The Claiborne-Annapolis Ferry carried cars and passengers from Annapolis, Maryland to Claiborne, Maryland from 1919 to 1952 when the Bay Bridge opened! It’s hard to imagine how busy Claiborne must have been when the ferry terminal was there! 1938 photo from the Talbot Historical Society H. Robins Hollyday Collection. Contact: Cathy Hill cvhill13@yahoo.com to share your old photos and purchase our collections photos. Comment, Like our page and join the Talbot Historical Society.
St. Michaels Community Center Renovations Begin
After a highly-competitive process, the St. Michaels Community Center has selected Harper & Sons, of Easton, Md. as the general contractor for the renovation of the nonprofit’s WWII-era building at 103 Railroad Ave., with the project kicking off Mon., Nov. 21.
“We are extremely pleased with how Harper & Sons has approached this project so far, and we can’t wait to get started on construction,” said SMCC Advisory Board President Langley Shook. “They have an impressive track record with successful commercial projects in St. Michaels and throughout the Eastern Shore,” adding “we have been very impressed with their work and what we have heard from their other clients.”
From left: Harper & Sons Vice President Benson Harper and St. Michaels Community Center Advisory Board President Langley Shook at the nonprofit’s WWII-era building at 103 Railroad Ave. in St. Michaels, Md.
Harper & Sons, Inc. was founded in 1968 by Howard G. Harper in Easton, Md. after his work as a general manager for the ES Adkins Company Lumberyard in Easton. He started the business as a way for him and his sons to meet the construction needs of the rapidly developing Eastern Shore.
Today, Harper & Sons is managed by the third generation of family members, with project experience that includes working with the Town of St. Michaels, Caroline County, Easton Utilities Commission, Choptank Community Health System, University of Maryland Medical System, Salisbury University, Compass Hospice, and more.
“We are grateful for the opportunity to work on this meaningful project for St. Michaels and the entire Bay Hundred region,” says Harper & Sons Vice President Benson Harper. “We look forward to overseeing the project—as our top management does on all of our projects—to ensure a high level of responsibility and personal attention to critical details throughout the renovation process.”
The Community Center’s renovated building will be an adaptive redesign of its current structure, meaning some parts of the World War II-era building will remain. The architect for the project is McInturff Architects of Bethesda and Neavitt, Md.
Founded in 1990, SMCC purchased its current building in 2015 and has since made do with the converted lumber storage warehouse’s crudely constructed interior that lacks windows, heat or air conditioning in most of the building. Disability access also has been a major issue.
The St. Michaels Community Center’s renovated building will be an adaptive redesign of its current structure, meaning some parts of the World War II-era building will remain.
“Our building’s primary asset is its location in the commercial district, near the people we serve,” says St. Michaels Community Center Executive Director Patrick Rofe. “This long-awaited renovation will make the St. Michaels Community Center the only fully-equipped resource center for social services on the Bay Hundred peninsula,” he added.
The new building will include a modern, well-equipped commercial kitchen, where SMCC will train people for jobs in restaurants and hotels, and from which the Center can continue to serve and deliver prepared meals and tens of thousands of bags of groceries to those in need.
The new Community Center also will include a Technology Center where students can do their homework and space for after-school programs and community gatherings. Rofe says the Center is working with Chesapeake College and other partners to provide high-level instruction right in the middle of town.
Support for the renovation is both broad and deep, reflecting the urgency of the need. Charitable contributions from individuals have been the largest source of funding, with more than $1M from the State of Maryland, and other government and foundation support. Shook says most of the necessary funding already has been raised, and there is a 100% donor match for additional tax-deductible gifts to the capital campaign before year-end, 2022.
Architectural renderings of the new building and more about SMCC’s planned capital improvements, including updates and information about how to support the campaign are at www.stmichaelscc.org/future.
“The excitement is really growing,” says Rofe, adding that “We’ve packed up our programs and administrative operations to prepare for the renovations, thanks in part to a number of volunteers who assisted with the efforts.”
Christ Church, St. Michaels generously has donated office space in its Parish Hall, located at the intersection of Church Street and Willow Street. The Center’s food services and other programs will be moved throughout the renovation to 207 N. Talbot St., next door to The Wildset Hotel.
Founded in 1990, SMCC purchased its current building in 2015 and has since made do with the converted lumber storage warehouse’s crudely constructed interior that lacks windows, heat or air conditioning in most of the building.
Both temporary locations are close toSMCC’sbuilding, and there will be only minimal disruptions to client services during the building renovation. The Center anticipates operating from its two temporary locations until the end of next year when the renovation project is expected to be completed.
The renovation will not impact SMCC’s Treasure Cove Thrift Shop on Railroad Avenue, which will be open throughout the project.
The St. Michaels Community Center’s mission is to serve, empower, and connect the community, with year-round essential human services programs and activities for children, families, and adults. Tax-deductible donations to SMCC and proceeds from its Treasure Cove Thrift Shop on Railroad Ave. in St. Michaels help the nonprofit provide year-round programs, services, and community events for people in St. Michaels and the Bay Hundred’s communities.
