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December 4, 2024

Talbot Spy

Nonpartisan Education-based News for Talbot County Community

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Telling the Story of Black Watermen on the Bay

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Capt. Tyrone Meredith Photos Courtesy of Chesapeake Bay Martimine Museum 

“Like a farmer on the water, a fisherman has to get up early. After that it’s all about hard work and hustle,” – Capt. Tyrone Meredith

In June, WATER’S EDGE: BLACK WATERMEN OF THE CHESAPEAKE, a documentary spotlighting African American contributions to the historic and modern culture and economics of the Chesapeake Bay region, won recognition at the 66th Capital Emmy Awards. The film features numerous Eastern Shore luminaries as well as lesser known individuals who either work the water or work to document the lives of those who do so.

The Capital Emmy Awards are presented by the regional chapter of The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, a non-profit, professional organization dedicated to encouraging and acknowledging artistic, educational, and cultural excellence, creative leadership, and technical progress within the TV industry.

WATER’S EDGE: BLACK WATERMEN OF THE CHESAPEAKE garnered its award in this year’s Diversity/Equity/ Inclusion – Long Form Content category.

Broadcast by Maryland Public Television, WATER’S EDGE explores the relationship between African Americans and the Chesapeake Bay and how the tradition of seafood harvesting fed millions while offering opportunities to local men and women that no other calling or vocation could provide.

Admiral Vince Leggett

Representing the Black, modern-era Bay waterman in the film is Queen Anne’s Countian Tyrone Meredith. A fifth generation boat captain, Tyrone grew up in Grasonville. His dad was Eldridge Meredith, the one hundred and first commissioned admiral of the Chesapeake and the fifth African American to be officially honored for a lifetime of extraordinary commitment to the Chesapeake Bay.  

A lifelong entrepreneur, Admiral Meredith pioneered the establishment of the headboat fishing party tradition that seventy years later still operates out of Kent Narrows today. Whereas a charter boat is an expensive outing booked by groups in advance, the headboats provided more affordable fishing excursions for individuals and smaller parties. The captains of these boats were and are predominantly African American oystermen and crabbers who survived the mid-twentieth-century decline of their industry by knowing how to adjust to market realities. 

After eight decades working the water, and mere months after the prestigious recognition of his admiralty, Eldridge Meredith died in the summer of 2017 at the age of ninety one. His son Tyrone, in both the WATER’S EDGE documentary and in a recent oral history interview recorded for the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum (funded by the Upper Shore Regional Folklife Center and the Maryland State Arts Council), tells stories about how began working as a mate on his dad’s fishing boat at the age of six, ran a commercial crabbing business with his brother when he was twelve, and sees in his grandson the hope of keeping the waterman tradition alive. He says that some mornings he still hears his father’s voice saying, “It’s time to get up.”  

Admiral Eldridge Meredith and those who prospered in his wake were well aware they were following a long tradition of African American watermen adapting to fit their current circumstances.

Before the Civil War, Marylanders had freed more slaves than any state in the nation. Working the water gave these men an independence not available on land. Away from watchful eyes they could make a living comparative to the poor white man, build relationships between themselves, and make contact with the outside world. The Chesapeake Bay was a means of freedom.

Tyrone Meredith, Alexis Aggrey, Imani Black. Image courtesy of T. Meredith

Historical African American figures with ties to the Bay who are profiled in the WATER’S EDGE documentary include the renown Oxford sailmaker Downes F. Curtis, the son of a waterman, and Frederick Jewett, who owned and operated the Coulbourne and Jewett Seafood Packing Company in St. Michaels with his partner Willaim H.T. Coulbourne. Located on the site that is now the home of the Maritime Museum, the Coulbourne and Jewett oyster shucking and crab picking operation opened in 1902 and Jewett’s son Elwood ran the company until 1965. At the height of their success Coulbourne and Jewett packed a million pounds of crab meat annually and were the biggest employers in town. Frederick Jewett is credited for devising the 5-tier system the industry still uses to grade crab meat. 

Interviewees in the documentary include the accomplished professor, author, and speaker Dr. Clara Small, an expert in Eastern Shore African American history, Pete Lesher, the Chief Curator at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, and Chesapeake Admiral Vince Leggett, founder of Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation who notes that historically “people of means lived on the hill, limited resource people lived along the water’s edge – high reeds, high mosquitoes, bottom land, creeks and necks,” 

Capt. Tyrone Meredith, Admiral Eldridge Meredith

Biologist, oyster farmer, and Chestertown native Imani Black, founder of Minorities in Aquaculture, a 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to a vision of a sustainable and inclusive seafood harvesting is featured, as is Monica Davis, the director of Oxford’s Water’s Edge and Bellevue Passage Museum, musician-songwriter Kentavius Jones of the Maryland Spiritual Initiative, artist Marc Castelli, and Tarence Bailey, Sr, the five-times great-nephew of Eastern Shore native Frederick Douglass.

The documentary’s director, Alexis Aggrey, is the founder and principal executive of the Aggrey Company, a regionally based film production company with a goal to focus on giving people of color and marginalized communities “a chance to learn about themselves through their stories told through the lens of their own experience.”  

Maryland Public Television, the media distributor of WATER’S EDGE, describes the award-winning film as chronicling the brave and resilient “unsung Marylanders that revolutionized an industry, dreamed beyond their circumstances and are still keeping this tradition alive today” 

In Captain Tyrone’s part of the documentary, he says in an interview, “My great-great-grandfather came to Kent Island in 1867. He was a waterman. Oystered in the winter, crabbed during the summer. His son was Richard Meredith. Then my father’s father was Earl Meredith. He also worked as a waterman. Then my father crabbed and oystered (before starting his fishing party business).” Then the scene cuts to Tyrone in the cabin of his boat where he smiles and says, “I put on the captain’s hat now.”

His statement is literal but metaphorically carries centuries of significance and weight.

WATER’S EDGE: BLACK WATERMEN OF THE CHESAPEAKE can be viewed at  https://video.mpt.tv/video/waters-edge-black-watermen-of-the-chesapeake-lo9iwq/ 

Brent Lewis is a native Chesapeake Bay Eastern Shoreman. He has published two nonfiction books about the region, “Remembering Kent Island: Stories from the Chesapeake” and a “History of the Kent Island Volunteer Fire Department.” His most recent book, “Stardust By The Bushel: Hollywood On The Chesapeake Bay’s Eastern Shore”won a 2023 Independent Publishers award. His first novel, Bloody Point 1976, won an Honorable Mention Award at the 2015 Hollywood Book Festival. He and his wife Peggy live in Centreville, Maryland. 

 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Mid-Shore Food: Uno Más Comes to Centreville

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Centreville’s newest addition to the local culinary scene, a Mexican restaurant called Uno Más, has opened to an enthusiastic reception and strong reviews, and co-owners Billy and Brittany Gordon, along with partners Nelson Araujo and Araceli Reyes Ventura, are excited to establish their latest venture as one of the area’s favorite options for dining out.

All four of the partners have years of experience in the hospitality industry and have worked in various styles of cuisine and food service. In March 2020, at the beginning of the Covid pandemic, the Gordons had just taken over the operations at Mama Mia’s Italian Bistro on Centreville’s Water Street. Despite the challenges of the timing, Mama Mia’s has survived and expanded and continues to serve happy customers in both the dining room and sports bar where they serve Italian dishes and American pub fare.

