Category: Sobo

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The First Port Covington Website

19+ Years of PortCovington.com (now on temporary hiatus)

The first iteration of the PortCovington.com website was recorded by the Internet Archive “Wayback Machine” on February 2, 2004, just over a week after the domain was first registered (01/24/04). As near as we can tell, this was the first website solely about the geographic area known as Port Covington and its role as a South Baltimore “neighborhood” among the myriad and diverse neighborhoods in the City of Baltimore.

Portcovington. com Screen Capture
Screen Capture of the first PortCovington.com web presence.

The small bit of narrative in the image above was much as the “intro” to the site is today. It reads: ‘In mid-2002, the world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart, opened its first Baltimore City stores at Port Covington in the South Baltimore area. Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club are the first retailers to locate in the new Port Covington Shopping Center, a 60-acre, waterfront site on East Cromwell Street. Several hundred City jobs were created when the 142,000 square foot Wal-Mart and the 130,000 square foot Sam’s Club opened their doors. This strategically-located retail development at the site of a former City rail yard has come a long way – but has a long way yet to go. Watch for further development of this “newest” of waterfront destinations.’

The few links were to existing, local websites, four of which exist today, Including our own South Baltimore directory website. The Digital Harbor domain now redirects to PortCovington because we believe this location will become home to many “digital” enterprises.

There was not much done to develop the website in the last dozen years because not much has been done to develop Port Covington for most of that time. Although the proposals were impressive, the WalMart and Sam’s Club and curbing and intersections never amounted to much at all. The Sam’s closed after a brief run – WalMart fared better but one store does not a community make. The Sam’s Club building remained vacant and unoccupied for nearly a decade until the CEO of Under Armour, Kevin Plank, had the vision to see what it could (and will) become.

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About PortCovington.com

A Fan Page for the Port Covington area of South Baltimore

NB: The following narrative is from the Internet Archive and represents the “About” page for the original Port Covington website – as it appeared over a decade ago.

PortCovington.com: is a “fan page” for Port Covington, the geographic area located on the southern shore of the South Baltimore Peninsula, bounded by Westport Baltimore to the west and South Locust Point the Cruise Maryland Terminal to the east. Port Covington’s waterfront is on the Middle Branch of the Patapsco River, which provides deep water access to the Chesapeake Bay and the world beyond. This website nor it’s owner are in any way affiliated with the developers of the “new” Port Covington or the City of Baltimore. 

As a former geography teacher, homeowner and resident of South Baltimore for well over three decades, it will be fascinating to see the forthcoming geographic and economic/commercial changes along the shores of the Middle Branch of the Patapsco River throughout the next decade. Changes currently underway in Port Covington will make a positive impact on the area. Port Covington is about to become one of the most impressive and important development projects along the entire East Coast. When full development plans are complete and approved the eventual impact on the entire City of Baltimore will be huge – and quite beneficial to the entire city of Baltimore.

Port Covington Signage

An easy way to keep up-to-date on Port Covington news and “happenings” is to subscribe to the Daily News Digest for the South Baltimore Area. This is a daily set of curated article headlines from around the Internet and social media – delivered to your inbox is summary form. It (also) does NOT contain a raft of ads like so many other such services.  

This website will attempt to share some of what we see happening. It will not be glitzy and fancy like the “official” corporate website (BuildPortCovington.com) but it will be a way for this ol’ teacher to keep notes – and share some of those notes with readers who manage to find Port Covington online.

Another objective of the webmaster is to help promote and/or publicize the growth and development of this section of the South Baltimore peninsula. “SOBO” or “SouthBmore” – as some people call it – has been our home for many, many years and we very much like to see great things happening in our community.

Yet another objective is for this website to generate some revenue. This will likely be accomplished by including some advertising and some affiliate links. If a visitor/reader clicks on an affiliate link and subsequently makes a purchase from that merchant we may earn a small commission on that sale.

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It’s not Bmore, it’s Bawlmer, Hon!

You Know You’re From Maryland If You Remember These, Hon…

The longer you have been living in Baltimore, Maryland the more of these you will know–or remember, if you think about it. We found them in one of those pervasive multi-forwarded emails (actually before the popularity of Facebook, where you will likely find a list like this today).

YOU KNOW YOU’RE
FROM BALTIMORE WHEN…

Crowded Baltimore Inner Harbor
Crowded Baltimore Inner Harbor
  • You know how to pronounce ‘Towson’.
  • You remember what the Inner Harbor looked like before it was the Inner Harbor.
  • You ate at Haussner’s.
  • You remember Friendship Airport.
  • You remember driving over the old Kent Narrows Draw-Bridge that snarled weekend traffic coming home from the Ocean.
  • You love the Domino Sugar sign you can see across the harbor.
  • You remember the rotating restaurant on top off the Holiday Inn on Baltimore Street.
  • You know Annapolis & Hopkins are national treasures & you get a kick out of hearing them named in movies or TV.
  • You know B&O is not body odor.
  • That downtown smelled great near McCormicks.
  • Every kitchen has a can of Old Bay.
  • You refer to your state as “Marilyn.”
  • You and your Mom shopped at Hutzlers, The Hub, Stewart’s, Hoschild Kohn’s & The May Company.
  • You know where “Downey Ocean” is.
  • You remember the Civic Center.
  • You know Pam Shriver is from Maryland.
  • You know how to eat steamed crabs, but also know how to tell the males from the females.
  • You don’t think that Assawoman Bay is a strange name.
  • M R Ducks makes perfect sense.
  • You have fond memories of Memorial Stadium.
  • You still root for the Orioles even when they aren’t doing well.
  • Everybody knows what a “zink” and “payment” are.
  • When anywhere else, you can only laugh when you see signs saying “Maryland Crab Cakes!”
  • You say “Blare Road” for Bel Air Road
  • You remember Jerry Turner and Al Sanders.
  • You remember Oprah & Richard Sher together in the a.m. on Ch-13.
  • Vince Bagli was “the” sports announcer on TV.
  • You remember Mayor Schaeffer swimming with the seals at the National Aquarium.
  • You swore Frank Perdue kinda looked like one of his tender chickens.
  • You know which bridge they’re talking about, when someone says “The bridge traffic is backed up.”
  • You revere the names of Johnny U, Brooks & Frank!
  • You actually understand all of these and pass them on to other Marylanders to enjoy!

Go ahead and share these on Facebook – with your friends – who may – or may not – understand. 🙂