Charlestown, March 29, 2012 — At the Cecil County Tourism Partners Breakfast at the Wellwood Club, I was pleased to run into my old friend Zebulon Hollingsworth, Jr. (aka Gordy Johnson). Now Zeb is what you might call a real old-timer as he’s been around Cecil County for centuries. Born in the 1730s, the gentleman passed away in 1812, just before the British invaded the Upper Chesapeake Bay. But Gordy, an exceptional performer, brings him back to us for occasional visits as an actor with the Heritage Troupe.
When we started Elk Landing in 1998, taking on the enormous challenge to raise funds for the nonprofit, Gordy eagerly took on the role of the owner of the Landing, making visits to the historic spots lots of fun for visitors. I immediately noticed Gordy’s special talent for engaging an audience in an entertaining, humorous way, while making history fun. It was a valuable asset for the start-up organization.
We have plenty of serious lecturers and you can bet they’re able to belt out the facts. But having Gordy and all the members of the heritage troupe support us as we got started was so valuable. It was good to run into Gordy again and get updated. It was also good to be reminded that nonprofits in the county have the support of the Troupe, a valuable Cecil County Tourism asset.
The Heritage Troupe, a volunteer group sponsored by county tourism, formed in the late 1990s to entertain and inform audiences in a different way by taking them back in time to centuries-old happenings right here in northeastern Maryland. During lively skits, they tell the county’s story theatrically through pieces about the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812 and much more as engaging scenes unfold for attentive audiences. The Troupe does an excellent job and has great performers, taking visitors on fun-filled and enjoyable trips to the past.
The North East MD town lockup was used as the local jail for town officials. It survives today.
What was North East to do with vagrants, drunks, disturbers of the peace, and other unruly types in the 1880s? Although a bailiff enforced the law, the town officer didn’t have a place to detain offenders after arrest. Placing prisoners on one of the P.W. & B. trains running through town and carting them off to the county jail was one option, but that required a long, costly trip to Elkton. An appearance before a magistrate and a fine could set things straight for some offenses. Of course, if the violator was drunk or disorderly, that was another matter.
Yet, like any other community, North East had its share of troublemakers and occasional outbursts of drunkenness and disorder. One of the more serious law breakings occurred when a crook broke into Chas’s home. E. Haley. (And those fish wagons were running through town on Sunday, which shouldn’t be tolerated, one newspaper scribe said.)
After the town lawman busted two troublemakers in 1885, he had to care for the wrongdoers since there was no place to detain them. Perhaps that was why town commissioners voted to build a lockup. Certainly, for the Cecil Whig’s North East correspondent, that was sufficient reason for him to declare the town needed a place for those who indulge in disorderly conduct.
The town financial statement shows the lockup cost $1,179 in a year when the total receipts for the town were $2201. Click on the photo for a larger image. Source: Town of North East Financial Report.
Soon enough, the town fathers spent money acquiring a lot from Walter Armstrong on Cecil Ave. Then, they hired architect Levi O. Cameron to draw up plans, and once that was done, they gave the contract for building the place to Mr. Haddock. When it was finished, the building had drained nearly $1,200 from the public purse.
October 1885 marked a turning point for law enforcement in North East. The next time the municipal officer cracked down on a notorious type, he had a substantial lockup, with all the modern conveniences for containing the wrongdoer. Later the scofflaw would face the police magistrate, George McCullough.
In Rising Sun, the editor thought that some “misapplied taste” was involved in this public project as the “artistic kind of lock-up” was a little too ornamental. Such places “should be gloomy horrid looking structures with death head and cross bones over the entrance to frighten evildoers and tramps away,” the Midland Journal advised.
While we don’t know who first occupied the cell, the perpetrator certainly heard the clang of big keys as iron-barred doors slammed securely shut in the town of 1,000 inhabitants. As for how many violators were detained in the town jail or when it stopped housing them, it’s hard to say, for the written record is mostly silent on that subject. But we do know that in 1887, the town newspaper, the Cecil Star, bragged North East had a “good lock-up that is seldom used.”
Former North East Mayor Ulysses Demond (he served his first term in 1957) and his wife Lucia recalled hearing a story from an earlier generation of residents about someone being put behind iron bars. Years ago, an elderly lady told Lucia, “Once they put the town drunk in the cell, and by morning, he was gone.” The iron bars were removed during World War II, Ulysses recalled.
When Marshall L. Purner became the police chief in 1957, the place no longer had a holding tank for wayward types. But his headquarters was here — all he had was one drawer in a desk in the building, he says. Although Purner never heard of anyone being put behind bars in the two-story brick jail, as a child growing up in North East, he had another memory about the place. “On warm summer evenings, they kept all the windows open in the lockup, and I could hear them [the town band] practicing. North East’s band was one of the best in the land, and their room was on the 2nd floor.”
Regardless of the little fortress-like structure, the old North East Lockup, with its three-pronged turrets and bars on the windows, must have served as an incentive for those notorious types wandering about to stick to the straight and narrow in the little town at the head of the North East River.
In 1971, the Baltimore Sun’s Sunday Magazine published a piece on North East lockup that was serving as the North East town hall and library. Source: Baltimore Sun.
For additional photos of the North East Lockup, see this post on Facebook.
Date: 3/31/2012 Start Time: 1:30 PM End Time:4:30 PM
Description:
Learn how to record personal, family, and local history stories using oral history techniques and modern technology. Mike Dixon from the Cecil County Historical Society will guide you through the process of telling your personal journey stories. Open to adults and teens grades 6 and up who are interested in interviewing family or community members, as well as adults who have a story to tell. Registration required.
