The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels was filled with over 3,000 visitors attending the first festival event of the year. Guests spent three full days this past weekend strolling among beautiful watercraft on land and in the water around the Museum’s Navy Point.

There was plenty to see and do with a number of the vessels offered for sale. It was remarkable to see so many people out again!

There were opportunities to get out on the water on a couple of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum’s fleet of boats, giving people a special way to view the festivities.

With the large increase of visitors to this first festival of the season, it looks like a busy time for CBMM. To learn more about upcoming events, exhibitions and other activities, go to cbmm.org here

The Samis & Bray Sporting Goods store was on Washington Street right across from the Talbot Historical Society’s Campus in Easton, Maryland. This Talbot Historical Society Laird Wise Collection photo was taken of it’s going out of business sale in 1970! The store was demolished and that location is still a vacant lot! Do you have memories of shopping at Samis & Bray?

Contact: Cathy Hill cvhill@atlanticbb.net to share your old photos and purchase our collections photos. Comment, Like our page and join the Talbot Historical Society!

When a shiny new white flagpole with a bright new American flag appeared on the banks of Trippe Creek, it caught one intrepid spy’s attention. Just where did it come from? And, how did a 30-foot flagpole get dropped into such a perfect location?

Turns out, the answers were not far away.

Along Route 50 sits the Eastern Shore Flagpole company (click here for their website). If you visit their website, you find a wide range of choices. In fact, if you can’t find a flagpole combination you like; well, you must really not want a flagpole. What’s the most fun is talking to the company’s founder, Peter Mullaly. Fun, because the answer to the question, “…how did you come to run a company that installs flagpoles,” starts with that wonderful phrase, “…I was at a bar with a friend 25 years ago.”

You just know it’s going to be a great story. And, it is. The friend liked selling flags, but the installation part, not so much. At that moment, a company was born.

The fact is Peter and his team have a passion for getting their clients the right flagpole and using their skills, experience and equipment to place it in just the right spot. Reportedly, the nearly 24/7 operation consistently exceeds expectations. Great people, great equipment and over two decades of experience count for a lot. Even better, this company sits right here with us on the Eastern Shore serving surrounding areas.

You will see their office in Grasonville along Route 50, but don’t count on seeing them as they are in the field standing up the best flagpoles around.

Project Rewind-Talbot County: The Durolith Corporation had a plant in Easton, Maryland and it appears Durolith owned an airplane that used the Easton/ Newnam Field Airport. Do you recognize anyone in this airport picture? Maybe you know someone who worked at the Durolith Corporation and can share information about it? Photo from the Talbot Historical Society’s Laird Wise Collection.

Contact: Cathy Hill cvhill@atlanticbb.net to share your old photos and purchase our collections photos. Comment, Like our page and join the Talbot Historical Society.

Thank you Ellen Sands Smith for sharing this picture of your father Lou Sands’ Barber Shop on Harrison Street in Easton, Maryland! Lou Sands is the far right Barber and the Barber by the window is James Peyton. The Thompson & Sands Barber Shop was located across the street from the visible Hotel Avon when this 1940 picture was taken! The Hotel Avon was destroyed by fire January 10, 1944 and the Tidewater Inn was built in that location. Do you remember this Barber Shop? Photo from the Talbot Historical Society’s Sands Family Collection.

Contact: Cathy Hill cvhill@atlanticbb.net to share your old photos and purchase our collections photos. Comment, Like our page and join the Talbot Historical Society

One of the many problems of a long life is the loss of an increasing number of dear, memorable people. The Talbot County Bird Club is no exception. Recently we have lost Chan Robbins, Maryland’s most recognized ornithologist; Les Roslund, our Club’s finest ambassador; and Priscilla Thut, field companion extraordinaire. President Maki suggested that we try to honor comrades past by showing our appreciation for treasured colleagues who are still able to receive our appreciation in person. On the occasion of its 65th Anniversary, she recommended that the Talbot County Bird Club honor Jan Reese in this manner.

Jan grew up on Tilghman Island and remains a lifelong resident of Talbot County. Like Mutt Merrit, Terry Allen and Jeff Effinger among others, it was high school teacher Dick Kleen who introduced him to birds and turned that interest into a lifelong endeavor. Jan pursued that interest through formal study, earning master’s degrees in wildlife management and avian ecology. While work in the construction industry paid his bills, he remained active in bird research through collaborations with scientists at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. Among them was Dave Bridge; along with Mutt Merrit, they maintained the Operation Recovery banding station at Kent Point.

Jan’s interest in the decline in Osprey populations was hatched in high school. By the time the 1970’s rolled around he had undertaken an extended study of local Osprey populations. With the aid of an outboard motor boat loaned by Patuxent, gas fueled by funds from the MOS and not a little help from many friends he studied first-hand the nesting success of Ospreys from egg to fledgling across some 213 square miles of Talbot County waterfront. His targets were active nests that he visited at least once every 12 days from March through August. Most of these were on offshore duck blinds, channel markers, and nesting platforms. In fact, he personally constructed a total of 285 such platforms on offshore pilings that were the remains of duck blinds destroyed by the previous winter’s storms.

These first-hand visits were not without consequences. Terry Allen relates one incident on Broad Creek in which a very protective female Osprey, talons ablaze, struck Jan from behind, propelling him, briefly unconscious, into the duck blind and leaving quite a gash on the back of his head. A far more favorable consequence was his success – after many tries over a long time – to convince the US Coast Guard to stop destroying Osprey nests on channel markers and other navigation structures. No doubt his dogged persistence (curmudgeon?) carried the day although the exact words he used in persuasion are blissfully unrecorded. The results of his research were published in the peer-reviewed literature in the 1970’s. These papers remain classics, not only in Osprey studies but also as examples of excellence in field research on natural populations.

In the 1990’s Jan operated his own consulting business, primarily conducting environmental assessments required for land development. His broad knowledge of ornithology and local botany served him well and that knowledge became a hallmark of his relationship with members of the Talbot County Bird Club. Many of us remember his bird walks in which he also identified the likes of butterflies and plants, illuminating each species with a story. They were walks through natural history with the most personable guide possible.

When the dredge spoil restoration of Poplar Island began in 1998, state and federal wildlife managers hoped to document the creation of habitat and the response of bird populations. Jan was contracted in 2002 to do the necessary monitoring. With a clicker for each hand (and another in his head, he says), binoculars and spotting scope in tow, he bicycled the 3.5 mile long island twice weekly for more than a decade. He preferred direct counts to population estimates based on sampling. “One reason I like this job – I saw Poplar Island die, and then I saw it return.”

Scientist, naturalist, trip leader, teacher and friend: This is what Jan Reese has meant, and continues to mean, to the Talbot County Bird Club. He is responsible for the recruitment of many new members over the years. More significantly, he has been responsible for keeping them here. COVID-19 has forced him to restrict his activities, but comments like, “Jan showed us nesting goldfinches in that tree” will remain for a long, long time. We miss him, and we wish him well.

— Wayne Bell