Here lived the planter and patriot called “Father of the Revolution in Maryland”
Speaker, Maryland Assembly, 1773–1774, President, Maryland Conventions and Chairman of Council of Safety, 1774–1776. Having headed each . . . — — Map (db m3176) HM
Empowered by a hunger for learning and a thirst for liberty, Frederick Douglass fled from slavery as a young adult in Baltimore and dedicated his life to ending the injustices of oppression. His work impacted the world, and the fire of his . . . — — Map (db m155652) HM
At age six, Frederick Bailey was forced to leave the Tuckahoe and enter terrifying plantation life under his master's roof in Miles River Neck. He witnessed brutal and routine violence against enslaved people. Later, in Baltimore, he gleaned . . . — — Map (db m155649) HM
Born enslaved on Holme Hill Farm near here, Douglass lived his early childhood in Talbot County. He self-liberated from Baltimore in 1838 assisted by his future wife, Anna Murray. Overcoming mind-body-soul-destroying obstacles, Douglass became one . . . — — Map (db m266815) HM
Frederick Douglass's self-determination and resolve to be free demonstrated to others how to rise above oppression. His leadership, inclusive vision, and brilliant words continue to inspire us. As America continues to face up to its past, . . . — — Map (db m155654) HM
Originally a mission of Old Bohemia founded March 18, 1765, by Father Joseph Mosley, S.J. Oldest section built 1782, additions made 1848 and 1903. Father Mosley [is] one of three priests interred under Chapel.
Since 1868, except during wars, . . . — — Map (db m168141) HM
Frederick Douglass reclled detailed memories of his early life on the banks of the Tuckahoe. Born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey in 1818, he lived near this spot with his grandparents, Betsey and Isaac Bailey, and numerous cousins in a . . . — — Map (db m155647) HM
Laid out for Richard Tilghman Chirurgeon as “Mannor of Tilghman’s Fortune” 20th July 1659. Sold by him to Richard Preston 3rd Sept., 1665, as the “Mannor of Canterbury” “together with all royaltys and privileedges most usually belonging to Mannors . . . — — Map (db m154340) HM
Once the railroad and new jobs came to the region in the 1860s, The Hill Community grew, as did its church congregations.
The Asbury U.M. (then Methodist Episcopal) and Bethel African Methodist Episcopal churches were constructed in 1877. . . . — — Map (db m302822) HM
Many early African American churches began as spiritual groups and developed into mutual aid societies that provided economic and educational resources to those in need.
After building houses of worship, the congregations grew into vital . . . — — Map (db m138292) HM
Military service was a definitive step for African Americans toward obtaining full rights of citizenship during the century after the Civil War.
How were The Hill Community residents connected to national and world events?
After . . . — — Map (db m302835) HM
Near this spot, about 1665, Quaker settlers built the Betty’s Cove Meetinghouse, at this intersection, known as “The Pincushion,” they established a school, adding one of the first public libraries in America in 1676, George Fox, founder of the . . . — — Map (db m3167) HM
Nearby is the site of "Fausley", the birthplace of Tench Francis, Jr, colonial businessman, revolutionary patriot, financier and father of the United States Navy Supply Corps. A successful merchant in the last decades before independence, Tench . . . — — Map (db m3299) HM
Easton expected to be a British target during the War of 1812. A two-story brick armory in the center of town housed cannon, small arms, and military stores to serve all of Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Fort Stoakes, an earthworks built to . . . — — Map (db m154341) HM
On this manor was first seated Dr. Richard Tilghman, who was granted by the Lord Baron of Baltimore the prerogatives of a “Court Baron and all things thereunto belonging by ye law or custome of England.” He was the great-grandfather of Colonel Tench . . . — — Map (db m263911) HM
Hung in the court house, the bell sounded the alarm for 100 years. In the late 1800's the bell was moved to this building which served as the Easton Fire House until 1933.
