Photography by Jill Jasuta
From leaping into action during shipwrecks to lending helpful hands across social divides, Jim Duffy’s latest book shares stories of courage and kindness
We caught up with Delmarva storyteller Jim Duffy as he was crossing the Shore promoting his latest book, Ordinary Heroes of Old Delmarva: Inspiring True Tales of Courage, Kindness, and Community. This is his sixth book published under the banner of Secrets of the Eastern Shore—all devoted to exploring travel and history on the peninsula.
What’s the elevator pitch for your new book, Jim?
That subtitle says it all: “Inspiring True Tales of Courage, Kindness, and Community.” Every time we take a step today on Delmarva, we’re walking on footprints from days gone by. Sure, there are a lot of bad footprints: selfishness, greed, oppression, other vices. But there are also many good footprints: courage, kindness, community, other virtues.
This book is about the good footprints.
And it’s about something else—how these good footprints don’t just point back in time. They point forward as well. Step into these footprints and you’ll see; they can point toward a path that helps us become better people and build better communities here in the 21st century.
Will readers be familiar with the “heroes” in the book?
Mostly, no. There are a handful of famous people in this new one, but not many.
The book is more focused on unsung heroes—ordinary people who did extraordinary things in Delmarva days gone by. Leaping into action during storms and shipwrecks. Reaching out with helping hands across social divides. Bringing neighbors together in times of need.
Could you give us a teaser about a favorite story?
There’s a wide range of topics, from a Girl Scout troop leader to an Underground Railroad hero, to a pioneering female scientist, to a Chinese laundryman.
There are action heroes, too, like Thomas Scott of Snow Hill. Let’s try that one. That chapter takes you back to December 1869. A deep freeze descends on New York City. Ferry boats are crunching through ice on the Hudson River.
CRASH!
A tugboat collides with one of those ferries, nearly tipping it over. There’s a big gash under the water line, and frozen water rushes in. Hundreds of lives are on the line. Women screaming. Babies crying. Men panicking.
Wait, here comes another tug—this one captained by a man from the Eastern Shore town of Snow Hill. This is when the story starts to take a heroic turn. CS
Jim’s new Secrets of the Eastern Shore book, “Ordinary Heroes of Old Delmarva,” features 33 uplifting stories from bygone days that celebrate courage, kindness and community.
Learn more about Jim and his other books at SecretsoftheEasternShore.com.
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