"The
Shoreham Hotel" by Paul McGehee. One of the most iconic hotels of Ocean
City, Maryland, the Shoreham Hotel on the Boardwalk at 4th Street has
opened her doors to lodgers every season since 1923. The Shoreham
opened on June 15th of that year and in its original configuration had
40 rooms, all with access to 16 private baths featuring running water,
and was "Ocean City's most up-to-date hotel" as the original ads from
'23 boasted. The new hotel, originally to be called the Traymore after
the famous Atlantic City hotel, was built by owner Josephine Hastings
on the site of the old Fox Cottage, later known as the Tourist Inn
boarding house. The Shoreham was eventually sold to the Cropper family,
who in turn added onto the structure between 1927 and 1930. Dr. Horace
Cropper was an eye doctor and a veteran of the Spanish-American War,
and his wife Amanda was the daughter of the man who opened the beach's
first lodging house back in 1869, Isaac Coffin. Rooms at that time were
$3 to $5 a day depending upon size, with an extra 75 cents added to
your tab if you enjoyed one of the kitchen's home-cooked meals! The
Shoreham has changed hands many times from those early days up into the
modern era, and is still very much a presence on the Boardwalk...if
you'd like to pay them a visit, click here. Ocean City's colorful history comes alive at The Shoreham!
"The Shoreham Hotel" is
faithfully reproduced from Paul's original color pencil artwork in a
limited edition of 500 hand-signed prints.
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