Battered rockfish. Cilantro lime cream sauce. Mango pineapple salsa.

When the businesses across the street from Mama Mia’s closed last year, the partners saw opportunity but were practical and strategic in their decision making. Billy Gordon says they “looked at Centreville and really thought about what might best serve the town, what was needed. We wanted to provide people with something different than what was already here, to provide an alternative.”

They landed on “authentic Mexican cuisine served in a contemporary style,” but before a single enchilada could be plated or chimichanga chewed there was work to be done. “We basically took over two existing restaurants,” Billy says, “and blended them into one. We knocked down a wall, made a hallway, reconfigured the layout; made better use of the space and created some outdoor seating and lounging area on our patio.” Graphic designers helped with the Uno Más décor.

Nelson Araujo, Billy Gordan, Araceli Reyes Ventura,Brittany Gordon

The four principals created the menu together and in doing so have tried to stay true to their self-imposed mandate to provide diners with food that is fresh, flavorful, and true to tradition. The kitchen staff aims to cook with the freshest and most authentic ingredients possible and as an example, the jalapenos they use are sourced from Mexico. Most of the recipes that the chefs, Araujo and Reyes, utilize have been in their families for generations.

Appetizers include handmade birria eggrolls, crispy corn on the cob curls, and Mexican Rockets – jalapeños halves stuffed with cheese and wrapped in jalapeño bacon.  Popular entrees include classic fajitas, burritos, and street-style tacos, all of which are offered in variations of proteins and accompaniments, but there are also such unconventional offerings as huevos rancheros ribeye and a grilled salmon with a house-made chimichurri sauce.

The torta sandwiches are another big hit on the Uno Más menu and represent the management’s commitment to authenticity and freshness. The two offerings, the Torta Mexicana – filled with chorizo, carne asada, sliced ham, lettuce, tomato, avocado, Oaxaca cheese, chipotle aioli, and pickled jalapeños – and the Torta Milanesa, which features a hand-breaded fried chicken breast and refried beans with the avocado, cheese, aioli, and jalapeños are made on telera bread that is baked exclusively for Uno Más by Modern Stone Age Kitchen (@modernstoneagekitchen), the unique from-scratch restaurant and bakery located in Chestertown.

Holly Rhodes, a longtime patron of the Gordons who works in finance, says Uno Más rates “ten out of ten.” She says the food and drinks were among the very best Mexican fare she’s ever had and she can’t wait to return. Realtor Scott Saunders raves about the guacamole and the corn ribs and says the chicken enchiladas with mole were delicious, too. A lifelong Eastern Shore resident and no stranger to the food service business herself, Nicole Potter Jordan thinks the new restaurant was just what Centreville needed. She says that she and her husband ordered tacos and they “love, love, loved” everything about their meal including the margaritas that she says are “the best around by far.”

Soon after Centreville’s newest restaurant opened, Katie Harris Manley, a retail manager, went to Uno Más with friends for a Girls Night Out. Her review? “Outstanding.”

Katie says: “We had the ahi tuna tostada’s, birria egg rolls, and homemade guacamole for starters. I got the fajita-tacos for dinner. We each got the pineapple coconut margarita and I also got the El Diablo. We tried every dessert: the fried ice cream, churro ice cream sandwich, and the caramel mascarpone cheesecake. Everything was seriously amazing. The staff was awesome and so was the atmosphere.”

Katie recently returned. She says, “I made a reservation for eleven people for my daughter and husband’s birthdays and everything was still wonderful. Food and drinks were stellar and the service was great. My family had not eaten there yet and by the time we left they were asking whose birthday we were going to return for.”

Uno Más is open for lunch and dinner seven days a week. There are lunch specials and weekday Happy Hours, live music in the bar from 6-9 p.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays, and the kitchen is open until nine except for Friday and Saturday when they serve until ten. The regular weekly calendar includes discount opportunities for Margarita Mondays, Tacos Tuesday, Wednesday’s Fajita Night and Ladies Night in the bar on Thursdays.   

Uno Más is located at 420 Pennsylvania Avenue in Centreville and can be contacted at [email protected] or 443-262-8777. Their website is https://www.unomascentreville.com/

Brent Lewis is a native Chesapeake Bay Eastern Shoreman. He has published two nonfiction books about the region, “Remembering Kent Island: Stories from the Chesapeake” and a “History of the Kent Island Volunteer Fire Department.” His most recent book, “Stardust By The Bushel: Hollywood On The Chesapeake Bay’s Eastern Shore”won a 2023 Independent Publishers award. His first novel, Bloody Point 1976, won an Honorable Mention Award at the 2015 Hollywood Book Festival. He and his wife Peggy live in Centreville, Maryland.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Kent Island Has Its Day by Brent Lewis

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This year’s Kent Island Day, an annual family-friendly event organized by the Kent Island Heritage Society to celebrate the historical and cultural significance of one of our country’s earliest permanent communities, is scheduled to take place on Saturday, May 18, with opening ceremonies in downtown Stevensville kicking off the festivities at 10:15 a.m. 

Settled in 1631 by William Claiborne, a well-connected Virginian, the people of what he named the Isle of Kent have witnessed a lot of history firsthand. Before Claiborne, native populations had inhabited the island, the largest in the Chesapeake Bay, for thousands of years. Over a very short time, however, as the newcomers broadened their geographical control, the presence of the original locals diminished to the point of extinction.     

Within a few years, despite obstacles and setbacks, Claiborne’s encampment grew into a thriving Jamestown outpost of over a hundred inhabitants. They cultivated tobacco, built boats, and made wooden barrels for commerce and trade. There are still families living on Kent Island that carry the surnames of these first-generation pioneers.

As Claiborne’s community expanded outside his Kent Fort palisades, the family of George Calvert, the first Baron of Baltimore, was granted a charter for the new colony of Maryland, which included Claiborne’s island. An extended and complicated feud was ignited after the Marylanders sailed up the Chesapeake in 1634 and claimed the Isle of Kent for their own.

Claiborne eventually lost the fight but he did not give up easily.

The first real town on the Eastern Shore was called Broad Creek and existed about where the subdivision of Kent Island’s Bay City is today. Located directly across the bay from Annapolis, Broad Creek operated a ferry route and boasted the primary components of a colonial village: a tavern, a courthouse, a jail, and a church. The church, a branch of the Anglican Christ Church, has worshipped in a series of locations over the centuries, was an outgrowth of the spiritual foundations Claiborne instituted from the beginning, and is now the longest active congregation in our state. 

For a couple of weeks during the War of 1812, British forces occupied and plundered Kent Island, launching mostly unsuccessful attacks on the nearby towns of Queenstown and St. Michaels in Talbot County.

By the mid-19th century, as Broad Creek faded into history and the steamboat and railroad era took hold, a robust seafood industry established itself on Kent Island and the Eastern Shore. The towns of Chester, Dominion, and the newly created village of Stevensville became the island’s primary residential and commercial areas. In 1986, Stevensville’s town center was added to the National Register of Historic Places and, in 2013, was designated an official Maryland Arts and Entertainment District.

