The changes I have seen in my 73 years is mind boggling.

The other day when the ground breaking was held at Cambridge Plaza, which will be from now and forever known as Cambridge Marketplace, I thought about when it was nothing. I mean just a field. Then I shuddered at how old I have become and how many changes I have seen.

Once upon a time, Sunburst Highway, US Rt. 50 or Ocean Gateway, you can choose what you want to call it used to be just a two lane highway with a 35 mph speed limit. Now it is a four-lane highway, still with a 35 mph speed limit which most people seem to ignore, as they run over top of you on their way to Ocean City.

I remember when you came off of the old Choptank River Bridge, now a fishing pier, that to the left was a building, home of the Ford dealership. Now it is where the American Legion Post 91 resides or will again after renovations are complete following last year’s fire. Then there were houses, then came Sportsman’s Bar (which had a rather iffy reputation), now occupied by Dri Doc; the Taste Freez was next (owned by Tommy Gray and then Darcy Parella and his wife Virginia), then a house where the Walter Yoor Family resided and then a service station. In those days a service station is where you went to have your gas pumped for you, windshield cleaned and oil checked. And you could even get your vehicle worked on if needed. Those conveniences are a relic of the past. Now you pump your own gas, wash your own windows and check your own oil . . . and it costs a lot more than it used to. Such is progress.

Directly behind the service station was a cinder block building which was where Mr. Yoor plied his trade as a baker to feed his family of four daughters. After Mr. Yoor moved his bakery to Poplar Street the building became a beauty shop twice, a pet grooming place and now is inhabited by a plumber.

Across Roslyn Avenue was a two-story house which my family rented from Mr. and Mrs. Guy Edgar. We moved there from Woolford when I was in the fifth grade. In later years that house was purchased by Tommy Hooper who moved it to Nathan Avenue. My father bought it from him and that is where I now live (the third time I have lived in this house and my last). Mr. Hooper built his fishing and hunting business on that corner and held that spot for many years. Now it is Your Docs In.

Next door to my family on that corner, lived Ida and Skinner Newcomb and I would spend many afternoons there helping Ida bake snickerdoodles and pack them in tin cans. I was there visiting when my father called from the hospital to tell me I had a baby brother. I cried, because I wanted a sister.

On further south was Bing’s Barber Shop and then a long brick building where Tony and Evelyn Alexander owned Alexander’s House of Music. The building is still there and has over the years been occupied by various inhabitants. If you wanted a musical instrument Alexander’s was the place to go. Guitars, trombones, pianos, organs, you name it. When I entered the seventh grade I thought I wanted to play the trumpet, but by the time we got there to rent one they were all gone and I ended up with a coronet, which is similar, only shorter. Anyway my trumpet playing days didn’t last too long and I joined the Glee Club instead.

Now on our tour comes the Dairy Queen, which has remained that over all the years. Mr. and Mrs. Roy Harstick were the owners and now it is owned by their daughter, Sue. Things there have changed over the years because when it was opened they only served ice cream. The family lived in a house just behind the building. Now they serve food, ice cream and even ice cream cakes. Although Sue still owns it, the business is run by someone else. When my brother was 14 he started working there for Ms. Harstick who was then Mrs. Spedden. He worked for 90 cents an hour and saved up enough money to buy his first car.

Next to the Queen was another of those antique service stations. Its still there but now it sells sodas, beer, snacks and lottery tickets . . . and yes, still gas . . . which YOU pump! Across the intersection was home of the Nuttle Lumber Company, a large white two-story building. The building is long gone and in its place was built a fast-food joint and I could be wrong on this but I think the first one was Gino’s Giant, followed by Roy Rogers and now Pizza Palace owned by Jordan and Stella (don’t ask me to spell their last name — its Greek). Moving on south behind Pizza Palace is the Shoal Creek Mall now owned by Walgreens (part of that large field) and now we come to Cambridge Marketplace which over the years has seen many changes. It once housed a Safeway, Ames, Kmart, Drug Fair, SuperFresh, Fresh and Greens and the Social Service Building. They are all gone and will soon be replaced by new stores among them Chik-Fila, Starbucks and a new grocer. More on that later.

