Unpacking Cambridge is the story of a rural city’s rebirth and reconciliation from a boomtown that went bust. In its heyday, Cambridge’s Philips Packing House was the engine that drove the economic and social fabric on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. 

The Packing House was the largest cannery in the world, and when the factory was buzzing it was an economic powerhouse that elevated this former slave port into a prosperous community for both blacks and whites. But when it abruptly shuttered in the early 1960s, the building and the community around it deteriorated. 

As the building lay dormant, the surrounding community struggled, and the crumbling bricks of the behemoth factory was a constant reminder of better days. Dire economic and social unrest surfaced—sending riots and fires racing through this once-booming town. 

Today, its broken windows and neglected interior are being revitalized and brought back to life as a bold experiment. Circling back to its roots, the Packing House is being re-envisioned as a hub for food and innovation that is poised to once again alter the landscape and economic engine of the region. The Packing House will now serve as a beacon of revitalization, offering opportunities this community hasn’t seen in more than a half-century. 

Cambridge, like so many rural communities across the country, is desperate for redevelopment and job opportunities. In Unpacking Cambridge, we explore the intriguing and explosive history of this region and its commonalities with so many other communities in this country. We experience the fragility of social unrest and explore how a community can find common ground. We see the Packing House take on a physical transformation and explore the ways that it is both a symbol of the past and a beacon of hope for the future of this region. 

Unpacking Cambridge pulls back the layers of history to reveal the new opportunities and hope that are rising from the ashes of the once-shuttered Packing House.