OXFORD - A newspaper advertising man came up with the idea for the curious little magazine aimed at the tourists, day-trippers, retirees and second-home buyers who began streaming across the brand new Bay Bridge in 1952.
The formula was pretty simple: It should be free. It should be black and white to keep costs down. It should say something about the history of Talbot County, the Eastern Shore's Colonial capital. It should showcase the area's elegant waterfront real estate.
It should avoid controversy. Images on the understated covers should be by local artists or photographers. It should fit in your hip pocket or your purse for quick reference.
Half-a-century and a handful of publishers later, not a lot has changed about the Tidewater Times. The 4-by-5 1/2 -inch monthly with the hard spine is still chock full of ads for princely estates along the Tred Avon, the Miles and the Wye rivers or elsewhere among the 600 miles of Talbot waterfront.
There's still a touch of historical lore, monthly tide charts that are handy to have on board for the dozens of sailboat races held in these parts during the summer. There are even pint-sized street maps of Easton, Oxford and St. Michaels.
To be sure, eastbound traffic over the bridge has grown exponentially. The magazine has bloomed to 200 or more pages each month. And you won't find any 185-acre waterfront farms for $18,500 or two-bedroom cottages in Oxford for $12,000 as they were advertised in the 1950s.
The magazine has become indispensable, a trusty little icon that, like old money, has nothing to prove - especially to the locals, who now make up almost 75 percent of its readership.
"I know it's been around somehow, at least as long as I can remember," says Douglas Hanks Jr., an Oxford real estate man and author who knows as much history as anybody in the Colonial-era port town.
"We always have a stack of them outside [the] office and they just fly out of here," says Hanks, whose father's real estate firm also was a regular advertiser. "I always seem to have three or four months' worth lying around in my car. If they ever change the thing, they're playing with fire. People love it."
Changes, at least anything radical, are exactly what publisher David C. Pulzone doesn't have in mind. Like so many others, the former Washington-area sales executive first started coming to Oxford for the sailing. Seven years ago, he decided to settle here and wound up buying the magazine.
"We've been able to attract an upscale, quality-conscious kind of advertiser, and we're blessed that so many stay with us year after year. That runs contrary to everything in the advertising business," says Pulzone, who operates from a small office next to his house, both of which come with views of Oxford's Town Creek.
If anything, the operation might be simpler than in previous years, say Pulzone and editor Anne B. Farwell.
The magazine is printed in New Jersey. Thanks to computers that have streamlined editing and have eliminated the tiresome task of pasting up each page, the pair does all the work, including delivering 10,000 copies to stores, real estate offices and other locations. They usually pick up next month's ads when making deliveries.
Farwell, 41, has worked at the Times for almost 30 years. She was 11 when her parents, Hugh and Evelyn Bailey, bought it in 1976. They owned it for 19 years.
Hugh Bailey says he turned down many suggestions to switch to color or make other changes.
"There were several full-color competitors that came out over the years," says Bailey. "They'd last a year, five years, but they all came and went. Our magazine was always headquartered in our home. It was always a part of us."
Farwell credits her father with strengthening the magazine by attracting local writers who each have a loyal following. One is mystery novelist and newspaper columnist Helen Chappell, the author of nearly 40 books who lives near the village of Royal Oak.
"I think there's a certain charm to it that people like," says Chappell. "You can read regional writers, writing on regional subjects. You can fantasize about all this incredible real estate. As a writer, it's a dream for me. I get to write about pretty much anything I want."
For advertisers like Jennifer Heyd Wharton, an artist who co-owns an art gallery in Easton, it's often a challenge to keep the magazine around.
"We advertise in a couple national publications, but there's nothing like the way people react to the Tidewater Times," says Wharton. "People often come in with it in tow, then walk out of the store with the latest edition. I remember it as a child and I guess other people do, too."