PILGRIMAGE TO BALTIMORE

[Music] An admiring parents and sweethearts attend the ceremonies and see a full dress parade. Uncle Sam's finest on their way to be future admirals of the Navy. A few miles north of Annapolis, bthers at Sandy Point State Park look out on a view both beautiful and significant. Replacing the fairies of earlier days, the Bay Bridge arches high above the busy waters of the Chesapeake to tie together the eastern and western shores. Over this vital artery flows much of the state's commercial and pleasure traffic. Across the bridge, motoring visitors are welcomed to the Eastern Shore. One of the first points of interest, strangely enough, is a tree. The state tree of Maryland, the Y Oak. This huge white oak, largest in the nation, was almost a century old when the colony was founded. Today, the ground under its branches is a state park, the smallest in the nation. The broad and tranquil reaches of the Chester River once carried the commerce of the historic city which bears its name. Each spring, the inhabitants of Chester Town welcome the arrival of the steamer, bringing visitors on one of Maryland's house and garden pilgrimages. [Music] Many houses open for the pilgrimage, old, authentic, and gracious, preserve the flavor of colonial Maryland. Gardens, also old, but new each spring, stretched to the river's edge. The many great Tidewater estates were important centers of colonial society. Here and there to serve the great plantations, the early towns grew up. Talbet County Courthouse here in Easton was built on land purchased for 5,000 lb of tobacco. Easton today, an importance to the heart of the shore, retains much of its colonial appearance and charm. [Music] The largest city on the Eastern Shore is Salsbury, center of a rich fishing, farming, and vacation area. The rich, light, sandy soil of this part of the country is ideal for the growing of many kinds of grains, vegetables, and fruits such as sunriened cantalopes and tomatoes. And as you can see, they do pick them ripe. Maryland strawberries are sweet as honey. Every year gets to market freshpicked and at its prime. The biggest crop of all is baby chicks. Every year, enough of these tiny fluff balls grow up into plump broilers and friers to give every family in the whole United States a Maryland. The town of Chrisfield is famous for seafood, fish, shellfish, and crabs. Take a cruise out into the bay and you'll see the unique Chesapeake sailboats called Bug Eyes. These boats drag the bottom for oysters. Power boat operators go after the oysters with long wooden tongs or in deeper water with steel tongs raised and lowered by winch. A modern clam digger digs his clams right off a power-driven conveyor belt as they come up from the bottom. All he has to do is select the choicest clams of proper size and deliver them sorted and washed ready for the market. [Music] The biggest catch from spring to early fall is the tasty, succulent Maryland blue crab. A baited line strung along the bottom attracts the crabs. They hang on as a pulley on the moving boat raises the line to the surface. When they let go, it's too late. Another crab is on the way to delight the pallet of a gourmet. Art of the catch is sorted into floating cribs where the crabs are kept till they shed their hard outer shells and become the popular and delicious soft shell crabs. New shells form quickly, so the soft shell crabs are packed and rushed to waiting markets by fast truck or plane. Hard shell crabs are at their best when served at a real oldtime crab feast down on the shore. Just pitch in and use your fingers. You'll never in the world get crab more delectable than this. [Music] On the Atlantic shore, our best known beach resort is Ocean City. The sands are clean and wide, the surf warm and gentle. Thousands of our friends drive down here every season for a wonderful family vacation. While the kids enjoy the beach, dad can head out to sea. Out to deep blue water where the big ones are waiting, fighting game fish of many kinds. [Music] Strike and the battle begins. Man against marlin. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] In the crisp, cold days of fall and early winter, the hunter's heart beats faster. Great flights of geese and ducks take wing along the Chesapeake. Here, a hunter's dream comes true. A rosy dawn, a sky full of birds, and a Chesapeake Bay Retriever. [Music] [Applause] [Music] The Chesapeake Retriever is our own breed. One of the few dogs native to America. Decoys may fool the ducks, but you can't fool a Chesapeake Retriever. [Music] When old mother nature created the Chesapeake, she industry and transportation of skyscrapers and pleasant parks to move its million people. Baltimore has pioneered in traffic control. Today, departing from the classic tradition of such buildings as the Enoch Pratt Library, urban designers are creating new civic developments with spacious landscaping and contemporary architecture such as these modern state office buildings. Renowned for educational progress, the city's institutions include John's Hopkins University with its famous medical school and hospital. The Baltimore Museum of Art is known for its outstanding collection of impressionist paintings. Perhaps you've heard Baltimore called the Monument City. It's a fitting name for stirring events and personalities captured in bronze and stone by eminent sculptures adorn the streets and parks on every hand. [Music] On the waterfront is old Fort Mckenry, bombarded by British ships in the War of 1812. It was here that Francis Scott Keyi, held on a British ship, proudly hailed his country's flag in the dawn's early light, and wrote the inspiring words of the Star Spangled Banner. Baltimore's terminal facilities and strategic location and the services of three major trunkline railways make this one of our country's busiest ports. Truck transportation as well as pleasure driving is made swift and easy by new throughways and the