From Once Rural Towns To New Outer Suburbs

"In the heart of this Eastern Shore county seat, bells still peal in the clock tower, interrupted sometimes by the siren at the Goodwill Volunteer Fire Department. Stately Victorians line the streets surrounding the 200-year-old courthouse. Parking meters take nickels."

"But drive a mile in either direction, and the town looks squeezed, hemmed in by new housing developments that have caused the population to swell by several hundred people, to 2,600. The two-lane highway through town, Route 213, carries bumper-to-bumper traffic at times. Down the road from Draper's, a store that sells shotgun shells as well as the best subs in town, local teenagers attend a high school that's running out of room for them."

"More than 50 years after a ceremonial caravan of dignitaries opened the Bay Bridge, ushering in a first wave of growth here, a second - much bigger - wave is coming.

Nearly every farming and fishing village on the Shore is considering some sort of residential development. Planners are predicting a 25-year surge that is expected to boost the Maryland Shore's population by nearly a third, adding 160,000 new residents to 425,000 already here."

Thanks to C. P. Zilliacus