The St. Michaels Museum at St. Mary’s Square will highlight their 2012 season with a special architectural exhibit “19th Century Houses in St. Michaels”. The museum will open for the season on May 4 with regular hours 1 – 4 PM Fridays, 10 AM– 4 PM Saturdays, 1 – 4PM Sundays and 10 AM – 4 PM on Holidays.
The season will continue through October with the regular collection plus the special exhibit. Admission is $3 for adults, $1 for youth, and members are free.
In addition, the museum will continue to offer docent guided walking tours on Saturday mornings at 10 AM. The tours will alternate between 1) Young Frederick Douglass, a Slave, in St Michaels and 2) The Historic St. Michaels Waterfront. Each tour will be given on alternate Saturdays. Please consult www.stmichaelsmuseum.org for exact schedules. Reservations are required. Call 410 745 0530, Chip Britt or email [email protected]. Cost for tour and museum admission is $10 for adults and $5 for youth.
A formal opening of this year’s special exhibit “19th Century Houses in St. Michaels” will be held
on Sunday, May 6 from 4 – 6 PM with a gallery talk by curator Kate Fones. Light refreshments will be served. All are welcome and admission is free.
This year’s special exhibit will highlight 19th century houses in St. Michaels and will feature five unique houses: two on Talbot Street, one on St. Mary’s Square, another on Locust Street and one on North Avenue. The goal is to demonstrate the variety of house types in our small town. All of these houses still exist and closely resemble their appearance in the 19th Century. The following are the five houses chosen for the exhibit.
The Parsonage Inn on 210 North Talbot Street (ca. 1870 and remodeled 1894) was chosen for several reasons. It is the only Queen Anne style house in town that was designed by an architect and built in brick. The museum is fortunate to own the original 1870 architectural plans drawn by the Baltimore architect, Edmund G. Lind. The beautiful plans will be part of this exhibit. Two prominent St. Michaels’ families, the Dodson’s and the Seth’s owned this house. The house was also the parsonage for St. Michaels Union Methodist Church from 1924 to 1985.
The Mary Jane Morris House on 310 Talbot Street is the second house located on Talbot St. This house (ca. 1881) is an excellent example of a dual use building during the late 19thc and early years of the 20th century. A Barber Shop was operated by the Morris family in the northern end of the building and the rest was occupied by the Morris family. We are fortunate to have detailed information on the shop and family from our board member, Betty Seymour, whose great grandparents operated the shop and owned this building. Morris barber equipment from the shop will be on display during the show.
The William Green House ca. 1880 on 223 North Avenue is significant because it shows a house built by local carpenters for the North Avenue black community. There were several houses built during this period but this is one of the few remaining. William Green was an active member of his community as was his daughter, Helen Green Turner and her husband, St. Michaels’ builder, Horace Turner.
The William Tarr House (built in two stages: ca. 1840 and ca. 1860) represents a mid-19th century two-story frame house popular in St. Michaels. Its original shape, windows, porch and siding are intact. The building is currently being renovated. The museum owns a ca. 1900 photograph by St. Michaels’ photographer, Thomas Sewell, which confirms the home’s unchanged exterior. The property retains the original separate kitchen building. Several members of the Tarr family were sailors, oystermen, and built log canoes. They built the famous log canoe “Magic “ on the Square by their house.
The Washington Melson House (built in two stages: ca. 1830 and ca. 1850) at 206 Locust Street is a typical small story and a half frame house found close to St. Michaels harbor. It is an excellent example of the modest houses built on Locust Street to house the sailors and shipyard workers who worked nearby during the 19th century. At one point 206 and the house (204) to the next side were joined and used as one house. The current owner separated the two houses and sensitively restored the now separate houses about ten years ago. Washington Melson is listed as a sailor in the 1850 Census. During the 1860 presidential election, he was one of only two voters in Talbot County who voted for Abraham Lincoln.
This exhibit will cover the architecture, the age of the buildings, the families who lived in them with old photographs and artifacts. For details contact Kate Fones 410 745 4323 or Chip Britt 410 745 0530.
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