harbor tunnel which speeds traffic underneath the waters of the harbor. Today, Baltimore with its 45 mi of waterfront is the heart of an industrial complex turning out products of every description, including automobiles, chemicals, electronic devices, aircraft, space systems, nuclear power plants, and steel. Vast tonnages of arriving by ship from overseas are unloaded at one of the largest steel plants in the world with a yearly capacity of more than 8 million tons. Here thousands of men combine their energies and skills to transform the ore into many forms of finished iron and steel, the basic material of all heavy industry. Much of the steel made here goes into ship building and ship repair, also major Baltimore industries. From raw materials brought in by ship to finished steel. And from this steel, a new giant of the sealanes, completing the cycle from ore to ocean vessel right here in Baltimore. Vessels that head out to sea heavy laden with coal and other products or unload cargos brought back from the far corners of the world. Bananas from the West Indies and Central America. Coffee Brazil and other tropic lands. Tea from India and spices from many faraway lands. Madagascar and the spice islands. Singapore and Malaya. the Indian Ocean port of Malibar, the steaming lowlands of East Africa, and the jungles of fabled son. Processed and packaged by the nation's largest spice and extract company, these spices travel on to season much of the food for America's dinner tables. Springtime in Maryland brings a rainbow of color, rising ground and bursting from the trees. Sherwood Gardens in Baltimore is among many outstanding gardens open to the public during Garden Week. [Music] With the earth arrayed in flowers and birds on the wing, it won't be long now until the orioles are nesting. Baltimore orioles, of course, the state bird of Maryland. Spring also brings out another kind of Baltimore Orio whose native habitat is the memorial stadium. Baseball fans remember that Babe Ruth was born in Baltimore and started his career as an Orio. Rooting for our own home team is a favorite Maryland pastime. both day and night. [Applause] When summer waines and fall is in the air, close to 60,000 roaring fans crowd the stadium to usher in another season of football and cheer the famous Baltimore Colts to victory. Of course, they can't win every play. But once our Colts get going, they're hard to stop. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Pine highways up through the Piedmont or down through southern Maryland traverse a scenic region of rich farmlands. In early days, wheat was so important that once the tax levy was valued in bushels of this golden grain. Corn, the biggest grain crop today, was grown here by the ins before the white man came. One of the colonists first and holds its fire well. Maryland tobacco is blended to almost every major brand of cigarette. Thousands of acres are planted to hay. [Music] Potter crops are important not only for the state's big and ever growing dairy industry, but for the feeding of horses. On most farms, workh horses have been replaced by oil powered machines. But to a real Marylander, no sight in the world is quite so thrilling as the fine lines of a spirited thorbred. Some of these face a bright future. From a Maryland mayor named Selma, such great horses as Seab Biscuit, War Admiral, and Man of War trace their pedigrees. The Maryland Jockey Club was America's first racing association. The famous track Pimmllico is almost a century old. Climax of the season at Pimico is the PNness. A race first run here in 1873. [Applause] [Applause] In springtime, part of the way of life in Maryland is a family outing in the green valleys of the horse country, a picnic with friends, the welcome warmth of spring sunshine, and then the excitement of watching a timber race such as the Maryland Hunt Cup or the Grand National. [Applause] These races are run purely for fame and glory. There's no prize but the cup symbol of victory in the sport of kings. When Captain John Smith explored here, he wrote, "This is a fruitful and delightsome land." And you'll agree. Along the wayside, you'll see the blackeyed Susan, state flower of Maryland. In the heart of the scenic Piedmont is Frederick, rich in historic memories. Around the century old courthouse and courthouse square are homes dating from colonial times. Here is the home of Barbara of Frriie, whose legendary challenge has been immortalized by Whittier's poem. Shoot if you must this old gay head, but spare your country's flag, she said. At Antum Battlefield raged the bloodiest engagement of the Civil War. Monuments commemorate the death of more than 22,000 men in a single day. Hagar's town, first settled by the Dutch, is today the home of many industries. One of the most unusual factories employs skilled artisans in the making of pipe organs, classic instruments, which antidate the modern electric organ by many centuries. Making the pipes combines musical knowledge with master craftsmanship in metal and wood. [Music] Thousands of pipes are assembled into the completed organ. The most majestic musical instrument ever devised by man. [Music] In western Maryland, Cumberland is the hub of transportation, commerce and manufacturing. In colonial days, the town was a remote frontier outpost from which early pioneers tked westward through the natural gateway of the narrows. Motorists following the route today find themselves in a wilderness of glorious scenery. State forests and parks provide hiking, riding, boating, and swimming. Outdoor recreation for all. Why don't you visit the old line state? Come and see us. Enjoy western Maryland's mountains and lakes and dashing rivers, the incomparable shorelines of the Chesapeake, the rich farmlands of the Tidewater, and the fertile valleys of the Piedmont, the hospitality of all our cities, the attractions of warm Atlantic beaches. Glide on the wings of the wind. Speed on a surf.