Old Bohemia Tenant House: Photo Credit: Maryland DNR
Press Release – Maryland Dept. of Natural ResourcesCitizens interested in becoming curators to the Old Bohemia house in Cecil County or the Stephenson property in Harford County are invited to join the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for one of its open houses. The estates are available for restoration under the Department’s Resident-Curatorship Program, which matches up historic properties with people interested in restoring, maintaining and periodically sharing them with the public in return for the right to lifetime tenancy.
“This program is great because it helps preserve these beautiful, historic landmarks, while allowing the curators to reap the rewards of their hard work by living in and enjoying the property,” said Emily Burrows, manager of cultural resources and curatorships for DNR.
The Old Bohemia Tenant House open houses will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on September 30 and October 27 at 300 Church Rd in Warwick.
Located on the grounds of the Old Bohemia Wildlife Management Area in Cecil County, the Old Bohemia Tenant House was built c. 1840 as a dwelling for tenant farmers who worked the adjacent farmland. The house, along with St. Francis Xavier Church and Rectory, were part of the much larger Old Bohemia plantation (established around 1704) that eventually consisted of a saw mill, wharf, blacksmith shop and brick kiln, among other buildings and points of interest. Currently surrounded by agricultural fields, the house has many early period elements such as early woodwork and flooring. The original brick kitchen floor is also intact beneath more contemporary wooden floorboards. Although not finalized, the area of the curatorship lease is a little larger than an acre.
The James Stephenson House open houses will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on September 29 and November 3 at 737 Craigs Corner Rd in Havre de Grace.
Located within Susquehanna State Park, the Stephenson House is significant because of its ties to the 18th century Darlington community and because it retains many of its original and unique features. In addition to having unaltered early woodwork and flooring, it is unusual for a house of this age not to be brick or stone, and its telescoping layout is also unique. While the main focus of the restoration will be the house, the outbuildings are historically important, and must be preserved as part of the curatorship. Preference will be given to proposals from non-profit organizations with missions keeping with that of DNR.
Resident curatorships help ensure the long-term preservation of historic buildings at no cost to the State of Maryland. Curators, who can be individuals or organizations, pledge to restore and maintain the historic property and outbuildings in exchange for a lifetime lease on these State protected lands. The program has helped preserve more than 50 historic buildings on State park land for over the past 30 years.
The properties will only be available to the public during open house events. For more information on these properties, citizens may visit dnr.state.md.us/land/rcs/index.asp or contact Emily Burrows at eburrows@dnr.state.md.us or 410-260-8457.
Rising Sun, September 16, 2012 — In celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War [April 1861-April 1865], come experience a re-created Civil War battle just yards away from your eyes at the Town Park on Wilson Avenue in Rising Sun, MD. Whether you witness the thunder and might of the battle, hear the blast from artillery firing over the hillside, or engage your family in a living history experience, our hope is that this event leaves each person with a sense of the sacrifice given, the heroic efforts on both sides, at home and at war, and how the Civil War changed this country forever. So come one, come all and enjoy the sites and sounds of the American Civil War. This is an admission-free, family friendly event.
Meet Federal and Confederate soldiers and civilians. Hear the sounds of battle and smell the gunpowder on Saturday and Sunday. This is a unique opportunity to stroll among the soldier’s tents and see how they lived for four long years. You can do some shopping at the Sutlers (camp vendors) for some historic items. You can buy a hoop skirt and some lemonade and then sit back and watch the cannons fire back and forth and the soldiers battle. Fun and learning for the whole family!
Vintage Base Ball
Imagine . . .
. Being fined 25 cents by an umpire dressed in a top hat and tails
. Assuming the hurler position and being responsible for the striker at the plate
. Acting as behind, where you must prevent the opponent from scoring an ace
. Playing the role of clanker and cheering your team to victory
Vintage Base Ball (yes, it was two words originally) is the game we now know as Baseball played by the rules and customs of an earlier period. “Ballists” wear period uniforms and recreate the game as it was played in the late 1800’s. Come watch the Rising Sun Base Ball Club wearing knickers and stockings, play at our own Rising Sun Town Ball Park. Civil War Reenactors will appear at the game. This year we will again have a period ball game to enjoy on Sunday!
For more information contact: Rising Sun Town Hall at 410-658-5353
Photo courtesy of the National Archives shows engineers of the 8th New York militia.
Guy Alchon, Associate Professor from the University of Delaware, will show us how World War II transformed Cecil County from the thriving marriage capital of the eastern seaboard to a bustling center of munitions factories. Attracted by plentiful jobs, thousands of women from surrounding states migrated to Cecil County. Learn how Cecil County evolved into an integral cog in the war machine as a result of this massive migration.
Here is an announcement from the newsletter of Archeological Society of the Northern Chesapeake (ASNC) about two programs exploring the recent Elk Landing field-school.
