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2001 MAC/MLA Annual Meeting Sunny Daze: Eyeing the Future Ocean City, MD: MAC 2001 By Barbara Koehler, Publicity and Printing Committee Co-Chair

Come join us in this historic location, dating back to 1875 when the Atlantic Hotel opened to travelers. In 1876, visitors left Baltimore by steamboat and traveled to the railyards in Salisbury (30 miles west of Ocean City) where they boarded wood-burning trains for the Sinepuxent Bay, gateway to the beach. The all-day journey concluded with a ferry ride across the bay. Ocean City architecture provides vestiges of the town's rich history. A trip to the Ocean City Life-Saving Museum at the southern end of the boardwalk will help you to understand the origins and growth of this bustling resort. Built in 1891, the museum was home to the surfmen who answered distress calls from the sea. In 1915, these men of the U.S. Life-saving Service merged with the Revenue Cutter Service to form the U.S. Coast Guard.

A trip to Ocean City can mean walking on the beach, flying a kite, playing golf at one of 17 championship courses, boating, fishing, antique and outlet shopping, and, of course, a stroll or bicycle ride on three miles of boardwalk. Just a few short miles from Ocean City is the magnificent barrier island of Assateague, home to Assateague Island National Seashore. The island is ideal for camping, hiking, biking, fishing, canoeing or kayaking. It is home to a herd of wild ponies made famous in the novel Misty of Chincoteague. Legend has it that these ponies are descendants of a group of mustangs that swam ashore after the wreck of a Spanish galleon off the coast in the 1600's.

A few minutes' drive from ocean City is Berlin, Maryland, founded in the 1790's. There you will find beautiful tree-lined streets, a Victorian town center, and historic homes, forty-seven of which are on the National Register of Historic Places. Main Street was originally a path that connected two tribes of Indians, the Assateagues and the Pocomokes. All this and more awaits you in the sunny daze of October at MAC 2001.