CECILTON — April 22, 2024—The National Park Service announced Monday that Union Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church has been officially designated a National Network to Freedom site. This prestigious recognition celebrates the church’s significant connections to the Underground Railroad, symbolizing a beacon of hope and refuge for countless individuals seeking freedom and justice during the antebellum era.
Union Bethel AME Church in 2023.
Today’s church bears direct witness to its roots, which are traced back to the 1850s. In that tumultuous period, “Uncle Perry Hinson” ” built a small house of worship on the outskirts of Cecilton amidst the woods. As the only place where Black people could gather locally, faith and kinship aided freedom seekers and resistance, the modest sanctuary serving as a refuge for worship, education, fellowship, and the pursuit of equality.
Bishop Levi Coppin, born in 1848, grew up in this faith community. His mother ran a clandestine school to teach enslaved people to read and write, empowering them with literacy and knowledge.
Union Bethel AME Chuch stands among 19 newly recognized sites spanning ten states, all contributing to the history of resistance against enslavement. The Network to Freedom program is dedicated to honoring, preserving, and sharing these stories of courage and determination.
The designation process for National Network to Freedom sites involves a rigorous semi-annual nomination and review process. Through this selective assessment, each site’s historical ties to the Underground Railroad are meticulously authenticated and celebrated, ensuring that their significance is duly recognized and honored.
Port Deposit Poice Chief Horace Boddy (an undated snapshot provided by Chief Boddy)
Port Deposit Police Chief Horace Boddy passed away on July 21, 2019, at the age of 95. Horace became an auxiliary officer on the Port Deposit force in the early 1960s. About 1966, the council promoted him to the top position. This made him the first African-American police chief in Cecil County once he took charge of the department. Although it was a part-time position, he was on call around the clock.
A Young Man’s Interest in Policing
As a 9 or 10-year-old growing up in town, the dream of becoming a police officer started one day during a snow storm, he recalled in an interview with the News Journal. He and a friend were making their way through the frigid winter blast to a store when a Maryland State Trooper from the Conowingo Post pulled up. The trooper told the pair to jump in, and he gave them a warming ride to their destination. During that ride on a long-ago winter day, the impressed youngster was enchanted by the helpfulness of the officer and “the excitement of the police car, especially its radio.”
After 16 years of service to the municipality, the chief contemplated retirement as the 1980s got underway. Finally, in February 1980, he stepped down as the town’s top lawman, but he wasn’t ready to completely retire.
Stepping Down as Chief
His second in command, 33-year-old Bill Waibel, became the chief, and Mr. Boddy stayed on as a member of the force. He told the News Journal that it was time to “let somebody else handle it. Twenty-four hours a day is pretty rough when you work at a job 16 years, I think that’s enough.” He retired completely from law enforcement in 1983.
It was a job well done. When he announced the decision to step down “mostly due to the increasing demands of the office and the pressing needs for more specialized training, which would best be filled by a full-time Chief, Port Deposit Mayor Donald Post remarked to the News Journal: “Officer Boddy is well-respected and known in the community for his friendly manner and civic pride and this unselfish act is a continued expression of that concern.
He had faithfully served as the Port Deposit Police Chief.
Port Deposit Police Department — The four members of the force posed for a picture as Chief Horace Boddy reminded everyone that “safety is always in season. Part of a calendar from the early to mid-1970s. (L to R) — Officer Cornelius Scott Sr., possibly Carl Ridgley, Chief Boddy, and Officer Edward E. Pierce. (Source Chief Boddy)
For Additional Photos of Chief Boddy and the Port Deposit Police Department, see this album on Facebook.
(2022 Rodgers Tavern Museum Virtual Spring Lecture)
Description:
“Life in the Past Lane” examines the role of Perryville and the Rodgers Tavern as an important transportation hub from the colonial era to the 20th Century. Join us in this engaging program as we journey into the past lane, examining the unique stories and characters of the Lower Susquehanna River, the local ferries, and the old colonial road still carrying traffic past the Tavern and the bridges. This presentation includes many seldom-seen photos, which will help us consider the tavern’s role in developing the broader community. So be sure to join us as we consider important history in your neighborhood.
FREE LECTURE ONLINE ONLY Advanced Registration RequiredTime
Apr 23, 2022, 06:30 PM
Click here for register for the Rodgers Tavern Museum virtual program
Calvert is one of the most interesting villages in Cecil County, its history extending far back time. Originally known as Brick Meeting House, it stands on land granted by William Penn. Once the Mason-Dixon Line settled the boundary dispute between Maryland and Pennsylvania it was firmly established that the community was in Maryland. Because it was midway on the old Baltimore-Philadelphia Pike, Brick Meeting was frequently visited by travelers.
