious gifts and turncoat plantation owners trading with the enemy under a white flag — it all happened in Maryland on the Chesapeake during the War of 1812, according to a new exhibit at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. "Navigating Freedom: The War of 1812 on the Chesapeake" opened this weekend, beginning with a gala preview and donors party Friday evening. Historians in...

Salisbury University announced Thursday that an Eastern Shore philanthropy is giving the school $8 million to help build a new academic commons, including a library. The gift from the Guerrieri Family Foundation honors Patricia R. Guerrieri, an alumna of the public university in Maryland who died in May 2010. It is one of the largest donations in the school's history. "The Guerrieri family has been a longtime friend of Salisbury University," university President Janet Dudley-Eshbach said in a statement.

For the first decade and a half of my professional life, staying in an Embassy Suites meant nothing more than dreary travel for work: bland hotels scattered across cities that began to blend together, every cookie-cutter suite identical to the last, all racking up hotel points I hoped never to redeem. Then I had a baby. Suddenly, all my previous notions about staying in a hotel were upended. Gone was my passion for a plush Four Seasons room, no matter how small as long as it had a deep tub and that decadent...

One of Virginia's worst serial arsonists eluded a massive police hunt for five months, setting nearly 80 fires on the Eastern Shore. Following night after night of futility, authorities finally got a break Monday: They say they caught him in the act. A surveillance team watched as the man torched an abandoned home in Accomack County and then escaped in a gold minivan, police said. The stop and the arrests that followed didn't put an end to the mystery for a frightened community, but only raised the question...

The body of a woman from Maryland's Eastern Shore who disappeared more than three weeks ago was found over the weekend, authorities said. A body found Saturday along the Chesapeake Bay shoreline of Kent Island was identified as that of Robin L. Pope, 51, of Stevensville, state police said. The body was in the water near where Pope had last been reported seen and near where her dog had been found dead. No information was available Sunday about the cause and manner of Pope's death, police said.

The first thing you need to know about cooking classes on Maryland's Eastern Shore and at the Delaware beaches is that you can leave your Old Bay seasoning at home. In search of classes to spice up my cooking repertoire this winter, I've found plenty of offerings that are anything but bland — even sans the little yellow can. Last month, I took a Sunday class at Two if by Sea, a cafe on Tilghman Island, about 60 miles past the Bay Bridge. Chef Henry Miller offers monthly classes, and the December theme was...

At his family farm on Maryland's Eastern Shore , Lee Richardson raises thousands of chickens from fuzzy hatchlings to the juicy broilers stacked at grocery stores far and wide. Like a lot of farmwork, this seems simple, but it's not. Within each bird, a war is being waged. Parasites called coccidia threaten to eat through their guts, one veterinarian said, "like that thing in the ‘Aliens' movie. " To fight the bug, Richardson was one of many growers who relied on a controversial remedy,...

ACCOMACK COUNTY, Va. — The massive blaze erupted in the decrepit Whispering Pines Motel last week not far from a sign advertising a $25,000 reward for tips on one of the worst arsonists in Virginia history. The person torched a shuttered restaurant the next night and burned an old schoolhouse to the ground Thursday, slipping away into the darkness long before anyone even knew the fires had been set. The relentless series — more than 70 arsons — has sent flames shooting into the sky over this rural Eastern Shore county...

Maryland officials are vowing to appeal a decision by the Obama administration to deny individual disaster aid for hundreds of lower Eastern Shore residents who suffered damage during Superstorm Sandy. The federal government issued a disaster declaration for Maryland that provides help in repairing public property. But the Federal Emergency Management Agency informed state officials this week that the storm did not cause enough damage to grant aid through programs that help individuals...