Community Network Will Refresh Two Historic Churches

May 11’s Talbot County Tour Links Garden Club, Homeowners, Businesses, Pilgrims, Benefiters

The Talbot County Tour of the Maryland House & Garden Pilgrimage, which takes place Saturday, May 11, is dedicated to the restoration and preservation of historic properties. When you and other “pilgrims” purchase tickets for this year’s event, you are helping Tour organizers – namely, the Talbot County Garden Club – to restore and preserve two local landmarks. One is Scotts United Methodist Church; the other, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church (White Marsh Parish). Both are located in Trappe. 

Scotts was originally a Quaker meeting house, built on the site about 225 years ago. When the Quakers consolidated and moved to Easton, they gifted the property to the African-American congregation in Trappe. The church became Scotts United Methodist, named after Bishop Levi Scott. “Til now, Levi Scott’s donation has been the tie that binds us to the (Talbot County) community,” says Scotts Trustees chair Donald Baker. He goes on to detail the church’s eminent role in history, as the first church in the nation to celebrate the Emancipation Proclamation, with Nathaniel Hopkins, “Uncle Nace,” in the lead. That event continues to be memorialized annually in Trappe. This year, the celebration will take place on November 2.

While organizing the garden club’s county-wide benefit, Tour co-chair Kim Eckert learned that Scotts had vexing water drainage issues. Eckert and co-chair Zandi Nammack along with the Scotts Church Council decided to make stormwater management a priority project. In Scotts’ behalf, Eckert sourced local engineering and restoration companies that might utilize the garden club’s anticipated Tour revenues to address the church’s need. 

In response, Lane Engineering, LLC agreed to conduct a survey and develop a mitigation plan. Lane sweetened the deal by donating its services, worth several thousand dollars.

Sean Callahan, Lane’s president, explains: “When Kim called and asked for help, I told her we would be happy to assist with our time and effort, and expertise to provide land surveying and civil engineering services. From a historical perspective, there was a significant civil engineering and surveying company headquarters in Trappe years ago and many of our employees have had Trappe zip codes, so we feel compelled to lend a hand. If it is important to Talbot County Garden Club and Scotts United Methodist Church as a project, as neighbors, Lane Engineering would help.”

Next, McHale Landscape Design, Inc., stepped forward and offered to jump into the project, then agreed to go one better. Not only would they provide timely professional services, they would also accept the garden club’s assigned Tour benefits to complete the exterior stormwater management mitigation. 

By mid-summer, the church should have its stormwater issues fully addressed with new downspouts, trenching to prevent water from pounding in the parking lot and intruding into the church foundation, and underground piping to allow proper tie-in to the state’s drainage system with permits secured from the town.

Colin McHale, account manager for McHale in Easton, proudly sums up his company’s involvement in the project as “using our expertise to improve the community in partnership with the garden club.”

For this venture, TCGC’s Tour proceeds coupled with the generous donations of Lane and McHale will result in a greatly amplified project. 

“The garden club’s arrival has brought the church full circle, with the community coming together, one of the things the church is all about, ‘shining the light by the light’” says Tanula Baker, Scotts SPRC chair.

According to Eckert, herself a garden designer whose son, Austin Eckert, a water resources engineer, offered counsel, “It’s very special that we are able to provide the church with a project that would have cost close to $20,000 for a lot less with the help of local businesses. 

“The seven homeowners who believe in our mission and open their private properties to ‘pilgrims’ on May 11 should take satisfaction in being part of this heart-warming community effort that has also drawn considerable support from local patrons, businesses and the media. In addition, the many ‘pilgrims’ who come to tour Talbot County’s unique and beautiful private properties that day can take satisfaction in knowing the good that will result at Scotts … and in like manner, post-Tour, down the road at St. Paul’s, where Tour proceeds will help to repoint the church’s 166-year-old brick facade and repair a crumbling cemetery wall, the remaining ruins at White Marsh Cemetery.”

Tickets to the Talbot County Tour at $40 are currently available at Bountiful and Garden Treasures in Easton. Day-of tickets will be sold at all Tour sites and at Momma Maria’s in Trappe for $45.

For Tour details, check MHGP.org. For questions, call 410-703-6592 or 973-476-6211.