Ocean City, Maryland felt like a summer home to Steve in his youth. Every year, his family would spend a week or two there, staying at one of the hotels right along the boardwalk. He remembers waking up early to the sound of the ocean, renting a bicycle to ride the boardwalk in the early morn, breathing in the fresh, salt air before the heat and crowds set in; walking the wooden boards at night with that special Ocean City excitement, eating Thrasher's French fries from a huge bucket (and sometimes unwittingly sharing them with the ever-present seagulls), smelling suntan lotion that permeated the summer air, and spending seemingly endless days on the beach. Ocean City began as a small fishing community in the late 1800s before growing into one of the East Coast’s most popular vacation destinations. The famous boardwalk, first built in 1902, became the heart of the town and still captures that classic beach-town feeling today. For Steve, Ocean City is more than a vacation spot -- it’s a place filled with memories, tradition, and summertime nostalgia of the 1950s and early 1960s.
Ocean City began as a quiet fishing village and seaside retreat in the late 1800s, growing rapidly after the Atlantic Hotel (featured in another watercolor) opened in 1875 and rail service arrived a few years later. At the turn of the century, hotel owners and workers laid sections planks of wood on the sand each morning so visitors could stroll comfortably, forming the first boardwalk. At night, the planks were removed and stacked away because the tides would otherwise wash them out to sea. A permanent promenade followed in 1910 and steadily expanded during the twentieth century. Storms, especially the devastating Ash Wednesday storm of 1962, repeatedly damaged the boards, but each rebuilding made the attraction larger and stronger. Today, the 2.5-mile boardwalk blends nostalgic amusements, shops, arcades, restaurants, and beaches, welcoming millions of visitors every summer while preserving the lively family atmosphere that has always defined Ocean City’s coastal identity.
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“Ocean City Boardwalk, 1928”