Talbot Historical Society Project Rewind: It’s All Happening at the YMCA
Project Rewind-Talbot County: Can you help identify any of these c 1958-1967 young Easton, Maryland YMCA members? At that time the YMCA was at the Calvary Methodist Church on Washington Street where the old Safeway building is now. The YMCA moved to the new PeachBlossom Road location in 1967. Thanks to the YMCA for sharing your photo collection with the Talbot Historical Society!
Contact:Cathy Hill cvhill13@yahoo.com to share your old photos and purchase our collections photos. Comment, Like our page and join the Talbot Historical Society!
Spy Waterfowl Moment: Dogs in Flight
The Spy’s favorite part of the Waterfowl Festival is when dogs do indeed have their day in the highly competitive Delmarva Dock Dogs long jump and fetch content.
A spy was on hand with this reconnaissance footage.
This video is approximately 1 minute in length. The Festival continues this Sunday. Please go here for more information.
Talbot Historical Society Project Rewind: Let’s Go to the Waterfowl Festival
This photograph, found in the Talbot Historical Society Collection, possibly shows Richard Lloyd Tilghman in a sink box in the Eye River around 1910 to 1920. The six cast iron “wing ducks” are being used to ballast the sink box to water level. The Talbot Historical Society is open! Our hours are Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 10am to 3pm. Our exhibit and office space is located in downtown Easton at 25 S. Washington Street.
Our Unique State Flag: More than Just Eye-catching by William Barron
Have you ever taken notice of the flags of our other forty nine states? No? Little wonder, since more than half are dull as dirt, consisting of a state seal or symbol amidst a plain blue background and are indistinguishable from one another at a distance. Among the rest, none are so instantly recognizable as the one which has flown over our State House in Annapolis for the last 118 years and which has become both an official and cultural icon for just about all that is Maryland. It adorns every form of clothing from neckties, baseball caps and bathing suits to T-shirts, socks and flip-flops. Its bold, eye-catching colors are ubiquitous on beer cozies, hand towels and welcome mats. It frames our license plates, tops off the helmets of U. Maryland football players, appears as shoulder patches on Ravens jerseys and appears on the front page of the League of Women Voters guide.
So, how did this mash-up of alternating, intriguing patterns, the only heraldic banner among all 50 states and one of only four to omit the color blue, come to be accepted as our standard? As you’ll see, it was not just some committee-driven, creative artistic choice but, rather, the consequence of a long historical path carved by the influence of the English Crown, by old colonial families, and by civil war and reconstruction. Today’s flag is the result of a slow and thorny, nearly 400-year process spanning both England and the Americas. And it preserves a message of reconciliation that should serve as a lesson and guide in these prickly, polarized times. Here’s how it happened.
George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore
Having been disappointed by the miserable Canadian maritime weather conditions in his first attempt at establishing a refuge for English and Irish Catholics in the Newfoundland colony of Avalon, George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, a native of Kiplin, North Yorkshire, England and a converted Catholic, in 1625 petitioned King Charles I for land in the American colonies to the south. Several options were explored before settling on Maryland’s approximate current boundaries.
However, George died in 1632 before completing the job which then fell to his son, Cecilius, 2nd Baron Baltimore. In addition to assuming the charter for the new colony, Celsius also inherited his father’s coat of arms, the center of which was similar to today’s flag pattern. It juxtaposed the black and gold field of the Calvert family arms with those of Alicia Crossland, George’s mother. Crossland family arms were the red and white “cross-bottony”, a mild pun on the family name.
Use of the four-quadrant flag diminished during Maryland’s colonial period, supplanted by flags bearing just the Calvert black and gold. By independence, those too were abandoned and, for many years, the state was represented by a series of banners, the most popular being the state seal on a blue background. That changed in 1854 when the state officially reintroduced the Calvert coat of arms as the state seal, prompting the reappearance of the popular but unsanctioned black and gold “Maryland Colors” at public events.
Baron Baltimore Coat of Arms
Here’s where the story takes a nasty little turn. Probably because the gold and black colors were so strongly identified with Maryland at the outset of the civil war, confederate sympathizers in the state adopted the red and white of the Crosslands as their battle standard; it was known as the Crossland flag, was worn as patches on military uniforms and was ubiquitous on civilian clothing as a way of showing resistance to Mr. Lincoln, though not without risk of federal prosecution. By war’s end, bearers of both symbols, representing opposing sides in the tragic conflict were returning to peacetime occupations where reunification depended on reintegration of confederate soldiers into a state that had remained with the Union.
Reconciliation in post-war Maryland was slow and tortuous but from the process arose a new symbol. A banner with alternating Calvert and Crossland colors, similar to the state seal, began to appear at civic functions, signaling the dawning of a new peace and the end of ruinous, divisive passions. Just as opposing “fighting colors” were united in one symbol, so too could Marylanders of both sides now work together for the same purpose and values.