On the corner of Woods Road and US Rt 50 used to be Dean’s Furniture Store and that is where my family shopped. Mr. Dean was a very nice gentleman and his office workers were Betty Wright and Pam Newell and his ace salesman was Raymond Mitchell. He sold me probably more than I could afford, but he was always pleasant and smiling while doing it.

Across Woods Road on the next corner was the Dorchester County Health Department and further down   the driveway for the Eastern Shore State Hospital. Back in the day there were stories about what happened at the hospital. My uncle was there for a spell but was a “trusty.” Then he disappeared and my grandparents inquired into his whereabouts. None was offered and then several months later the officials said they found a skeleton on the shore that was my uncles but they refused to let his dentist examine him to verify if it was him. So to this day, I don’t know who is buried in his grave. Anyway when Harold M. English became the superintendent there everything changed and the patients were treated humanely and the stories stopped.

Of course the landscape changed as the hospital property became the county’s claim to fame . . . The Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay, Golf Resort, Spa and Marina. Something Talbot County probably wishes was theirs.

Heading back up Rt. 50 north across from the hospital driveway was the Ponderosa Steak House, which became Peking House owned by Vickie and Gordon. It is still Peking House only run by different people. Back up north we jump across Woods Road, and run into several businesses, some now defunct, but I remember when the whole thing was owned by Phillips Packing Company and about where the used to be Western Publishing building is was a baseball field and stadium. Phillips sponsored I think an A-team. Phillips was a huge employer in Dorchester and world-famous with their pork and beans, beans and franks, tomato soup, etc. They even produced K-rations during the war and also made dog food. Both my parents worked for them. My mother quit school at 13 and went there to work and my father worked in the maintenance department fixing the lines. After Phillips closed, Coastal Foods marched in and many of the warehouses were sold. The frozen food building became Bumble Bee Seafood and in ushered the cargo handlers building which is now Governors Hall at Sailwinds.

Moving on we find English’s Chicken House where you could get “all you could eat” chicken for a nominal price. Some people ate so much the manager had to call a halt to their feast. That spot is now occupied by Family Dollar and before that a drug store.

Across from that was The Shoals Quality Motel and Restaurant, owned by the Burtons. That was all bulldozed down and from its ashes rose the now busy Wa Wa. Back up north we come to E. S. Hubbert which is still family owned and next to it was John Riggins’ Restaurant (now Admiral Tires).

There were more houses, a tombstone dealer and two houses on the corner of US 50 and Roslyn Avenue. The first was occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Grason Hurley and family and next to them was where Mr.and Mrs. Raymond Baker with their two sons, Dr. Ray and Michael lived. Further down was Breezy Cook’s place where you could get a “frosty mug” of root beer. Later it became Gook’s owned by Philip Brohawn, then Buzzy Spear’s Sub Shop, then Wendy’s and now Popeye’s.

Jumping on to the next corner, Maryland Avenue was another one of those service stations this time owned by Bob North, which is now Sailwinds Station, where you can still get gas, along with beer, sodas, and pizza. Across Maryland Avenue we now have a large grassy plot which was Burger King and before that Meredith’s Auto which could put you in a Pontiac if the price was right. First owned by Ed Meredith it was later run by Hallie Creighton who would advertise in this paper with Meredith’s Corner and some witty quote of the week.

Getting to the last building on this side was F. Phillips Williamson’s Real Estate which also had a restaurant on the side, the Point. The building is still there and is occupied by another restaurant. Now we are back to the bridge which is now a four-lane one named after Dorchester’s longest-standing senator — the Frederick C. Malkus Jr. Bridge, and rightly so!

Hope you enjoyed the trip down memory lane and I’m sure I didn’t get everything right, but maybe I was close!