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The ASNC has Dr. Jim Gibb on its schedule for two presentations about the recent fieldwork at Elk Landing. The first of these will be conducted at the Historical Society of Cecil County, in Elkton, on October 10th at 7:00 p.m. and a repeat performance will be held at the Historical Society of Harford County, in February 2013. The reason for the duplicate program scheduling, is to offer this very timely historical update to the widest audience possible. The Elkton venue will accommodate the Cecil Historical Society membership, the Elk Landing Foundation, the Archeological Society of Delaware and ASNC members of that area. The Bel Air presentation will provide a nearby opportunity for the Harford Historical Society and ASNC members from in that area.
Everything you’d ever want to know about the discovery of Fort Hollingsworth this past spring will be unearthed and sifted at these sessions, according to an announcement from the Elk Landing Foundation.
The Historical Society of Cecil County is located at 135 E. Main Street in Elkton. Light refreshments and socializing begins at 6:3o p.m.
Join us for a full day of genealogy lectures and hands-on research on Oct 6, 2012. Nationally renowned genealogist Donn Devine will present the keynote lecture: “DNA: The New Tool in Genealogy.” The program begins at 9am at the Elkton Central Library with a poster session of local lineage and genealogical societies, followed by three lectures. Grab a bite to eat in town and rejoin us at 2 pm at the Historical Society of Cecil County at 135 E. Main Street for our final lecture and an opportunity for hands-on research.
Lectures include: *Introduction to Genealogy *Google Genealogy *Integrating Social History into Your Family Research *DNA: The New Tool in Genealogy Co-sponsored by the Cecil County Historical Society. Please register online or by calling the library.Library: Elkton Central Library Location: Meeting Room Contact: Elkton Adult Services Department Contact Number: 410-996-5600 x 481
Around 4 p.m. this afternoon, as the National Weather Service issued severe weather warnings for Cecil County, the sky quickly darkened over Chesapeake City. By all appearances mother nature was brewing up an intense line of thunderstorms for Cecil County and we were in for a dark and stormy night. But Cecil appears to have escaped the worst of the pounding and the storm brought badly needed rain. Here are a few photos from Army Corps of Engineers headquarters and C & D Canal Museum in Chesapeake City.
Today Cecil County is divided into nine minor political subdivisions called election districts (ED). But in the earliest times the equivalent intra-county areas were known as a hundred. Having its origin in Saxon history, the name was derived from the concept of having a territory that could provide a hundred men to serve in the militia. In the colony, it was used as an administrative area for the administration of local government, which included the work of tax assessor and the appointment of constables. In 1798 the General Assembly enacted a law requiring the division of the then nineteen counties of Maryland into EDs in the place of the antiquated hundred. Cecil County was divided into four EDs in 1800.
Several decades ago, Darlene McCall and Lorraine Alexander published a most helpful title, the “Genealogical Research Guide for Cecil County, Maryland.” It included a map drawn by Jon Harlan Livezy, which shows the fully developed system of hundreds in Cecil County in the late 1700s. Darlene has given us permission to share the helpful depiction here as we often get questions about the placement of those civil units. Thanks Darlene
It’s a great time for those who investigate earlier eras as we are in the middle of a major transformative revolution. Oh sure photocopiers made it easy to duplicate library materials and the connectivity of the Internet tied things together. But in this digital age open source placement of content on social media sites is the latest cutting-edge enhancement enabling exploration of the past to move beyond the walls of the library while also leveraging the powerful knowledge of the crowd.
Hstorypin, one of these exciting, new collaborative products, is a virtual repository where users pin old photos on Google Maps. This allows “millions of people to come together, from across different generations, cultures and places, to share small glimpses of the past and to build up the huge story of human history,” according to the publisher. “Everyone has a history to share: whether it is sitting in yellowed albums in the attic, collected in piles of crackly tapes, conserved in the 1000s of archives all over the world or passed down in memories and old stories. Each of these pieces of history finds a home on Historypin, where everyone has a chance to see it, add to it, learn from it, debate it, and use it to build up a more complete understanding of the world.” We Are What We Do, the publisher, is a not-for-profit company, working in partnership with Google.
Although the development of the collection is in its early stage, viewers will find plenty of fascinating images online. On the Delmarva Peninsula the pinning is just getting underway, but there are pictures from the Maryland State Archives, the Hagley Museum, and individuals, going back to the mid-19th century. Wilmington, Perryville, Harrington, Salisbury, and other places on the Eastern Shore are represented through the sharing of these early adopters.
It will be interesting to watch developments in this region as the major institutions sort out how they’re going to use this collaborative, open source platform to change the way people experience the past, making resources accessible to a far broader audience. In addition there will probably be a great deal of sharing as old pictures come out of the attic. And the value of crowdsourcing adds to the unparalleled interactive experience, creating a broader knowledge database as visitors to the site create additional knowledge about the objects.
When Google Street View is available, it overlays the historical pictures on the contemporary location, creating an interesting perspective. Here’s the link to Historypin.
—Downtown Salisbury about 1856. Source: Maryland State Archives via HistoryPin