Sometime between 1878 to 1880, the post office requested that the village drop the name Brick Meeting and it became known as Calvert.
The post office in Calvert closed on Aug. 31, 1908. James C. Crothers served as a postmaster during the period when the station was known as Calvert. This postcard is from around 1908
In 1893, the North East newspaper, the Cecil Star,
reported that Calvert was a busy little village. It supported two
stores, a blacksmith and wheelwright shop, two hotels, and two grist
mills. The population of the village was 125 and the postmaster was J.
E. Crothers, who also kept a general store. The other merchant was John
P. Simpers.
Dates From Calvert’s Past
* In 1847 James Trimble gave the land to create Rosebank Cemetery, which was the name of his farm.
* In 1890, Trinity African Methodist Episcopal Church leased 1/2 acre
of ground for 99-years from the England family and erected a house of
worship.
* The foundation for the new M.E. Church at Calvert be be called Rosebank Methodist Episcopal Church was being commenced the week of May 20, 1891 and the church was dedicated on Oct. 25, 1891. The Church was dedicated in the presence of a large congregation and ministers of both the Methodist and Presbyterian Churches of the vicinity. Rev. George E. Reed, the president of Dickinson College preached the dedicatory sermon. In the evening a handsome silver communion service was presented by the Calvert W.C.T.U. through Mrs. J. R. Milligan of Zion . (Oxford Press).
The Calvert Agricultural High School opened on Nov. 5, 1906.
* In 1908 the post office discontinued the post office at Calvert, the rural route having replaced the village post office.
After the Calvert Agricultural High School burned to the ground in Feb. 1936, the Board of Education announced plans for a new school on the site. It was going to contain ten rooms for both the elementary and high school and cost about $70,000. An annex would have an auditorium for school and community. There were also rooms for general science, manual training, and domestic science. Colonial architecture would be used, for the brick building with a slate roof. (Oxford Press, Feb. 26, 1936)
* In 1958, the school was changed over to an elementary school and pupils from the upper grades were bused to Rising Sun.
In several areas of Cecil County, there are places that were once thriving little hamlets but are now barely wide spots in the road. They might have a house or two, while in their heyday they hummed with activity. However, once their reason for prosperity vanished, the passage of time slowly eroded away the community’s traces. The story of a vibrant past was lost to the ages, as memories faded and a new generation came on.
One of those spots, Iron Hill, is midway between Elkton and Newark, just west of the Mason Dixon Line. It once had nearly 50 residents, along with a railroad station, post office, and general store, according to the Maryland State Gazetteer of 1902. Decades earlier in 1887, there were two general merchants (J. M. Cook and John Denver), two telegrapher operators (William Holton & Thomas Smith), and dealers in phosphate and coal (Frank Stroud and Charles Walton). Miss Hattie Evans served as the village teacher and John Denner (possibly Denver) was the postmaster.
There was such heavy trade in this neighborhood that the P. W. & B. Railroad announced in October 1880 that it was contemplating “the establishment of a new station on the road about midway between Newark and Elkton, which would be close to the State Line,” the Every Evening reported. Officials didn’t mull it over too long as work soon started on a passenger depot and freight house.
The iron ore mines or pits of the Whitaker Company just over the line in Delaware furnished a great amount of freight as the ore was taken to Principio for reduction. That, coupled with the amount of farming enterprise in this section of the county, called for increased transportation facilities.
The carrier was ready to meet the demand. The land for the depot and warehouse was “given by Mr. C. Walton, who lived nearby,” the Cecil Whig reported. Once the attractive station house opened in April 1881, an agent was assigned to the depot, the official and his family living on the second floor. The first floor contained two waiting rooms and other operational spaces.
In the 20th century, freight and passenger traffic declined. By 1912, the railroad was arguing a case before the Maryland Public Service Commission as they wanted to reduce service to the attractive country station built-in the glory days of railroading.
Modernization also came along. During the first half of the 20th-century track realignments were required as the company electrified the line and eliminated curves. The station was moved a short distance back from the right-of-way, sometime during this era. Also, the company eliminated service at the rural station.
Today, except for the Amtrak passenger trains rushing past at high speeds, things are quiet at Iron Hill. The old depot and another structure or two survive, serving as reminders of Cecil’s past and the thriving little hamlet.
