Here is another beautiful Talbot Historical Society H. Robins Hollyday Collection aerial photo whose location needs to be identified! The only clue that we have is the name Dr. Cullen that is written on the archive envelop. Can you help us solve this mystery so that we can correctly identify this location in the Talbot Historical Society Past Perfect database?
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2 Responses
Dr. Culllen most likely would have been referring to Dr Thomas Cullen, a prominent Johns Hopkins surgeon who had married Mary Bartlett, of the Bartlett family that owned “Old Bloomfield”, which is the farm under the red “Talbot Historical Society” label.
The body of water at the bottom right of the image is Shipshead Creek, the creek just behind “Old Bloomfield” is Dixon Creek, and the body of water on the far side of the narrow point of land (part of Ratcliff Manor, sometime known as “Hollyday’s Island”) is the upper part of the Tred Avon that leads up to Easton Point. The far shore would be what would become the “Waverly” subdivision.
The camera view is to the East-Southeast from the headwaters of Shipshead Creek. Robins Hollyday was associated with Malcolm Hathaway, whose family owned “Ratcliff Manor” in the 1920’s and 30’s and where Malcolm had established an airport. The two men did pioneering work in providing the State Roads Commission with aerial imagery for highway design.
Concur with Louis Wright’s geography and note that Robins Hollyday was descendant of the family that built Ratcliffe Manor in the mid 18 th century—hence the point of land being called Hollyday’s Island. The Hollyday family owned Ratcliffe until its purchase by Hathaway in early 20 th century. Dirk Bartlett still lives on the Bartlett farm.