It is believed to be Easton's oldest bell — — Map (db m138296) HM
Birthplace of Lieutenant Colonel Tench Tilghman, Christmas day 1744. Aide-de-Camp to General George Washington, 1776–1783, and a participant in every major campaign of the main army in the American Revolution. He was entrusted to carry the official . . . — — Map (db m3168) HM
Attained freedom and devoted his life and talents to the abolition of slavery and the cause of universal suffrage. Visited England in 1845 and in 1859. Won many prominent friends abroad and at home. Was U. S. Marshall for the District of Columbia . . . — — Map (db m87682) HM
"In a composite nation like ours, as before the law, there should be no rich, no poor, no high, no low, no white, no black, but common country, common citizenship, equal rights and a common destiny."
United States Marshal · . . . — — Map (db m138295) HM
Built 1880, by people of Swedenberg, Lutheran, Methodist and Brethren Faiths near Peachblossom Creek and used by each denomination every fourth Sunday. The building originally known as Peachblossom Meetinghouse, was so named because the first peach . . . — — Map (db m3325) HM
“The Rest” was the home of Admiral Franklin Buchanan, 1800–1874, first Superintendent of the Naval Academy, 1845, Commander of the Washington Navy Yard, 1861, Commander of the Confederate iron-clads Virginia, 1862, and Tennessee, . . . — — Map (db m3180) HM
800 acres patented January 17, 1659 to Robert Morris of London, mariner, “together with a Court Baron and all things thereunto belonging by the laws and customs of England.”
One of the earliest grants on the Eastern Shore. — — Map (db m3181) HM
Construction in 1801 as the personal residences and law office of Thomas J. Bullitt, this historic property was gifted to the citizens of the Mid-Shore on December 20, 2002, by
Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas F. Brady,
Mr. and Mrs. A. James Clark, and . . . — — Map (db m138293) HM
Designed by Kathleen Cowgill
South Terrace 1960 - North Terrace 1962
Nettie Jones Garden 1964
Developed and supported by Talbot County Garden Club under the guardianship of Doris Rend
1968 Special Civic . . . — — Map (db m199292) HM
Two years before the Declaration of Independence, the citizens of Talbot County met on this site to protest Great Britain's closing of the Port of Boston, and resolved "to act as friends to liberty and the general interest of mankind." — — Map (db m3298) HM
1960
1973
In Memory Of
W.O Robert W. Cook USA
S. Sgt. Edward F. Ayers USA
S. Sgt. Thomas N. Blades USA
Sp. 4 Joseph M. Eason USA
1st. Lt. Lawrence R. Bullen . . . — — Map (db m4958) WM
In December 1682 attended a General Meeting of "Friends" on the Choptank River after a visit to Lord Baltimore at Col. Thomas Tailler's in Ann Arundel Co. "Philemon Lloyd with some horsemen waited on Penn" by order of Lord Baltimore. — — Map (db m138297) HM
The only one-room schoolhouse remaining in Talbot County is a half-mile southwest at Longwoods. Erected ca. 1885. The Talbot County Commissioners restored it in 1969 as a museum showing the development of education in this area. — — Map (db m3731) HM
1668
A parcel of land, including the area that will become Oxford, is traded from Edward Lloyd to William Stephens, Jr., a Quaker from Dorchester County.
1670
The name "Oxford" first appears on a map of Maryland and Virginia . . . — — Map (db m204977) HM
1738
Robert Morris Sr. arrives in Oxford from Liverpool. As manager or "chief factor" for trading company Foster Cunliffe & Sons, he supervises the trade in tobacco, pork, hides and lumber, and leads Oxford's first great economic boom. . . . — — Map (db m204964) HM
1812-15
War rages between the US and Britain, partly over the impacts of British restrictions on US maritime trade. British troops occupy Tilghman's, Poplar and Sharp's Islands.
