George Alfred Townsend Birthplace

SC-72: George Alfred Townsend, famous Civil War newspaper correspondent, journalist and author, was born on this block on January 30, 1841. Townsend’s novels and poetry reflect his deep love for his native region. His best-known historical novel, The Entailed Hat, recounts the legend of Patty Cannon, the notorious slave runner of the Eastern Shore. In […]

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The Notorious Story of Patty Cannon: Separating Fact from Fiction

In the early nineteenth century, Patty Cannon was the alleged leader of a notorious gang in Sussex County that was known for kidnapping possibly hundreds of free African Americans for sale into slavery. Featured on an episode of the PBS series “History Detectives,” and the subject of numerous fictional and non-fiction accounts, Cannon’s life and […]

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