Our Story

The Spy Newspapers began with the creation of the Chestertown Spy in Chestertown, Maryland, in 2009. Named to honor the first newspaper in that historic community (which was started in 1791), the Chestertown Spy began one of the first in the country to offer a daily news source for small rural communities, with the mission of providing an educational, nonprofit news service to support public affairs engagement and cultural outreach. 

Based on the Chestertown Spy’s early success in gaining the trust and support of its readers, the Spy Community Media Fund was created at the Mid-Shore Community Foundation to support the creation of additional Spy news outlets, starting with the Talbot Spy in 2011, the Cambridge Spy in 2022, and the Centreville Spy in 2024.

Today, the Spy newspapers collectively reach approximately 1 million unique visitors annually and an average of 4-5 million page views during that time. Given that the Mid-Shore’s media market numbers are less than 200,000, the Spy has been successful in reaching the growing second homeowners of Washington, D.C., and Baltimore.