1814
British troops burn Washington and bomb Fort . . . — — Map (db m204972) HM
1870
The Oxford census lists 277 inhabitants.
1871
General Tench Tilghman brings regular Maryland and Delaware Railroad service to Oxford, with its terminal at Pier Street. 3,000 people celebrate the first arriving train. . . . — — Map (db m204988) HM
1900
Oxford's population is 1243.
The oyster boom ends due to overfishing, pollution, and lack of regulation.
1904
Downtown Baltimore is destroyed by fire.
1910
Red Man's Hall is built on Morris Street as social . . . — — Map (db m204989) HM
1952
The 4.3-mile-long William P. Lane, Jr. Memorial Bridge (Chesapeake Bay Bridge) opens, replacing ferries and vastly improving connections to the Eastern Shore.
1954
The Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education . . . — — Map (db m204990) HM
15,000 BC
The global climate warms and the ice sheets melt. The Atlantic Ocean rises almost 400 feet, flooding the Susquehanna River valley and forming the early Chesapeake Bay.
11,500 BC
Nomadic Paleo-Indian people follow . . . — — Map (db m204974) HM
Who died April 15th 1786 in the 42d year of his age. Very much lamented. He took an early and active part in the great contest that secured the independence of the United States of America. He was an Aide-de-Camp to His Excellency General . . . — — Map (db m3172) HM
This American Liberty Elm was named after "The Liberty Tree: Our Country's first Symbol of Freedom." On the morning of August 14, 1765, the people of Boston awakened to discover two effigies suspended from an elm tree in protest of the hated Stamp . . . — — Map (db m204991) HM
A fairly simple and inexpensive boat to build, the skipjack became a popular workboat in the 1890s. Built in 1967, this miniature version of a skipjack was a sturdy, swift daysailer particularly suitable for Chesapeake waters. . . . — — Map (db m204993) HM
Reconstruction of a Colonial Tidewater Cottage erected on this site ca. 1840. The original, a residence until 2016, was moved in 2020 to Royal Oak, MD. — — Map (db m204962) HM
One of the first towns and ports authorized by Assembly in 1683. Called “William-Stade” in 1695. Robert Morris, father of the financier of the Revolution lived here until his death in 1750. He is buried at Old Whitmarsh Church. — — Map (db m3171) HM
The Emancipation Proclamation, issued January 1, 1863, authorized the recruiting of African Americans as United States soldiers. Blacks on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Delaware sought freedom for themselves and their families in return their . . . — — Map (db m34451) HM
Believed to be nation’s oldest privately operated ferry service. Ferry has plied across Tred Avon River since Talbot County Court “pitcht upon Mr. Richard Royston to keepe a Ferry” November 20, 1683, service has been continuous since 1836. — — Map (db m3170) HM
Oxford is a documented Middle Passage port on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. As a major maritime tobacco sea port during the colonial period, there were four Transatlantic ships and twenty-five Intra-American voyages that delivered captive Africans to . . . — — Map (db m298407) HM
Robert Morris, Sr. and Robert Morris, Jr., a Revolutionary War financier, lived in the original section. The building served as town hall, convalscent home for World War I veterans and general store. Since the late 1940’s it has been operated as an . . . — — Map (db m3169) HM
The British overtook Tilghman and Poplar islands in the spring of 1813 and again in October 1814. The islands offered ready-access to Annapolis, Baltimore, and other potential targets.