The “Oyster Wars” that took place from the end of the Civil War through the mid-20th century did not leave Kent Island unscathed. Nearby, fighting between watermen and law enforcement over “Chesapeake Gold” made national headlines. The first commander of Maryland’s Oyster Navy, the precursor of our modern Natural Resources Police, was a Kent Islander named Hunter Davidson.

In 1917, Kent Islanders, led by state senator James Kirwan, banded together to defeat the federal government’s plans to relocate all residents of the island and build a weapon testing site here.

And, of course, the first Bay Bridge was completed in 1952, changing the island, and the rest of the Shore in ways that had, for the most part, stayed the same for generations prior.

In 1975, as islanders were preparing to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the founding of Claiborne’s colony, the Kent Island Heritage Society was formed for the purpose of “discovering, identifying, restoring, and preserving” Kent Island’s history and heritage. The organization’s members have worked hard ever since to “facilitate an appreciation of Kent Island’s place in the history of Maryland and of our nation.”

In 1977, Acting Governor Blair Lee signed a proclamation acknowledging Kent Island as the first permanent settlement within Maryland and declaring the third weekend in May as Kent Island Days.

Following this year’s opening ceremonies, the traditional parade begins at Kent Island Elementary School at 10:30 a.m. and will work its way through town to Church Street. Jack Broderick, Kent Island Heritage Society President and Kent Island Day Parade Chair, says organizers are particularly excited about this year’s parade as the plan is to feature “a great hometown mix of old cars, boats, and farm equipment, historic costumes, color guards, reenactors, scout troops, local clubs and civic groups, horses, fire engines, as well as elected officials and political candidates.” Because one of the society’s primary goals is to encourage an interest in local history in younger generations, Broderick is “thrilled” to be able to include marching bands from both of the island’s middle schools. This year’s Grand Marshall will be longtime society member Carole Frederick and the former Bay Times-Record Observer writer Doug Bishop will announce.    

Throughout the daylong event, Stevensville will be teeming with activity. There will be vendors of every type, historical exhibitions, cultural displays, living history participants, craft demonstrations, activities for children, a mini farmer’s market, food and beverage sales, and entertainment. Local authors and artists will be on site, including Dale Hall with her recently released book of photographs and prose, KENT ISLAND WATERSCAPES.

Kent Island Day will also provide visitors an opportunity to explore the Heritage Society’s various historic sites including Stevensville’s Cray House (c.1809) and the recently refurbished train station, as well as the old bank and post office. The Kirwan House Museum, a meticulously curated recreation of a traditional home and general store of the early 20th century on Dominion Road in Chester, will also be open to the public on that day.

Stacy Bernstein, Kent Island Day’s Event Administrative Coordinator, says that this year’s celebration will have something for everybody because it’s important to “acknowledge and take pride in our shared past as that history connects us through time and encourages us to continue to nurture those connections.”

Jack Broderick concurs. He says, “Kent Island Day offers an informative and entertaining day of fun and friendship for the whole family to honor the heritage of Kent Island.”

For more information about this year’s Kent Island Day and the Kent Island Heritage Society, visit kentislandheritagesociety.org. Anyone interested in participating in Kent Island Day as a vendor, volunteer, or sponsor can contact Stacy Bernstein at 443-985-5681 or [email protected] or Jack Broderick at 410-829-7760 or [email protected]

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Wading into The Wading Place History in Queen Anne’s County

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Modern Life is challenging in ways our ancestors never imagined.

It’s nice to have a place to get away from it all once in a while.

“A place to unplug and watch the day go by” is the way Bayly Buck, president of the Wading Place Hunting Club in Queen Anne’s County, describes that kind of sanctuary. “A world apart. A step back in time.”

The Wading Place, 1631: Back when English colonists established their earliest communities in America, the shores of the Chesapeake Bay were among some of the first places they settled. In 1631, a pioneer named William Claiborne built a trading post on the largest island in the Chesapeake Bay. Claiming the island for Virginia, Claiborne named his Jamestown outpost after his British hometown of Kent.

Sometime soon after, nobody knows exactly when inhabitants of the region started calling the area where one could pass between The Isle of Kent and the eastern mainland without using a boat, “The Wading Place.”

And not only don’t we know for sure when Kent Island’s Wading Place came into being, nobody really knows where it was either.

An obvious assumption is that it was most likely located near what we now call Kent Narrows, the strait separating the island from the rest of the Eastern Shore while connecting the Chester River to Prospect Bay. According to J. Coursey Willis, president of the non-profit Historic Kent Island (https://historickentisland.org/), the earliest evidence of The Wading Place’s location, patented in 1649, has been lost to the tides of history, but there is an existing survey issued in 1658 identifying a 300 acre parcel on the east side of Kent Island as Wading Place Neck.

In Willis’s opinion, the northwestern landmark of what was the Kent Island side of “The Wading Place” would be located in the vicinity of Queen Anne’s County’s present-day Ferry Point Park and run south to the area around the county boat slips and the Kent Island Yacht Club near Goodhands and Kirwans Creeks. There are also references from this time to Wading Place Swamp and Wading Place Bay. Willis thinks Wading Place Swamp was probably what we call Piney Creek, and Wading Place Bay is what’s been known since at least the mid-19th century as Prospect Bay.

Bayly Buck 1st Duck Fall 1962

The Wading Place Hunting Club, 1945: Locals and travelers alike have always needed to cross back and forth between Kent Island and Delmarva proper. According to Willis’s research, the first official mention of a ferry at The Wading Place was in 1711. A series of causeways and bridges have subsequently been built at Kent Narrows over the years, including a 1902 railroad bridge and the still-existing drawbridge that opened mere months before the Bay Bridge was dedicated in 1952.

When that drawbridge was built, Kent Narrows was nearing the end of its fifty-year run as one of the hubs of a seafood packing industry that supported a big portion of the regional economy. 

In the mid-to-late 1940s and early 1950s, The Eastern Shore was undergoing significant changes. A way of life that generations grew up experiencing was nearing an unprecedented cultural transition.

In 1945, John C. Legg Jr., a Baltimore investment banker, purchased thirty acres of the Horsehead Peninsula on the eastern Grasonville side of Prospect Bay and called the hunting retreat he built for family and friends The Wading Place. Legg created a corporation, issued stock that was issued completely to his two daughters-in-law, and sat a board of directors that consisted of himself and his sons, John the Third and William. John died in 1952 at the age of 41. A year later, William was fatally shot in a hunting accident at The Wading Place. He was 33. His 9-year-old son was in the duck blind with his dad when it happened. Afterward, the Wading Place Hunting Club was sold to eight friends, including Dr. Walter ‘Dick’ Buck, whose cousin’s son Bayly is The Wading Place Club’s current point man.

Bayly Buck first visited the club when he was 12 years old, and though he was not originally a fan of the cold hunting season weather, he learned to love the place and the bonding opportunities he experienced there, as well as the area’s wild beauty and the feeling of being apart from the surrounding modern world. He says that to look at it, the clubhouse doesn’t present much of an image, facilities are rudimentary at best, but members past and present have loved it that way. “Wading Place has remained a boys club,” says Buck. “Cast-off furniture, no doilies, no curtains, and no big chores to do.” It’s a great spot, he says, “to just relax in resplendent squalor.”

