• Wicomico River
• Tyaskin
• The old Nanticoke Road
• Rockawalkin Church

Surrounded by all these names and places from my father’s childhood, and mine, can’t help but bring back memories.

• Breakfasts down “on the farm” with so much food served, lunch was never a thought
• Marathon card games (My aunts and uncles played a game called 500 – kind of a cross between Bridge and Canasta)
• Song fests around the upright piano
• Cutthroat games of croquet on the edge of a 10-foot-high corn field.

Our pilgrimage this morning brought us first to the old Rockawalkin Church (founded in 1839). My dad’s church (we think) and the site of Uncle Verner (we know) 80th birthday party.

The Rockawalkin Church Cookbook is one of our prized possessions, containing recipes (Mary Humphrey’s sweet potato pie and Aunt Mary’s crab cakes) contributed by several great-aunts and cousins.

Our second stop this day was at the graveyard surrounding St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Tyaskin.

This modest churchyard is home to several members of the Hughes Family.

Caleb and Charlotte Hughes, our great great great grandparents. Caleb died in 1869 and Charlotte (Venables), his wife, died one year before he did, at Christmastime. How sad.

Also buried in the St. Mary’s Churchyard are Capt Jesse and Sarah Hughes, our great great great great grandparents. Sarah died in 1810, at 36. Capt Jesse died in 1838 at the incredible (for that era) age of 71.

The St. Mary’s Churchyard is small and surrounds the church on three sides. It is a lovely place and well cared for.

Note: There is a discrepancy in Capt Jesse’s birth dates. His gravestone records his birthday as January 29, 1767. The Maryland Births and Deaths Index lists his birthday as February 28, 1768.