Wildwood Ways and Down-East Wilds

Beyond the highly developed landscape we've come to recognize with its condos and townhomes, motels and boardwalk, lies an obliterated landscape we can hardly imagine once existed. In Wildwood Ways and Down East Wilds, Thomas Martindale describes this dense maritime forest of innumerable wildflowers, twisted cedars, pine, and holly that put the 'wild' in Wildwood on this once bridgeless and solitary island. Rolling dunes of 'sugar sand' wrapped around the island on the east side, while marshland and bay waters bordered the west side, forging streams that once emptied into ponds and lakes deep within the 'woods.' Various forms of wildlife roamed the island freely. The surrounding waters were abundant with oysters, crabs, clams, and sea life, which drew the Lenape Indians to travel the trails onto this island to fish, hunt and clam for hundreds of years.The author writes fluidly of the area's history, tales of wild cattle, buried pirate treasure and crabbing in Grassy Sound, as well as a chapter designated to the somber solitudes of the Maine wilderness.If you live or vacation in the Wildwoods, than you will love reading Thomas Martindale's first person perspective in which he so eloquently describes its timelessness~ sparking your imagination with sketches and photographs that are some of the island's earliest pictorial documents.Since the book's illustrations were originally created for the Philadelphia Inquirer and The (Original) Wildwood Sun, it is fitting to be republished by Dorothy McMonagle Kulisek, the editor of The Sun by-the-Sea (since 2004). She became aware of the book when first approached by Richard Dietz, a collector of local Wildwood history, to publish excerpts of this enduring Wildwood narrative in her paper. They both felt the importance of republishing for the sake of the preservation of printed materials. No adjustments have been made to the original text, which also includes Martindale's signature on a page, giving readers the full antiquarian experience.Whether it be on a beach chair, a porch rocker, or the comforts of your home, may reading Wildwood Ways and Down East Wilds incite your love of the Wildwoods evermore.