The Wading Place, 2024: Between 1981 and 1998, The Wildfowl Trust of North America, with the intent to protect endangered wetlands through education and stewardship, purchased the entire Horsehead Peninsula with the exception of the 30 acres owned by The Wading Place group.  On a mission to create a bond between people and the world around us, the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center (https://bayrestoration.org/) offers both recreational and educational opportunities for visitors of all ages.

An educator, coach, and conservationist, Matt LaMotte, a member of the Wading Place club for more than fifty years, says his group has been longtime advocates of their environmental center neighbors. “We’ve had members who have sat on the CBEC board, we provide financial support whenever we’re needed, and we maintain a portion of the center’s trails.”

Bayly Buck & Matt LaMotte

LaMotte no longer hunts but still visits the club’s property whenever he can to take walks, birdwatches, and soak in either the solitude or camaraderie with other members.  “Sitting on the porch and watching the sunset here is a unique and special privilege,” he says. “For me, it’s been a haven from the hustle and bustle of daily life as well as fellowship among a life-long group of close friends.”

Bayly Buck concurs. He says the Wading Place club is “a tradition handed down to us by the generation before us, which we now hand down to our kids, and recently to our grandchildren.

“Unrepentantly” borrowing the unofficial motto of Montana, Buck calls the club’s waterfront slice of the Eastern Shore “The Last Best Place.”   

“Because we like to sit here (at the clubhouse) and watch the sunset sink into the water, I usually finish notes to the membership with “See ya on the porch.””

It’s a reminder and an invitation to enjoy life’s quieter moments.

See ya on the porch.

Brent Lewis is a native Chesapeake Bay Eastern Shoreman. He has published two nonfiction books about the region, “Remembering Kent Island: Stories from the Chesapeake” and a “History of the Kent Island Volunteer Fire Department.” His most recent book, “Stardust By The Bushel: Hollywood On The Chesapeake Bay’s Eastern Shore”won a 2023 Independent Publishers award. His first novel, Bloody Point 1976, won an Honorable Mention Award at the 2015 Hollywood Book Festival. He and his wife Peggy live in Centreville, Maryland.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Unlock the Art of Storytelling: Writers Gather at Chesapeake College

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The Bay to Ocean Writers Conference, one of our region’s most popular and anticipated literary events, is being held this Saturday, March 9, at Chesapeake College in Wye Mills and there are just a handful of tickets still available.

Hosted by the Eastern Shore Writers’ Association, this 27th annual edition of the BTO conference will continue the organization’s tradition of providing attending writers of every genre and level of experience first rate educational experiences and a chance to socialize with likeminded logophiles and storytellers.

Katie Aiken Ritter, an Eastern Shore novelist, editor, and mentor, believes that BTO allows for the rare occasion to “be with one’s clan. Not blood relatives, no – but it’s a clan of people in love with books and storytelling, people enthralled with that solitary art of word wrangling coming together.”

The day’s schedule offers thirty-two different 50-minute workshops and classes over six tracks – Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Craft and Editing, Publishing and Marketing, and Specialty sessions – to choose from and are designed to help attendees hone their craft while interacting with exceptional session presenters.

Founded in 1985, the Eastern Shore Writers Association, or ESWA, is a “nonprofit, all-volunteer organization supporting writers, other writers’ groups, and the literary arts across the Delmarva Peninsula and the Eastern Shore.” Made up of authors and members of the support systems that authors need, part of the group’s ongoing mandate is to “provide opportunities for members to share (their) experiences with other writers about every facet of converting ideas, feelings, hopes, dreams, and opinions to the printed word.”

Regarding BTO, conference chair and ESWA Executive Director Tara A. Elliot says that what this gathering gives to working and aspiring authors is something that can’t be found anywhere else: “unique, substantive, in-depth seminars given by some of the most knowledgeable and skilled presenters…in this beautiful area we all love.”

Michele Chynoweth and John DeDakis

The Eastern Shore and the Delmarva region have always been places that inspire creative types – writers and artists and musicians and their ilk – and even going back to early ESWA pre-BTO conference efforts in the 1980s it was noted that our area has contributed much to the American literary scene including works from Frederick Douglass, John Barth, James Michener, William Warner, Douglass Wallop, and Lucille Fletcher. Organizers have dedicated the 2024 Bay to Ocean Conference to Gilbert Byron, “the Thoreau of the Chesapeake.”

The first BTO was held in February 1998 at Easton’s Avalon Theatre. Program coordinators were aiming to start “a spirited dialogue about the merits of this area’s prodigious volume of regional literature,” an ideal that has evolved into a more encompassing and inclusive approach to planning the event in the succeeding decades. Presenters at that first event included the esteemed environmentalist, author, and longtime Baltimore Sun columnist, Tom Horton, the historian and writer Eric Mills, and Helen Chappell, a well-known journalist and author of many books and stories including The Oysterback Tales and the Eastern Shore-based Sam and Hollis mystery series. Speaking in character on the history and culture of the Eastern Shore, Talbot County’s David Foster made an appearance as Maryland’s iconically acerbic H.L. Mencken. After a break for dinner there was a performance of Chesapeake Bay-centered songs and tales with performers including Rock Hall’s Tom McHugh. The day’s keynote speech was given by Jonathan Yardley, the Pulitzer Prize-winning book critic for The Washington Post.

The keynote speaker at this weekend’s 27th annual event will be Maryland’s award-winning Poet Laureate Grace Cavalieri. Cavalieri, the longtime host of public radio’s “The Poet and the Poem,” recently published her twenty sixth book, The Long Game, Poems Selected and New and is also an accomplished playwright. Tara Elliot is excited to share Cavalieri, one of her heroes, with attendees and says the 92-year old headliner is “the most energetic, inspiring speaker I’ve ever heard. She’s a living dynamo and she’ll be bringing her experience and uplifting message to share with attending writers.”

This year’s returning instructors include the Spy-contributing columnist, short story writer, and essayist Laura J. Oliver, poet Nancy Mitchell, and the novelist, editor, and writing coach John Dedakis. Author, editor, book reviewer for the New York Journal of Books, and this year’s ESWA Legacy Award winner, Judy Reveal, will also be among the encore presenters at this year’s conference. As always, there are also a number of new faculty participants scheduled to teach classes and lead workshops.

The award-winning poet and novelist Pat Valdata, who, along with David Healy, the author of nearly 30 novels and nonfiction books, will be leading a class on using history and family stories as a writing tool, says that BTO is a “friendly, low stress conference where it is easy to meet other writers in a congenial atmosphere.”

Robert Whitehill, past presenter, screenwriter, and author of the bestselling Shore-centric Ben Blackshaw thriller series of books is impressed by the “depth and breadth of knowledge” from BTO instructors as well as the ambitions of the attendees looking to be inspired and to improve their writing skills.

Jean Burgess, who has a new novel, The Summer She Found Her Voice, coming out in the spring has attended the conference as both a student and a speaker says that what stands out for her is the excellent balance BTO provides between “interesting, diverse presentations and networking with fellow writers.”

Tara Elliot says that paying close attention to the million little moving parts of the conference is what make for a successful BTO. Her committee’s strong partnerships with ESWA, Chesapeake College, loyal volunteers, local educators, and supporting business people like Kathy Harig from Oxford’s Mystery Loves Company who will be selling the books of conference presenters throughout the day all contribute to staging a literary event that “tries to exceed expectations at every opportunity.”

