Pocomoke City is a quiet little town on the placid Pocomoke River with two, maybe three, stoplights along the main street. It's hard to appreciate that it was once a major ocean seaport. Even though it is about as far inland as you can get on Delmarva, the Pocomoke River is very deep -- by pre-20th century sailing vessel standards. Ships could get their goods closer to inland customers at a time when roads were few.

But as technology changed, Pocomoke became, quite literally, a backwater town, its history largely forgotten.

That's all changing with the opening of the Delmarva Discovery Center. Located in a 1920's era building on the riverfront, it preserves and interprets the natural and cultural heritage of the Pocomoke River and lower Delmarva. The permanent exhibits start with the Native American cultures that flourished before the arrival of the Europeans. Their lives were tied closely to the natural world, so those exhibits also concentrate on the ecology of the river and the cypress swamp that surrounds Pocomoke. You can look inside Native American dwellings and crawl through a human-sized beaver dam. Displays on early trade, shipbuilding, market hunting, and commercial fishing follow the timeline of colonization and development. Pocomoke was important port through the steamboat era, and there is a life-sized mock-up of a steamboat dock and deck which give visitors a chance to see and feel what the town was like then.

One of the most exciting displays is the aquarium. It's still under construction, but visitors can watch as it develops. The tank is currently being 'seasoned' in order to provide a healthy habitat for its soon-to-arrive residents. Chief among those will be Atlantic Sturgeon. Once so plentiful in the region's waters that early diaries speak of being able to catch the fish with bare hands, its population is severely depleted. Even for life-long residents of Delmarva, the specimens in the aquarium may be the only Sturgeon they've ever seen. They will share the water with Gar, Largemouth Bass, and even a Diamondback Terrapin.

The Delmarva Discovery Center is located at 2 Market St., Pocomoke City. 410-957-9933. It's open Wed-Sat 10-4, Sun 12-4. Admission: Adults $10, Seniors & students $8, 4-17 $5. There's a special deal for residents of Somerset, Wicomico, Worcester, Accomack, and Sussex Counties. 50% off admission the first weekend of every month through May. http://www.delmarvadiscoverycenter.org/index.html