Picturesque Tilghman Island just got even more so. Next time you go over the bridge, be prepared to be welcomed by the Tilghman’s Pride Mural. The 10 x 40 mural, located on the Phillips Wharf Environmental Center building, celebrates all things Tilghman Island—besides the beauty: their dedication, their livelihood of working on the water, and the fruits of that labor.
In a ribbon-cutting ceremony held on Friday, May 7th, Ginny Cornwall, who was the driving force in putting this project together, acknowledged the people who helped and the dignitaries in attendance. She also thanked the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority, Stories of the Chesapeake, and generous donors who made the task possible.
Cornwell briefly described how the idea for a mural began, which incorporated doing something that would make the ‘waiting time palatable’ for those held up on the Knapp’s Narrows Bridge, the gateway to Tilghman Island. This plan would brighten the dull and weather-stained counterweight of the oldest and busiest drawbridge in America as measured by the number of openings, over 10,000 per year.
Cornwell contacted Cassandra Vanhooser, Director of the Talbot County Economic Development and Tourism, for ideas. Vanhooser put her in touch with Michael Rosato, a world-renowned artist known for his large-scale murals, including the Harriet Tubman homage in Cambridge, and the upcoming Frederick Douglass Mural in Easton, to name only a few.
Cornwell had solicited ideas on what should be on the mural. Rosato proved once again that he is a master storyteller, creating a collage of different periods of the island’s history. “We met,” said Cornwell, and before I knew it, he (Rosato) had a concept sketched out.”
But the concept went even further than that. Yes, it told the waterman’s story, but it also displayed two of the Eastern Shores most beloved birds: the osprey and the blue heron, giving the mural a three-dimensional quality, as two different parts of the painting were in evidence, depending on whether the bridge was up or down.
Since the bridge couldn’t handle the additional weight, the picture also needed to be lightweight. The plan was to complete the mural in Rosato’s studio at 1/3 scale on canvas, then be blown up in a vinyl version and glued to fit the bridge. Everything was fine, and permissions were granted. All the way, that is, to the Federal Highway Administration, which said, ‘Nope, you can’t put art on a bridge.’
Without a bridge, Cornwell went to Plan B. She explained, “However, serendipitously, we found, and we firmly believe, a better place for this lovely artwork in a partnership with Nick Hargrove of Wittman Wharf Seafood, who recently acquired the Phillips Wharf Environmental Center property.”
It was this persistence that Rosato acknowledged in his speech: “I’ve worked on projects for 30 years, and I’ve never had somebody, like Ginny, with that much perseverance and tenacity to get a project done. Every time there was a ‘No,’ it was followed up by a phone call that was ‘Yes.’ And I told her, I want you on my next project and the next, and the next….”
Of course, for Rosato, the change meant a redesign to an already completed project, going from a two-part mural to one and losing part of the painting. Instead of the two birds, only one survived, yet the homage and celebration of the island remained. Says Rosato, “It’s a welcoming image of an area that has really deep roots in the history of working on the water.”
President of the Talbot County Watermen’s Association, Jeff Harrison, agreed: “You really can’t go anywhere in the United States and not have someone ask, ‘did you bring any seafood?’ But that reputation was born in small communities like this all around the Chesapeake Bay. It was not only built on the hard work of waterman and their families but also in the community where they worked.”
Pete Lesher, Vice President of the Talbot County Council and Chief Curator at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, spoke about that community, which built a thriving boat-building industry supporting the rich seafood harvesting and processing facilities. “Tilghman Packing company grew so large,” said Lesher, “that it had to look far and wide for enough workers. Buses segregated by race brought commuters from the Bay100 district to work in several loading segregated packing in shucking rooms. Black seasonal workers from out of state lived in company-owned shanties on the Tilghman Island end of the causeway. In its peak years in the 1950s, Tilghman packing company employed 600 workers.” He added that many of the island roads were built with oyster shells, a physical legacy of the number of oysters shucked there.
Lesher also paid tribute to Kelly Cox, founder and executive director of the Phillips Wharf Environmental Center, who died in May. “Her legacy, in part, lives on in the 1000s of students that she touched and inspired to understand this place better, and therefore, to become better stewards. And here we are, dedicating this mural on the same former site of Philip’s Wharf and before that, of Harrison’s seafood packing house, and it’s with exactly that same goal in mind to inspire people to understand this unique place better. Its rich heritage and its ongoing legacy that we all become better stewards for it.”
After the ribbon-cutting, Cornwell invited everyone to view the mural up close. As initially intended when it was to be on the bridge, the final mural is a vinyl replica of the original, now mounted on a substrate and attached to the Phillips Wharf Environmental Center building. But to call it a replica is not doing it justice. It is flawless, and each paint stroke made by Rosato is in evidence.
Besides hoping to bring in more tourists, the mural is a reminder to both visitors and residents of Tilghman Island’s significant contribution to the Eastern Shore.
Val Cavalheri is a recent transplant to the Eastern Shore, having lived in Northern Virginia for the past 20 years. She’s been a writer, editor and professional photographer for various publications, including the Washington Post.
P.R. Getson says
I am so gratified to read that Pete Lesher took the time to honor Kelley Cox. Other accounts of the mural and its site, did not. They seemed to ignore that until only months ago, Kelley had been the owner, exec director and force behind The Phillips Wharf Education Center. She was an undaunted, constant source of community lectures, traveling with information for schools and just plain enthusiasm about the Bay and all-things-Tilghman. She had solicited some community members to assist with grant writing, and was one of the strongest proponents of the overall mural effort. It is ironic that the dedication followed her death by only a day. I like to think she would have been so pleased to attend its unveiling, and know it would remain on a site she knew and loved so well. Kudos to everyone’s efforts in bringing this mural to life for all of us!
Danna Murphy Murden says
Congratulations to Ginny she never gave up and it is WONDERFUL, ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL!, You deserve a lot of credit for all the things you have done for the Island. I for one truly appreciate!
DANNA MURPHY MURDEN says
Pete Lesher sorry but you are not correct in stating that the shanties were at the end of the causeway. There were three separate business there with Tilghman Packing Co. being the largest. The shanties were where Tilghman on the Chesapeake is now where the a lot of the houses are on the water west ward. Where the road turned to the left before it turn right to the causeway you took a right where the road bared left went past TILGHMAN Packing Co.offices and continue to drive south and then you arrived at the shanties. I grew up on Wharf Rd. and went to the shanties often to take things. Memories I will never forget.
Debbie Leber says
Can’t wait to see this!