Tickets can still be purchased at the Bay to Ocean Writers Conference link at https://www.easternshorewriters.org/.

There aren’t many left so don’t delay.

Brent Lewis is a native Chesapeake Bay Eastern Shoreman. He has published two nonfiction books about the region, “Remembering Kent Island: Stories from the Chesapeake” and a “History of the Kent Island Volunteer Fire Department.” His most recent book, “Stardust By The Bushel: Hollywood On The Chesapeake Bay’s Eastern Shore”won a 2023 Independent Publishers award. His first novel, Bloody Point 1976, won an Honorable Mention Award at the 2015 Hollywood Book Festival. He and his wife Peggy live in Centreville, Maryland.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Mike ‘Dirty Legs’ Detmer Crowned Muskrat-Eating Monarch in Kent Island’s Zaniest Championship

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Luke McFadden, Jay Fleming, Will Linthicum, Cody Fenzel

On Saturday, February 17, Kent Island’s Cult Classic Brewing Company hosted the Annual Crawfish Boil & Muskrat Leg Eating World Championship, and a new king was crowned.

Going against such heavy competition as the defending champion Daniel “Chunky’ Hesson, “the man known only as Dink, the Last Redneck in St. Michaels,” “Wild” Will Linthicum, Chesapeake Bay-based celebrities Jay Fleming and Luke McFadden, and Molly Steen, a Cult Classic employee who represented the host county with all the dignified aplomb the occasion called for, the challenger Mike “Dirty Legs” Detmer pulled off an upset by the very smallest of bites.

Third place was taken by formidable first-time competitor Cody Fenzel. Before informing the second-place finisher, the original and two-time former champion Chuckie “DJ Chuckie Love” Hayward, by what margin he’d been defeated, event organizer Keith Graffius made sure Hayward really wanted to know.

When the results were tallied, computed, and verified, Dirty Legs Detmer had won by 1/10th of an ounce.

Evolving from the muskrat skinning competition at Dorchester County’s annual National Outdoor Show to the Crawfish Boil and Muskrat Stew Fest in 2012, the first Muskrat Leg Eating World Championship was held in 2018 with only three participants. According to Keith Graffius this celebration of the Eastern Shore’s favorite rodent was conceived as an acknowledgment of our region’s heritage and culture while reminding us that “In the hyped up world we live in, it’s okay to let go sometimes, to not be too serious, to have fun and go eat muskrat on a Saturday afternoon. Plus,” he said the day after the contest, “it’s good to give back by setting up this family-friendly event and then donating back into the community.” Proceeds from Saturday will be shared with various local organizations such as the Queen Annes County Watermen’s Association and a scholarship named for two-time muskrat-eating champion Ralph “Peg Leg” Bramble.

Will Linthicum, Troy Hill, standing, Cody Fenze, Dirty Legs Mike Detmer, Dink Daffin, Chuckie Love Hayward, Molly Steen

Like the muskrat eating, the crawfish component of the yearly party also stems from tradition. Since the 1950’s, Dorchester County has been sending a delegation to the Fur and Wildlife Festival in Louisiana’s Cameron Parish and a group of Louisianians have always returned the honor of the visit during the Outdoor Show. Keith said the crawfish honor the friendship that’s grown over time between people from the Shore and those from a place that’s so similar to here in so many regards. The food for both the competition and for sale to the public, including muskrat barbecue, stew, and quesadillas, was provided by Palm Beach Willies Restaurant on Taylors Island.

“It’s a perfect partnership of the weird and wonderful things we love about where we live and the crazy creativity of our neighbors,” said Cult Classic Main Man Rohry Flood.   

Regarding their first time hosts, Keith said, “Cult Classic is next level. It’s a great location, and I love working with Rohry and the group there. I like how they go into everything with a little bit of an off-center outlook. I thought we’d be a great fit. Plus, they always have such a community-minded approach to what they do.”

The day’s proceedings started at noon with Bloody Marys and DJ “Hitman” Eddie Hitt’s karaoke. Then the D.C. Blues icon Jimmy Cole, a longtime friend of the muskrat-crawfish festival, took the stage with his stacked deck of Delmarva All-Stars. Cole’s band included musicians who have individually played with everybody from Frank Sinatra to Frank Zappa and they charmed the crowd with their virtuosity, flair, and self-proclaimed style of “100-proof American Blended Music.”

Retired radio DJ and host Troy Hill emceed the muskrat chow-down that followed. Keith said, “We always need somebody who can engage the audience while the band is taking down and before the athletes take the stage, who can introduce the competitors and announce the winner. Troy’s a pro and an old friend and we got to hang out with other old friends we hadn’t seen much in recent years.” He laughed. “It was kind of a good excuse for a reunion.”

When the main event started, contestants had two minutes to eat all the muskrat legs they could possibly manage. It’s a competition measured in fractions of an ounce, and the time goes quick.

Unless perhaps if you’re one of the competitors.

Muskrat is an acquired taste. Pungent in both smell and flavor, there’s not much meat on these funky little marsh dwellers, and what is there is hard to extract from their small brittle bones. Some folks love the rustic piquancy they bring to the table, but their epicurean appeal isn’t for everybody.

“Mike ‘Dirty Legs’ Detmer

Afterwards, as the thrill of competition ebbed from the brewery’s premises, Cult Classic’s Rohry gave the event high marks. “The Festival was a whirlwind from start to finish,” he said. “From the karaoke kickoff through Jimmy Cole and his legendary crew taking the stage to show the world what amazing music feels like. You couldn’t wipe a smile off those faces in the crowd if you tried. The Muskrat Leg Eating World Championship was one of the most memorable moments we’ve had on our stage as well. It had all the fervor of a good-old-fashioned Monday Night Raw, complete with Stone Cold’s entrance song among all the fanfare. Also, I got to take a selfie with the champ, “Dirty Legs”, so life is complete.”

After his victory, Detmer released a statement: “I’m honored to be the Muskrat Leg Eating Champion of the World!” he wrote. “I’m proud to join the long lineage of muskrat eaters that have held the title before – the late, great Ralph Bramble, the Babe Ruth of the contest; Chuckie Luv, an absolute force of nature and a morsel away from an unprecedented threepeat; and Chunky Hesson, who has the heart of a champion in the youthful body of a stone-cold winner. Between Chuckie and Chunky, and all of the other strong competitors who put a hurtin’ on the legs tonight, I faced fierce competition. To be honest, it would have been stressful if it wasn’t so much fun!”

But the king recognizes that occupying the throne can sit him in a precarious position. “I can’t rest on any laurels, though. I know,” he conceded, “some ravenous lions already have a target painted on my back for next year!”

 

Brent Lewis is a native Chesapeake Bay Eastern Shoreman. He has published two nonfiction books about the region, “Remembering Kent Island: Stories from the Chesapeake” and a “History of the Kent Island Volunteer Fire Department.” His most recent book, “Stardust By The Bushel: Hollywood On The Chesapeake Bay’s Eastern Shore”won a 2023 Independent Publishers award. His first novel, Bloody Point 1976, won an Honorable Mention Award at the 2015 Hollywood Book Festival. He and his wife Peggy live in Centreville, Maryland.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Acts of Kindness with Tides of Grace by Brent Lewis

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One compassionate act of kindness.

Sometimes that’s all it takes to make someone’s day.

To change someone’s life.

