About

When’s Low Tide is the shop of Mary T. McCarthy (marytmccarthy.com/about), a lifelong professional writer/editor who serves as volunteer Executive Director of The Beachcombing Center (beachcombingcenter.org) and Vice President of the North American Sea Glass Association. The motto of the shop is finding treasure in imperfection.

During the pandemic in June 2020, upon learning that local students in the town where Mary lives (Sweet Cider Candles) were selling candles in upcycled containers, Mary asked them to pour candles for her in order to create a line of candles called When’s Low Tide candles, using beach found containers and hiding a beach find in each candle. In December 2020, the first batch of candles was poured in-house at When’s Low Tide, where we continue to add new scents each month. In September 2021, we opened a brick and mortar shop at The Beach Bank, 5782 Tilghman Island Rd., Tilghman Island, Maryland and we now pour different types of treasure candles in over 50 scents.

Though it’s very busy pouring, photographing, listing, and shipping the candles, Mary’s favorite part of the business is occasionally traveling to hunt beach finds to hide inside the candles. 

Photo: Jay Fleming

A portion of all shop sales benefit the nonprofit Beachcombing Center.