But on this mild day in the middle of January, as the sun came out in the afternoon, I was offered a ticket to the past. Dan Dilks invited me out to look at the distinctive structure as he and a helper care for the old landmark, fixing it up and updating things. In another century, it was the centerpiece of this tiny village on the Mason Dixon Line.
Thanks, Dan for being the conductor on this visit and for an enjoyable walk through the past. Dan’s tour caused me to do a little digging through some sources, and this is what I have come up with thus far.
St. John’s United Methodist Church in Lewisville, PA>
Sitting on a hilltop in Lewisville is a fine old house of worship, St. John’s United Methodist Church. Located yards south of the Mason-Dixon Line in Maryland, the church has a historic past. And next to it is the cemetery where ten Civil War Veterans, members of GAR Post 10, are buried. On this bright day with a beautiful blue sky filled with white puffy cumulus clouds, St. John’s looked attractive atop that hill on the state line.
Mayor or President of Cecilton, Fillingame. Balto Sun Photo, 1941
The other day we fielded a call at the Historical Society asking us about information on some of the early mayors of Cecilton. Since those sorts of queries are routine for the Society’s researchers they got right to work digging through old newspapers and government documents to identify the first mayor of Cecilton.
The town was incorporated in 1864 and that May the first officials, Dr. Samuel V. Mace, Wm. T. Weldon, John Morris., Wm. H. Pearce, and Edward Seamans, were elected for a one year term. The lead official was called the president, but records don’t indicate which of these gentleman received the appointment in that formative year.
The first photograph of a mayor that we’ve been able to locate was Raymond P. Fillingame. H.W. Cheney had led the commissioners in 1939. Next in line was President Fillingame, and our researchers located a Baltimore Sun photograph of the official.
Main Street, Cecilton, Source: Baltimore Sun Photo, 1941
When a terrible fire struck the DuBois Planning and Sash Mill, the largest industry in Havre de Grace, one June day in 1883, men rushed the town’s small Holloway Chemical Engine to the factory. Once on the scene, they worked frantically trying to check the destructive advance. But the “ruthless flames” turned the factory and nearby buildings into a mass of blazing ruins as the conflagration spread to large piles of nearby lumber.
The small stream from the soda and acid engine, which wasn’t designed to suppress a large industrial fire, was totally ineffective for this growing inferno so officials telegraphed nearby fire departments, asking that special trains be commandeered to rush steam engines to the stricken community. Hastily in Port Deposit, Wilmington, and Baltimore the P.W. & B Railroad assembled a locomotive and flat car and cleared the road for quick, emergency runs to the river town.
The Water Witch Fire Company of Port Deposit apparatus was on the grounds first, going right to work to prevent the advance. “The Port Deposit boys displayed themselves to good advantage and worked with a zeal and skill that would have done credit to a more experienced force,” the Havre de Grace Republican remarked about the three-year old firefighting organization.
Just over an hour later a second pumper, the engine from Baltimore, shrieked into town, the engineer laying on the whistle warning unsuspecting people to clear the tracks. No. 11, from Baltimore, showed from whence the well-earned reputation of the Monumental City Fire Department was derived, the paper remarked. It was supervised by Chief Engineer George W. Ellender. The Reliance Engine from Wilmington, Delaware, under direction of Chief Engineer Murphy, went into action about forty-five minutes later.
With three powerful steam pumpers playing large streams of water on the blaze, the “fire ladies” from neighboring places finally subdued the inferno, with the help of the citizens.
Two Water Witch Fire Company Steam Engines on Main Street Port Deposit in late 1800s.
Amid the Great Depression, photographers working on several federal projects traveled the country capturing images of historic buildings, public works projects, and landscape vistas. While canvassing Cecil County, one of those cameramen snapped this tranquil scene at the four corners in Cecilton in the late 1930s.
This was the hub of the farming community of 458 residents in 1930, and several businesses in the vicinity of the intersection made up the commercial section. Spreading out from there were streets lined with beautiful homes, according to the Hearn Oil Company guide of 1926.
Other travel directories noted that one could turn here for the cooling waters of the upper Chesapeake or nearby Warwick and Middletown. The other route took the traveler to the Sassafras or Bohemia rivers. The second photo from the Hearn Oil Co guide shows the monument to Capt. John Smith on the Sassafras River at Fredericktown.
The four corners, the main intersection, in Cecilton. Source: Library of Congress
The Hearn Oil Company travel guide for the Delmarva Peninsula in the 1920s. with a photo of the Sassafras River Bridge in Frdericktown