Maybe to even build stronger bonds within a community.

Springing from a single gesture of goodwill, the Delmarva-based nonprofit organization Tides of Grace, Inc. has grown into one of the most active charitable entities in our region and, with a new year’s calendar packed full of upcoming events, is forming a powerful wave of positive energy, ambitious goals, and direct hands-on efforts to lessen the load for as many of our Eastern Shore neighbors as possible.   

Because the circumstances of personal hardship are individual and infinite and not always financial, Tides of Grace operates from the perspective that on any given day each and every one of us could be, as founder Leann Rhodes-Ickes says, “coming out of a storm, in the middle of one, or getting ready to get hit with one.”

Board Memeber Mary Himmel, Founder Leann Rhodes Ickes, Board member Stacy Fox.

It was in the weeks leading up to Christmas 2020 that Rhodes-Ickes, a businesswoman, author, and mother of two, made the original small decision that sparked a larger idea. Culling through her young son’s toys, Leann thought perhaps she’d give away some of the things he played with the least. The stranger who took her up on the online offer explained that due to Covid both she and her husband were out of work and these slightly used toys would provide their family a Christmas that they otherwise might not have been able to afford. The conversation between the two women turned emotional.

Afterwards, Leann figured there were probably others who could use a holiday helping hand during those tough times, so with the recruitment of a few friends a semi-impromptu toy giveaway was quickly scheduled. The response from both those who donated and those in need was inspiring.

January 20th Bingo Night dinner

The toy drive grew in scope each year after that first event. In 2023 thanks to a dedicated team of volunteers and supporting business partners, over 600 local children had a much better Christmas than they would have had without the efforts of Tides of Grace and all their helpers.

Witnessing the community response to the toy drives, a decision was made that the spirit of giving shouldn’t be relegated to just once a year and that perhaps growth as an organization was a possibility. As Leann says, “When a community offers so much kindness its important to make the most of it.”

Beginning their second calendar year as an accredited 501(c)3 tax deductible NPO, Tides of Grace kicked off 2024 on January 20 with their sold-out Bingo For A Cause dinner, the first of three scheduled fundraisers designed to help support operational costs.

In February, the group will host a Community Baby Shower for expecting mothers, new mothers, and any mothers in need. Leann says that for many different reasons, parents sometimes don’t have the support system necessary to provide everything a baby may require. She says that no matter the circumstances, “Your bundle of joy is special and as a community we want you to feel the love.” Attendees will be welcomed with games, refreshments, and a personal photo opportunity. Each mom will be provided time to fill a bag with needed baby items. Then they’ll get to choose one large item like a crib or a highchair.

This event is scheduled for Saturday the 17th from 11 am to 1 pm. Now through February 9th, Tides of Grace will be accepting contributions to stock the free giveaway inventory. Among other basic necessities, items needed include new or gently used strollers, cribs, bassinets, booster seats, highchairs, car seats, play equipment, nursery necessities and decor, baby monitors, bottles, nursing accessories, bath and hygiene supplies, and clothing. Donations can be dropped off Monday-Friday between 9 am and 5 pm at 605 Main Street, Suite B in Stevensville, though other arrangements can be made by contacting Tides of Grace at [email protected], or 410-924-7744.

As the spring thaw begins, the next planned events are March’s Easter Basket giveaway and April’s Prom extravaganza. A success in 2023, the prom dress pop-up boutique approach utilized last year is going to be expanded upon this go round by adding suits to the clothing that will be available for teens who don’t have access to the hundreds of dollars that outfits for the big night can cost in retail stores. For $25.00 parents will be able to send their kids to the prom in style and if the need is there, the fee can be waived. Clothing donations will be accepted as the event nears.L ast year over 100 students said yes to a Tides of Grace dress.

The rest of 2024 shapes up thusly: May will focus on a clothing drive for summer wear.  June will see the first Family Fun Day, a free event open to the public featuring games, large inflatable play spaces, music, and amusements. A Paint Night fundraiser’s scheduled for July. August will be a Back-to-School drive featuring school supplies and free haircuts. The organization’s first 5K fundraiser will be held in September. October’s efforts will center around a winter clothes drive, November will feature Family Photos Day and December will see the return of the original Tides of Grace event, the Used Toy Drive.

There’s a saying that goes, “Use your voice for kindness, your ears for compassion, your hands for charity, your mind for truth, and your heart for love.” Through their planned efforts and the generous support of individuals, local businesses, and other non-profits, Tides of Grace is on an enthusiastic mission in this new year to help more families struggling with burdens both financial and otherwise. “When a family is in crisis,” Leann Rhodes-Ickes says, “it’s the little things that can make a better life that often slip by too easily. Our big goals include trying to help break the cycle of poverty in our community and to erase the stigmas and prejudices about those of us who could sometimes use a safety net, but really, it’s just about helping the person standing next to you with a small act of kindness and compassion. Sometimes,” she says, “that’s all it takes.”

Tides of Grace can be found online at https://tidesofgraceinc.org/ and on social media. Volunteers are always welcome, as are those in need of community assistance. Donations are tax deductible and go directly to those in need.

Brent Lewis is a native Chesapeake Bay Eastern Shoreman. He has published two nonfiction books about the region, “Remembering Kent Island: Stories from the Chesapeake” and a “History of the Kent Island Volunteer Fire Department.” His most recent book, “Stardust By The Bushel: Hollywood On The Chesapeake Bay’s Eastern Shore”won a 2023 Independent Publishers award. His first novel, Bloody Point 1976, won an Honorable Mention Award at the 2015 Hollywood Book Festival. He and his wife Peggy live in Centreville, Maryland.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Story Swap

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My dad was a waterman.

All my life, I’ve been listening to watermen talk.

On Thursday, January 11, the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum will provide an opportunity for the public to join in on the listening by hosting a Waterman’s Story Swap from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the Van Lennep Auditorium.

Little Creek

This presentation will feature a panel of Eastern Shore watermen, representing different generations, locations, and fisheries, ready to share with an audience experiences from their decades of harvesting the waters of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. I’ll have the honor of emceeing the proceedings.

For about a decade, I helped conduct an oral histories program sponsored by the Kent Island Heritage Society. Around the time I began to focus on other projects, the KIHS hosted a panel honoring Queen Anne’s County watermen at the Chesapeake Heritage and Visitors Center in Kent Narrows. A success in every regard, the event seemed like something that could perhaps be expanded upon.

In 2016, I was asked to moderate a session at the first Chesapeake Storytelling Festival. I, in turn, asked a small group of watermen to join me for an hour of storytelling. In 2017, with the cooperation of the Queen Anne’s County Watermen’s Association, we sat a larger panel for a program at the Grasonville VFW Post 7464. The community support was immense. We were asked back to Chesapeake College for the 2017 Storytelling Festival and held another successful event at the VFW in 2018. After these presentations it seemed like time to think about ways to broaden the scope of any future Story Swaps.

The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum stepped in to help make that expansion happen. Over this past summer, with the support of CBMM’s Upper Shore Regional Folklife Center under the Maryland Traditions program of the Maryland State Arts Council, my friend, collaborator, and videographer Josh Willis and I interviewed ten different active and retired watermen in an attempt to preserve a representative collection of diverse life stories from as many industry perspectives as possible. Along with the Maritime Museum, Josh and I undertook this project because we believe that unless an effort is made to record them in some manner, once a person is gone, all their stories go with them.