The first “official” appearance of the new flag was in October, 1880 at the celebration of Baltimore’s sesquicentennial. Eight years later it was carried by National Guard troops at the dedication of the Maryland monument at Gettysburg. Just a year later, in October, 1889, Maryland’s elite Fifth Regiment , once branded the “Rebel Brigade”, but now manned by both Union and Confederate veterans, adopted the flag in its current form as their battle standard, greatly popularizing its use throughout the state and leading eventually to its official acceptance by the General Assembly in 1904.
From this four-century saga, it’s apparent that our flag is much more than simply a hallmark of state sovereignty or just a symbol to hang limply in dusty court houses and in municipal offices. And it’s much more than a flashy tote bag or football helmet. It is not the winner’s victory banner. Rather, it’s a powerful reminder of peace and reconciliation, proof that conflict-honed passions can be tamed and that folks of very different persuasions can work side-by-side. We would all be well advised in these very sharply polarized times to reflect on the lessons symbolized by this flag.
William Barron is a retired aircraft propulsion systems engineer now living in Worton.
Talbot Historical Society Project Rewind: Reading Time at the Library
The old Music Hall to the left of the Talbot County Courthouse on Washington Street Easton, Maryland was purchased by the County in 1941 and it was remodeled with a colonial appearance. The first floor became the Talbot County Free Library and this Talbot Historical Society Constance Stuart Larrabee Collection photo is of the inside of that Library in 1957. The Library remained there until the present Talbot County Free Library was completed in 1976. Can you identify any of the children or the woman in the photo?
Contact: Cathy Hill cvhill@yahoo.com to share your old photos and purchase our collections photos. Comment, Like our page and join the Talbot Historical Society!
November 2022 Sky-Watch
A busy month for sky-watchers this November is highlighted by a lunar eclipse, a good meteor shower, and a bonanza of bright planets in the evening sky.
The full moon is totally eclipsed in the early morning hours of November 8th. Though favored viewing locations lie in the western United States, we in the East will see the eclipsed Moon setting in the west as morning twilight will prevent us from seeing the later stages of totality. (The Midwest and western half of the USA will enjoy most of totality in full darkness). The Moon will enter the dark inner shadow of Earth (the umbra) at 4:10 am EST, with totality beginning at 5:16 am. However with sunrise at 6:41 am, after the first hour we will only have a god 30 to 46 minutes of fairly dark sky (looking westward) to observe the eclipse.
Lunar eclipses are easy to watch because not optical aid is necessary, and no eye protection is required. You can stare at it all you want. So get up a little early on November 8th to enjoy it before work or school; and before the Moon sets.
The Leonid meteor shower peaks between 3 and 5 am on November 17 and 18. The Leonids are well-known for producing very bright meteors, or fireballs, and for meteors which produce long visible streams as they burn up in our atmosphere. So it is always worthwhile looking; even this year, when a waning crescent Moon’s light will make it a little harder to spot them.
Saturn is very prominent in the south sky and is best seen as soon as it is fully dark. It sets around midnight. On November 1st Saturn may be seen just above the 1st quarter Moon. Jupiter is also up all evening, much brighter and to the left (east) of Saturn. On November 4th the waxing gibbous Moon will be just to Jupiter’s lower left. Both of these gas giant planets are still at their best for seeing loads of surface features to see through any backyard telescope. Sky-watchers with scopes should spend time with both this month.
Mars is approaching its December opposition when it will be at its closest to Earth since 2020 (50 million miles on December 1st). It will be due south and highest in the sky around midnight. The gibbous Moon will be close to Mars on November 11th. Through telescopes and when close, Mars reveals icy polar caps, a deep grand canyon, huge volcanic mountains, and long waving ridges through the desert regions of the planet.
Mercy and Venus are both too close to the Sun to be seen this month. But on the morning of the Moon eclipse, if we look at it with binoculars, we might be able to spot the planet Uranus, sitting just above the Moon at the 11 o’clock spot as if the Moon were a clock’s face. Try it!
Washington Post: The AAM is the Little Museum that Shines
The Washington Post posted an interesting article about our beloved Academy Art Museum this week. Authored by Cathy Alter, the writer talks about how the AAM has been able to pull off the seemingly impossible for a small regional museum as it continues to exhibit some of the great artists of the 20th Century.
Read the full story here.
A paywall may exist for some readers
Talbot Historical Society Project Rewind: Joining the Halloween Parade
Halloween is just a few days away! This 1946 Washington Street Easton, Maryland parade photo offers a few clues that it was taken at this time of year! Notice the “Oct.” in the upstairs window and also it’s dark outside! Some of the children standing in front of Read’s Drug Store appear to be dressed in costume. A little boy is wearing a cowboy outfit, the child to his right appears to have a soldier outfit on and the little girl to his right is wearing a crown? Also the Shannahan & Wrightson 70 Years of Service float features people wearing sombreros! Maybe you can pick out other clues? Photo from the Talbot Historical Society’s H. Robins Hollyday Collection.
Contact: Cathy Hill cvhill13@yahoo.com to share your old photos and purchase our collections photos. Comment, Like our page and join the Talbot Historical Society!