A regiment of a thousand men began building winter barracks on . . . — — Map (db m80685) HM
North America’s last sail-powered commercial vessels, skipjacks were developed nthe Chesapeake Bay Region around 1890 to dredge oysters from the bottom of the bay. A boom in the oyster industry began after the Civil War, as innovations in packing . . . — — Map (db m34256) HM
The Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail traces the War of 1812 in the Chesapeake. Along the trail you'll encounter tangible evidence of the war and stories that bring the people and events to life. Discover the far-reaching impacts . . . — — Map (db m285775) HM
Large sailing vessels carrying cargoes of lumber, wheat, fertilizer, and coal, were common on the Chesapeake Bay until the 1930s. With its narrow, winding rivers and shallow harbors, many of the Bay's waterways were difficult to maneuver. . . . — — Map (db m138375) HM
Dovetail workboats like Dorothy Lee were ideal for trotlining for crabs, which required running the boat on long straight courses. Dorothy Lee was built in 1934 for Dorchester County waterman Theodore Woodland, who named the boat . . . — — Map (db m285702) HM
Where did such a big figurehead come from? A big ship? In this case, it was made for a relatively small vessel—the 88-foot schooner yacht, Freedom. Yacht designer John G. Alden never intended for Freedom to have a figurehead when . . . — — Map (db m138308) HM
Where did such a big figurehead come from? A big ship? In this case, it was made for a relatively small vessel -- the 88-foot schooner yacht Freedom. But yacht designer John G. Alden never intended Freedom to have a figurehead when . . . — — Map (db m158596) HM
This small power skiff was made for pleasure fishing and crabbing. Although Katie G. was built with an engine, she has the shape of a sailboat. This is apparent in her "tuck stern," where the back of the boat rises out of the water. Later . . . — — Map (db m138359) HM
Dovetail boats were built in the early 1900s with gasoline engines and a special stern that looked like a motor racer. Martha was built in 1934 for $350 and was probably used for oyster tonging and trotlining for crabs. She was named after . . . — — Map (db m138357) HM
Log canoes built in the Poquoson, Virginia style were rigged as sloops, with a jib carried on a short bowsprit. Built for oyster tonging by Captain Will Knott, Merry Widow was named for a popular musical of her day.
Later, she was . . . — — Map (db m138368) HM
Old Point was one of a fleet of crab dredging boats that operated out of Hampton, Virginia, at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay from the 1910s through the 1960s. From December through March, captains and crews lived on their boats so they . . . — — Map (db m138358) HM
A fairly simple and inexpensive boat to build, the skipjack became a popular workboat in the 1890s. Built in 1969, this miniature skipjack was a sturdy daysailer particularly suited for Chesapeake Bay waters.
Formula for designing a . . . — — Map (db m138323) HM
Most pilothouses had two sections. The forward part housed navigational equipment and served as the steering station, while the after part was for the crew who sometimes worked aboard these boats for many weeks at a time. The after section is where . . . — — Map (db m138369) HM
Built in 1920 by Noah T. Evans, a native Smith Islander, Winnie Estelle was named for his two daughters. Evans was an occasional boatbuilder; his principal occupation was operating buyboats—buying fish and oysters directly from . . . — — Map (db m138370) HM
The Hooper Strait Lighthouse, built in 1879 to guide boats through the winding channel of Hooper Strait, a thoroughfare for boats bound from the Chesapeake Bay across Tangier Sound to Deal Island or places along the Nanticoke and Wicomico Rivers. . . . — — Map (db m285695) HM
Three successive lightships marked the end of the Rappahannock spit, a shoal at the mouth of the Rappahannock River in Virginia, until a lighthouse was erected in 1869. In 1905, the Lighthouse Board reported that the light at Windmill Point at . . . — — Map (db m285683) HM
Handling heavy hawsers was hard, dangerous work on tugboats, but it became a little easier with power capstans. This capstan used steam from the same boilers that powered the steam tug America's 450-horsepower engine.
America . . . — — Map (db m158604) HM
Throngs of day trippers traveled to Tolchester Beach and its amusement park from Baltimore beginning in the 1870s, with six steamboats and a ferry servicing the resort. They disembarked from the steamboats at the end of a long, wooden pier. . . . — — Map (db m285684) HM
Like the smaller brogans before them, bugeyes were essentially enlarged log canoes with two raked masts. Chunked from multiple pine logs, their hulls were then planked over, creating shallow vessels with wide decks.