And that feels like a shame.

Melvin Clark

Past Watermen’s Story Swap and Oral History participants who are no longer with us include Kent Islander Melvin Clark (1922-2008) who once told me during an interview how “Oystering got into your blood. Back in the old days you were either a waterman or a farmer. There was an abundance of oysters but no money. We’d sell to the shucking houses and sometimes you’d sell two bushels for a quarter just to get rid of them. Contractors across the bridge liked to hire Eastern Shore (construction workers) because they knew they would work hard. Only problem was they knew they’d lose them in September come oyster season.”

Capt. Bill Harris (1922-2006), an entrepreneurial trailblazer and the founder of Harris Seafood and Harris Crab House and Seafood Restaurant once told me that when he was a boy, “Three men in a boat could catch 75 to 100 bushels a day. November 1 was the start of dredging season. There’d be a hundred dredge boats off Love Point catching 300 to 500 bushels a day. Back in my grandfather’s time, in the 1800s, they said if you caught four bushels that was a good day’s work. When I started, a gallon of oysters was $2.50. My father had sold that gallon for fifty-nine cents.”

Oystermen back then started young and were expected to work like grown men. The well-known Fisherman’s Inn restaurateur and county commissioner Sonny Schulz (1933-2018) told one of our audiences this story: “I fell overboard once when I was about fifteen years old. I was working down Eastern Bay with Teeny (Jones) and Robert (Horney). It was cold and there was ice all around. I was up on the bow washing the boat and getting ready to go home. That (cleaning) water froze and I slipped. It’s a damn good thing I came up next to the boat because those two were laughing so hard they wouldn’t even help me. We had a few oysters, and the boat was low, so I was able to climb back in. I went in the cabin, there was this little old stove, and everything I had was wet – long drawers, boots, two or three pair of socks, two pairs of pants, and I didn’t know it until I got home, but backing up so close to that little cabin stove, I’d burned my tail. Teeny had an old World War One overcoat and that’s what I wore while we unloaded. He wouldn’t let me go home until we’d unloaded.”

Captain Warren Butler (b.1929-2021), a lifelong Eastern Shoreman, remembered that when he was a child the local crabbers would load their daily catch on trains that took them to Love Point to be shipped out on steamboats. Capt. Butler started his career after serving in the Army during the Korean War and worked primarily as an oysterman and fishing party captain. “One time I was oystering next to Teeny Jones down at Crab Alley,” Captain Butler told one of our audiences. “It was a couple days before Christmas and it was so cold icicles were hanging from the culling board to the water. Teeny said, “Hey, Warren, let’s go home. What difference does it make whether we starve to death or freeze to death? At least if we starve it’ll take a little longer, if we stay out here we won’t make it through the day!”

One of the panelists scheduled to attend the January 11 presentation is Calvert ‘Butterball’ Thompson. Butterball participated in a 2023 interview, has spent his life around the water, and is recognized as a champion competitive anchor thrower. Known as much for his kind heart as his strength and hard work, Butterball, like every waterman worth his salt, has a number of scary weather stories worth sharing. One time he was crab potting down near the mouth of the Chesapeake when an unexpected squall erupted. “It’s deep there,” Butterball will tell you. “You can’t see land in any direction. We were working when a thunderstorm came up really, really fast. You could feel the electricity. The hair on your arm stood right straight up. Lightning struck our antenna and blew it right off the boat. And as fast as (the storm) came up it was over. But” he assures, “that’s a long fifteen minutes.”

The history and culture of the communities of our region are woven together through stories like these. For a lively ninety minutes of storytelling that promises to go by quickly, please join us on January 11 at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. Seating is limited but can be reserved by registering at https://cbmm.org/event/watermens-story-swap/.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Mrs. Madelyn Hollis Takes a Bow: A Celebration of a Teacher’s Life

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Over the decades, a vast number of superb teachers and administrators have served the public school students and families of Queen Anne’s County.

Mrs. Madelyn Hollis is among the finest.

Mrs. Hollis, ‘Matt’ to her friends, was born to Willie and Lillie Matthews on March 30, 1927. She grew up on tenant farms in Accomack County on Virginia’s rural Eastern Shore with four sisters and three brothers. Her parents raised their children to value faith, education, and hard work. At an early age she learned to pick “cucumbers, tomatoes, string beans, you name it. If something grew down there and people ate it, I picked it.” She also earned money for herself and her family by shucking oysters and working the line at the canning factories where food companies packaged local produce.

In the days of segregation, African Americans were lucky to have any access at all to education and in the time and place of Mrs. Hollis’s youth, neither their taxes nor their community at large covered the costs. Students, or their families, paid out-of-pocket to ride the school bus and for the use of hand-me-down books.

Those times were often hard and almost always unfair, but the young, self-described “country girl” craved knowledge, and bolstered by her mother’s encouragement to “make a name for myself and to do something worthwhile,” saw education as a path toward a productive life. She graduated high school at sixteen and a year later entered Delaware State College in Dover where she studied chemistry and education.

Discovering that Maryland paid teachers better than Virginia, when she graduated college in 1948, the young scholar applied to every county in our state. Only a couple responded, one of which was Queen Anne’s, who told her there were no positions available at the time. Instead, she took a job at a one-room “negro” schoolhouse in Metompkin, VA. where she taught fifty-four children in grades one through seven. Her annual salary was $1,500. Officials bumped that up by ninety-five dollars because as the school’s sole employee, she was also, technically, the principal.

Three years later, Queen Anne’s interviewed her for a job teaching math and science at Kennard, the county’s first and only high school for African Americans. Opening in 1936 and named for Lucretia Kennard, a visionary “Supervisor of Colored Schools” who advocated for Black students to have access to more than a rudimentary childhood education, the community had realized the construction of Kennard High School primarily through many small, most likely hard-earned, private donations. A few months after the arrival of the young teacher from the lower Shore, a new Kennard opened. This more modern brick building is the present location of Centreville’s Kennard Elementary School.

It was 1951. Her starting pay would be $2,500 per year.

She spent the next fifteen years there, teaching from a cramped and crowded classroom that sometimes was so full she instructed from the doorway. Because his staff had difficulty finding lodging, Kennard principal Larrie Jones obtained what became known as “the teacherage” a boarding house on Holton Street that housed half a dozen female teachers.

In 1966, Miss Matthews married Centreville native Randolph Hollis, a widower who worked at the local Acme grocery store. Hollis had a young, adopted daughter, Mary Ann, who would go on to give her parents a grandson named Lance.

This was the same year that the county school system, under the leadership of Superintendent Dr. Harry C. Rhodes, integrated and combined Kennard with the three county high schools for white students into one centrally located institution, Queen Anne’s County High School. The newly wed Mrs. Hollis helped make the transition run as smoothly as possible. “It was an adjustment for everyone because it was new,” she remembers, “but I soon realized students were students no matter their race or where they were from.”

As a teacher, Mrs. Hollis never sat much. She liked to walk around her classroom. It helped her keep an eye on her students’ behavior and make sure everyone understood the lessons she taught. Inattentiveness on the part of her pupils might earn them a pinch on the ear. At one point she started collecting notes she confiscated. She says the clandestine communiques were rarely scandalous, just mild school gossip, weekend plans, “everything but math.” She calls this file “What Students Are Doing While You Think You’re Teaching.”

