In 1699 on a plot of land in Maryland, with shores touching Somers Cove and the Chesapeake Bay, a town named Annemessex was created. It was a small Eastern Shore village. Later the name was changed to Somers Cove. With the discovery of a large number of oyster beds in Tangier Sound and with a railroad service in progress, its name once again was changed. For 170 years the town has been known as Crisfield. It became prosperous and for many years was known to be the leading oyster producing city in the United States.
For the past 77 years in this very friendly, beautiful place known as the crab capital of the world, the National Hard Crab Derby has been held annually. It features crab races, crab picking contest and crab cooking contest, along with all the other festivities that go with a Labor Day weekend.
The crab cooking contest, added 60 years ago, is possibly one of the youngest events of the Derby. This newspaper learning of this event first featured it in 1984 and has continued pr...