Bugeyes were generally . . . — — Map (db m138316) HM
In the 1800s, the once-slow harvest of oysters in the Chesapeake Bay exploded. New technology like railroads and food preservation allowed oysters to reach new markets. To meet the growing national demand for this cold-weather fishery, larger . . . — — Map (db m138320) HM
Bushwack boats were originally used for gill netting shad on the Susquehanna Flats at the northern end of the Chesapeake Bay. Waterfowlers adapted them for use with decoys while hunting ducks. The crouching hunters were hidden from view by a canvas . . . — — Map (db m138365) HM
This modest open boat is a replica of one of the most important vessels in American History. In the summer of 1608, a small boat or "Shallop" similar to this was used by Captain John Smith to make the first detailed European exploration of the . . . — — Map (db m61332) HM
Pull up the line at your feet.
Did you catch a blue crab in the crab pot?
What is a crab pot?
A crab pot is a cage used to catch crabs. Invented in 1928, crab pots revolutionized the Chesapeake Bay crabbing industry. With these . . . — — Map (db m285686) HM
Watermen used a wide variety of small boats around the Chesapeake Bay for fishing, oystering, and crabbing. Some of their boats were brought from other places along the East Coast, but most were locally built, with designs that suited to available . . . — — Map (db m138362) HM
Local lore hails St. Michaels for "fooling the British" during the War of 1812 by using lanterns to misdirect gunfire high above the town. It is certain that this shipbuilding village successfully fended off two enemy assaults in 1813.
On . . . — — Map (db m158610) HM
Edna E. Lockwood, built in 1889 by John B. Harrison on Tilghman Island, is the last example of an oystering vessel known as a bugeye. Constructed during the heyday of the Chesapeake oyster industry, bugeyes were sailboats designed to pull . . . — — Map (db m138319) HM
Arks were floating cabins used by watermen as living quarters while they fished for shad and herring on the Chesapeake Bay, far away from home. As the fish made their spring run up the Bay, the watermen would follow, towing the arks behind their . . . — — Map (db m138361) HM
Keeper Ulman Owens met an untimely end at the Holland Island Bar Lighthouse in 1931. The official report ruled that he died by natural causes, but his bruised body and a nearby knife made some suspect foul play. We can't be sure this 1,000-pound . . . — — Map (db m138380) HM
Born on Tuckahoe Creek, Talbot County; lived as a slave in St. Michaels area, 1833-1836. Taught self to read and write, conducted clandestine schools for blacks here. Escaped north, became noted abolitionist orator and editor. Returned 1877, as U.S. . . . — — Map (db m3732) HM
Patriot Cruises helps launch local tourism
Since 1969, visitors to St. Michaels have explored the history and environment of the area from the decks of a boat named Patriot. A year before, the wooden fishing boat . . . — — Map (db m285771) HM
While sailing home from England in 1807, George Law, a member of a prominent Maryland family, rescued Newfoundland puppies from sinking British ship and brought them home to the Chesapeake Bay. The puppies—named Sailor and Canton (the name of . . . — — Map (db m138325) HM
A leader in his home community and State. In the Revolutionary War he served as a captain, and was wounded twice. In the War of 1812, he commanded the militia in Talbot, Caroline and Dorchester Counties. — — Map (db m61387) HM
The U.S. Lighthouse Establishment built two cottage-style lighthouses in 1892—one in Chesapeake Bay waters at Maryland Point on the Potomac River and one in Sharkfin Shoal on Tangier Sound. Each of these was equipped with not only a lighted beacon, . . . — — Map (db m138377) HM
The Heirloom Garden highlights plants that sustained the lives of indigenous people, enslaved and free Africans, white Europeans, and descendants who resided in the Cheseapeake region from the 1600s to the present. These communities cultivated . . . — — Map (db m285671) HM