After another fifteen years, including time spent as chairperson of the math department, Mrs. Hollis retired in 1981. Having prided herself on learning all 100 of her annual students by name in the first two weeks of the school year, she felt it was nearing her time to call it a career the day that she called one of her students by the wrong name.

In 1985 she was appointed to the county Board of Education, the first black woman to serve in that position. One of her goals was to recruit more minority teachers. She spent ten years on the board, two as president. She was also an engaged partner in successful efforts to transform the original 1936 Kennard school building into a community center and noted historic landmark.

In 2022, former colleagues, students, and the community in general united to celebrate Mrs. Hollis’s 95th birthday. The event was held in the Kennard African American Cultural Center, her first home as a Queen Annes County teacher, just down the hallway from her old classroom, now restored and named in her honor.  Poems were read, songs were sung, gifts were presented, and refreshments were served to the large turnout of well-wishers who attended.

Thinking about her long career, Mrs. Hollis says that she only ever wanted the best for her students. “I was a good disciplinarian,” she says. “I had to work hard. I didn’t have it easy, and it always bothered me to see kids waste time, but to watch a child’s eyes light up when they’ve come to understand something after struggling with it has been one of my greatest joys. It makes me feel good to know I’ve been a positive part of so many lives.

“And if nothing else,” she chuckles, “I know that to graduate, they all had to get past me.”

Brent Lewis is a native Chesapeake Bay Eastern Shoreman. He has published two nonfiction books about the region, “Remembering Kent Island: Stories from the Chesapeake” and a “History of the Kent Island Volunteer Fire Department.” His most recent book, “Stardust By The Bushel: Hollywood On The Chesapeake Bay’s Eastern Shore”won a 2023 Independent Publishers award. His first novel, Bloody Point 1976, won an Honorable Mention Award at the 2015 Hollywood Book Festival. He and his wife Peggy live in Centreville, Maryland.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

A Bull & Goat Meet in Centreville and Make Beer

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A proverbial toast:

There are good ships, and there are wood ships,

The ships that sail the sea.
But the best ships, are friendships, And may they always be.

Jake Heimbuch and Jeff Putman

Buddies Jake Heimbuch and Jeff Putman, long employed in the inflatable watercraft industry, met years ago at a boat show, found they worked well together, and then, after a short phase of hobbyist experimentation in the ancient art of crafting beer, decided to go into business as partners and open a brewery in Centreville called the Bull & Goat.

Turned out to be a decision worth raising a glass to.

After that first year or so of learning by doing, once Jake and Jeff brewed what they call their first “drinkable” batch, the light and flavorful Frank Amber Ale that they still produce, figuring out a way to sell their beer began to feel like the logical next step.

Encouraged by friends and family, the pair got to work. Brewing equipment is expensive. They put together a budget for a small single-barrel system. Found a spot where they could get started, and maybe if they were lucky, someday expand. There were legalities to consider, regulations and zoning codes and such, but the guys found governmental support for their business plan to be significant and encouraging.    

Allies jumped into help. The equipment’s not just costly, it’s heavy, too. Moving and installation, not to mention keeping everything running, can be an all hands on deck operation. To furnish the tap room, a well-wisher donated tables, chairs and couches. Gifts of art and decorations were offered and accepted.

It was in the process of transforming a garage into a functional space for both the brewers and their potential customers that the personalities of the principles developed into the name of their business. Jeff, the elder of the two by more than needs reporting (He was a QACHS classmate of this writer), would advise slowing down, reassessing where they were and where they were headed. Jake would laugh and call him an old goat. Jeff, as old goats are inclined to respond, would say, well, just go ahead and bull your way through then.

The Bull & Goat Brewery’s Grand Opening was held on October 29, 2016. Located at 204 Banjo Lane, the Tap Room was originally open one day a week, with only growlers for sale. Between that and selling from their beer cart at the Centreville Farmers Market, the brewery’s namesakes were, according to Jake, “making just enough money to keep making beer.” Today they make that beer from a seven-barrel system, are open four days a week, and have built an impressive distribution network for local retail sales.

Beer lovers can find Bull & Goat kegs and cans in about a dozen neighborhood liquor stores and some favorite local restaurants the Bay Bridge to Rock Hall. One pale ale, the Ballroom Blitz, is only available in the brewer’s taproom and at Kent Island’s Knoxie’s Table/Chesapeake Bay Beach Club.

Life is too short to drink bad beer.

In a space much expanded from their original 200 square feet, Bull & Goat now typically offers a beer menu with seven standard choices and three rotating seasonals. Two of their most popular are the smooth and balanced 67 IPA and, with its Frankenstein motif, the original Frank Ale. Though the partners share responsibilities of running the business, Jeff is the primary brew master who oversees production.

Part of that division of labor and being involved in every aspect of their enterprise is spent in the front-of-house. There are two employed bartenders, Roland Jennings and Katie Hollis, but because both owners believe it’s important to represent their venture in person, patrons are just as likely to find one of them manning the kegs and high quality classic cocktail station. “We know almost everybody who comes in,” says Jeff, “and if not, we introduce ourselves, ask about what brought them in – we old-school meet people. If you’ve been led to believe that there’s more that separates people than brings them together, you’re wrong. It’s good to be reminded of that”

May the very best of your past be the very worst of your future.

As the Bull & Goat tap room transitions from summertime tiki bar to a Fall Foliage Festival theme, Jake and Jeff are gearing up for autumn with not only their three seasonal beers – a hoppy West Coast IPA, an earthy English ESB, and a blackberry sour – they’re also installing a new highball system that serves up to 12 different cocktail mixes out of two taps – whiskey or vodka – to which such flavors as sangria or ginger can be added.

Speaking of spirits, in 2020 the operation expanded with the opening of Old Courthouse Distilling where the partners have started to make whiskeys, rums, and tequilas. In just three years they’ve expanded from a 12-gallon still to a 100 gallon production capacity.  In November, Old Courthouse intends to release a couple hundred bottles of their aged bourbon.

Also, every Thursday from now through November 9, Bull & Goat will host live music featuring popular regional musicians with food available from the locally based Blue Monkey Street Tacos.

And, on Sunday, November 19, in cooperation with the other members of the Queen Anne’s County Brewers Coalition (Big Truck, Cult Classic, Patriot Acres and Ten Eyck), Bull & Goat is participating in The Backyard Brews With Benefits 2. This “Localist Beer Fest,” is a rain or shine indoor/outdoor event to be held at The Kent Island Resort from 11-4. Tickets can be purchased online or at the various participating breweries and each brewery will support a different area charity. Bull & Goat is teaming up with Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center while other recipients of funds will include the American Saltwater Guides Association, the Animal Welfare League, the youth group Giving the Edge Foundation, and PERF, an organization that supports veterans, law enforcement officers, and first responders. There will be music and other live entertainment, food trucks, and a cornhole tournament. Visit your favorite brewery’s website to find out more.

Good beer combined with giving back to the community?

Well, we’ll sure enough drink to that.   

Bull & Goat Brewery Tap room is open Wednesday – Friday 3-9 p.m. and Saturday from 2-9. Visit them at 204 Banjo Lane in Centreville and online at bullandgoatbrewery.com.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.