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OVERVIEW OF WASHINGTON, D.C.
WASHINGTON. D.C. OVERVIEW
Cambridge, Maryland is located along Highway 50 on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay, not far from the eastern terminus of Highway 50 in Ocean City, Maryland. Settled in 1684, Cambridge, the county seat of Dorchester County, is one of the oldest cities in Maryland. In this area, perhaps most famous for the legendary Blue Crab collected off its shores, the traditional ways of life are beginning to give way to uncertainty and change, and the community is facing a period of transition.
CHALLENGES FACING THE COMMUNITY
Cambridge's development as a community, like that of the County as a whole, has historically been linked to the water, and industries such as fishing, crabbing, oystering and boating. The Cambridge watermen, legendary for their endurance and individualism, have in recent years encountered new challenges as environmental and economic factors have adversely affected the water-based industries. Income-producing charter fishing and boating trips are down as a result of the economic downturn. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources has, in an effort to protect the dwindling crab population, issued new restrictions on the number of crabs each crabber can catch, making it increasingly difficult for watermen to sustain themselves with income from crabbing. And the temporary seasonal workers Cambridge crab houses have in recent years come to rely on to process crab have, due to new visa restrictions, been blocked from coming to the area, leaving local businesses struggling to fill the shortage of workers. These developments have rendered this a difficult time for the community of Cambridge, but the inveterate watermen are a notoriously hardy bunch, the types who don't give up just because the going gets tough.
THE FUTURE
Though Cambridge is currently experiencing some difficulties, it is also undergoing a time of growth and positive transformation. The tourism industry has been steadily expanding, providing some buoyancy to the floundering local economy, and in 2008 Cambridge experienced a significant political and cultural milestone: the election of the town's first female and first African American mayor, Victoria Jackson-Stanley. In light of the fact that Cambridge was a deeply segregated community in the 1960s, the site of Civil Rights protests and race-related violence, the election of Mayor Jackson-Stanley signifies progress not only for the region, but for the country as a whole.
Like many American communities, Dorchester County is poised on the brink of a new era. Traditions in this historic area are deeply entrenched and individualism is highly prized, yet, in the true spirit of America, Cambridge remains a community capable of both cooperation and reinvention.
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