Have you ever had a vacation at the Ladies’ Resort To The Ocean? The name might not sound familiar, but there’s a pretty good chance that you have. What we now know as Ocean City, MD has been a resort town since the first rental cottage was built in 1869, but the catchier name wasn’t adopted for a few years. Of course, the once-sleepy town has changed a lot over the decades, but if you look closely you can still see what your grandparents and great grandparents might have seen. For many families, that’s what makes Ocean City an essential part of every summer.

 

Many in Ocean City would like to designate Trimpers' as an official historic landmark.

Google for “ocean city” and “historic,” and it’s no surprise to find a wealth of information about Trimper’s Rides. The boardwalk amusement park has been a local landmark for more than a hundred years, since the first carousel was built in 1902. In 1920, it was joined by the first Ferris Wheel. Since then, Trimper’s has acquired a several new rides and grown into a brightly-lit, bustling little amusement park, but it is still beloved by the families who visit Ocean City. This year, Trimper’s has made regional headlines with the news that this may be the last summer for the park due to rising rents in the area. One proposed strategy, popular for those who can’t imagine their kids or grandkids growing up without the rides, is to make Trimper’s an official historic site. Official or not, the park’s status as Ocean City history seems indisputable in these parts. When Governor O’Malley recently visited Trimper’s, he declared himself “awed” by the sheer number of families through the decades who must have taken their children for a ride on the historic carousel.

 Other frequent visitors have their own personal landmarks, though, some of which haven’t changed at all over the generations. One visitor cited Tony’s Pizza, where “My grandfather used to take us… now we take my brothers kids there.” Despite a complete renovation, the memories haven’t changed. Scarlet, a young woman whose family has been visiting Ocean City ever summer since her mother was a child, has an even more personal reason for her attachment to a landmark. “My husband proposed to me on the steps of the Wellington,” she writes, “six years later we got married.”

 Many of Ocean City’s restaurants have their own history. Captain Bill Bunting’s Angler, for instance, has

Thrashers' Fries have been in demand since 1929!

been open since 1938, and has seen Ocean City culture change from upscale resort spot to laid-back family haunt and back again. Phillip’s Crab House is another old-timer, still hanging on from the heyday of the 1950s. Some restaurants have changed to reflect the town’s changing culture, such as the Bayside Skillet, which changed its name from “The Crepe and Omelet Place” – catchy, right? Others have remained basically the same, such as Lombardi’s Pizza. Of course, sometimes it’s best not to mess with a good thing – like the legendary Thrasher’s Fries, which dates back to 1929!

 

Antique clothes on display at the Calvin B. Taylor House

Of course, if you’re a real history buff, you’ll want to check out educational sites like the Ocean City Lifesaving Museum, a museum dedicated to the history of local lifeguard and coastguard services. Another possibility is the Calvin B. Taylor House Museum, for a look at how well-off Marylanders in the area lived in the 1800s. Just don’t expect the kids to be too patient – when it comes to pieces of local history, they’re more likely to appreciate Thrasher’s.

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