The Worcester County Historical Society will hold its annual dinner meeting on Sunday, October 29, at the Ocean City Golf and Yacht Club near South Point.

Following the program WCHS will give out grants to a number of Worcester County museums.

This year’s speaker will be Hunter “Bunk” Mann, a native of the lower Eastern Shore and author of two books, Vanishing Ocean City, published in 2014, and, Ghosts in the Surf, published in 2019. His talk will center on the 1933 storm, which cut the inlet at the south end of the resort. He called the storm one of the most important events that ever happened to Ocean City, as it opened the possibility for commercial fishing and deep sea fishing. The deep sea fishing includes the famous white marlin competition held every year.

However, it also ended the pound fishing industry with the destruction of the railroad bridge coming into the resort. But another benefit was the extension of the beach because of the jetty at the inlet. This allowed the town to install a parking lot on the beach. When Mann wrote his book he interviewed 24 people who had been alive at the time of the 1933 storm. During his talk he will discuss some of their comments.

The menu for the Historical Society’s dinner will include one three-ounce crab cake, baked chicken, salad, vegetable medley/baked pineapple, Eastern Shore cornbread, pound cake, and rolls, tea and coffee.

A silent auction of several historical items that include an original signed copy of Worcester County: Maryland’s Arcadia complete with dust jacket will be held during the afternoon.

Tickets are $45 per person and can be purchased by sending a check to Judi Menavich, 9 Drawbridge Road, Berlin MD 21811. The deadline for reservations to the dinner, which is open to the public, is Friday, October 20. Doors will open at 1:45 p.m. with the dinner starting at 2 p.m. The dinner is open to the public.