After the first lighthouse at Janes Island near Crisfield was destroyed by ice in January 1879, a second screwpile lighthouse identical to the one at Hooper Strait (now located on Museum ground) replaced it. Ice struck the Janes Island Light . . . — — Map (db m138379) HM
This lighthouse was originally located forty miles south of here –in Hopper Strait—where its light marked the location of one of the Chesapeake Bay’s many hidden sand bars. Because the Bay is mostly shallow, sailing a boat from the harbor to . . . — — Map (db m61486) HM
Originally, a small boat hung here. This boat was the only way the lighthouse keepers had to get back to the mainland and civilization, a good five miles away. By sail, the trip took an hour or two; with a motorboat, 45 minutes to an hour. Most . . . — — Map (db m285700) HM
A screw like this one was at the bottom of each of the seven pilings (legs) of this lighthouse—allowing the leg to be screwed down into the soft Bay bottom. It would have been much easier to simply drive the leg straight down into the mud, but . . . — — Map (db m61491) HM
The hexagonal screwpile cottage-style light station off Thomas Point was lit in 1875, replacing an earlier tower on the shore. In 1914, the US Lighthouse Service noted that Thomas Point Shoal's fog bell sounded a triple stroke every 30 seconds using . . . — — Map (db m138373) HM
John Smith's Jamestown Shallop
Very little is known about the small open boat or "shallop" that John Smith used to explore the Chesapeake Bay in 1608. Described by Smith as a "barge" of between two and three tons of "burthen," the shallop was . . . — — Map (db m285770) HM
Kennedy was a child of the Eastern Shore who touched many lives with his vibrant spirit and his love for the Chesapeake Bay.
Growing up as a swimmer, boater, fisherman, and hunter, he was an Eagle Scout who worked summer jobs that would take . . . — — Map (db m138360) HM
Henry McShane started his Baltimore foundry in 1856, and by the late 1800s McShane Bell Foundry employed 90 people and produced tens of thousands of bells and chimes for churches, firehouses, public buildings and fog-alarm bells for lighthouses, . . . — — Map (db m138374) HM
Farm laborer's log house
Henrietta and Albert T. Wilson raised eight children in this log house located one mile south of Trappe, Maryland in the late 1800s. Albert was a farm overseer and laborer at the nearby Welsh farm. Later census . . . — — Map (db m285672) HM
Hundreds of armed schooners sailed from Baltimore during the War of 1812, carrying cannons like this to defend themselves or to capture a poorly defended British merchantman. Baltimore was such a hub of privateering trade that it attracted a . . . — — Map (db m158641) HM
Hand tonged in the Miles River in 1939 by local seafaring legend Frankie Alberto Morgan Wilkenship, this rope dates back to 1813. It was used during the British Invasion of St. Michaels. Maritime forensic experts claim the line "a true nautical . . . — — Map (db m62851) HM
The original portion of this building was constructed as a residence in 1806 and was remodeled for Maryland National Bank St. Michaels Office in 1963. — — Map (db m138301) HM
A fairly simple and inexpensive boat to build, the skipjack became a popular workboat in the 1890s. Built in 1969, this miniature version of a skipjack was a sturdy, swift daysailer particularly suitable for Chesapeake Bay waters.
Length: . . . — — Map (db m61496) HM
"They rent about an acre of ground on which they raise vegetables enough for the family; they raise their own meat."
– Lewis Douglass describing the Mitchell's to his father, Frederick, 9 June . . . — — Map (db m285676) HM
The story behind this fragment is a mystery. During dredging operations in 1988 near the mouth of the Chester River, this stern section of a large wooden vessel surfaced unexpectedly. The mounting for the rudder led some to believe it was from a . . . — — Map (db m285685) HM
Eagle, Dodson and Higgins Houses have looked out over the St. Michaels waterfront for well over a hundred years now. When they were first built, the town's harbor would have been full of work boats, everything from oyster tonging skiffs and canoes . . . — — Map (db m61335) HM
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