Library: Elkton Central BranchLocation: Meeting Room Contact: Elkton Central Library Contact Number: 410-996-5600 x.481 Status: Openings
Date: 3/31/2012 Start Time: 11:00 AM End Time:12:30 PM
Description:
Join cookbook writer Katie Moose, author of “Chesapeake’s Bounty: Cooking with Regional Favorites,” for a bit of Chesapeake food history, a cooking demonstration, and a book signing. Books will be for sale from the author. Call 410-996-6269 to register.
Library: North East Branch Location: Meeting Room Status: Call 410-996-6269 to register. Contact: North East Branch Library Contact Number: 410-996-6269 Presenter: Katie Moose
The 2nd Maryland, Company H invades the Perryville Branch of the Cecil County Public Library! This reenactment group will set up camp, conduct drills and demonstrations and provide a glimpse into the life of Civil War soldiers. This event is open to the public, free of charge and no registration is required. A great event for families and history enthusiasts.
When: Saturday, April 14 from 10am – 5pm.
Where: Perryville Library
For more information, please contact the Perryville Branch Library 410-996-6070.
Route 1, crossing the Susquehanna at the Conowingo Dam, is the only free passageway in Maryland for motorists. But for nearly a century, this trip involved paying a toll to a private company.
Conowingo Bridge Company Stock Certificate (Hosanna Museum)
A covered bridge was built just north of the dam by 1820, but after a flood swept it away in 1846, the Legislature authorized the creation of the Conowingo Bridge Company. That money-making enterprise opened its span to the public in 1859. So, to pass safely above the rushing water, you forked over cash to the toll-keeper, which ended up in the company’s coffers as the profits rolled in for stockholders.
During subsequent decades, floods and ice jams periodically damaged the company’s assets. If the forces of the raging waters weren’t destructive enough, about midnight one June in 1907 flames burst through the roof of the wooden structure. Before anything could be done, a large part of it was consumed by the blaze. The burnt-out sections were replaced by iron spans. Finally, the State of Maryland bought the highway bridge in 1911 for $88,000, bringing an end to the practice of a private company charging for passage here. The structure fell one final time when it was dynamited in 1927 to make way for the new hydroelectric dam a short distance downstream.
Former Delaware State archaeologist Ron Thomas wrapped up an extensive investigation on this parcel in 1980 and this May the Archeological Society of Maryland’s Northeastern Chapter (ASMNC) continues Ron’s investigation during the 2012 Tyler Bastian Field School. In preparation for the school, which runs from May 25th to June 5th, the ASMNC recently rebagged and recataloged over 4,000 Hollingsworth Farm artifacts, from the 1980 investigation. Dan Coates, the ASM chapter president will review Ron Thomas’ data and describe the field school at Elk Landing.
Dr Jim Gibb (co-principle investigator for the field session), Peter Quantock of University of Denver and about a half dozen members of ASNC, were at the Hollingsworth Farm and Elk Landing today using ground penetrating radar and metal detectors to make a preliminary survey of the historic land as the group finalizes details for the field school.
The Annual Tyler Bastian Field Session in Maryland Archeology is one of ASM’s most popular programs. Named after Maryland’s first State Archeologist who began the Field Session in 1971 as a weekend field testing project, it has grown to today’s 11-day field and lab training program, complete with lecture series, workshops, and meal/camping facilities. The Field Session is held in cooperation with the State Office of Archeology.
The purpose of the Field Session is to introduce lay persons to archeological methods and to teach Maryland’s past through hands-on involvement, while making meaningful contributions to the study of Maryland archeology. Sites are selected for their research potential, endangerment (e.g., from erosion, development, etc.), and for their suitability as a training site. The program has worked well in that it provides a structured, professionally-directed excavation project for students and lay people, and provides the Office of Archeology’s professional staff with an eager, well-trained cadre of volunteer assistants.
The Field Session has investigated 28 different sites in 13 of Maryland’s 23 counties, ranging from prehistoric camps and villages to historic mills and plantations. It has fostered a tradition of cooperation and camaraderie between amateur and professional archeologists, putting Maryland at the forefront of nationwide efforts to involve present generations in our shared archeological past.
As the sun went down on this beautiful late winter Saturday the Beehive, the ruins of an 18th century commercial complex, caught my attention. These stone buildings are located at the intersection of Telegraph and Little Elk Creek roads near Fair Hill. Some long forgotten stonemason and his helpers displayed fine skill in cutting and placing stone to build these sturdy walls, which, although worn by time, weather, and neglect, managed to survive into the 21st century. A cooper’s or blacksmith’s shop, workers houses and Michael Wallace’s store, made up elements of the complex, according to the Maryland Historical Trust Dennis Griffith’s Map of Maryland (1794) shows Wallaces on the bank of the Little Elk Creek. The Elk Creeks Perservation Society is presently conducting an archaeological study on this parcel.
Dennis Griffith Map of Maryland, 1794 — Source: Library of Congress, American Memory
Erica Jesonis, Web Manager and Graphic Designer at the Cecil County Public Library has been named a “Mover and Shaker” in the library industry by the national publication, Library Journal.
In its March 15, 2012 issue, Library Journal named 53 outstanding professionals committed to providing excellent service to meet the needs of the people they serve.
Library Journal honored Erica Jesonis, Web Manager and Graphic Designer at Cecil County Public Library in Elkton, MD. She was selected because of her commitment to the profession and her innovative approach to the management of the library’s comprehensive website, blog and advocacy efforts.
When Salem Press awarded its 2011 Local Library Blog prize to the library, staffers there knew the credit should go to Jesonis as the driving force. In the last two years, Jesonis “has taken the website to new heights and made striking photography and graphic design an integral part of our marketing and publications,” says CCPL director Denise Davis. She was also responsible for the My Library, My Lifeline tree-inspired logo used as part of a successful postcard marketing campaign aimed at telling local officials how vital the system is to its community.
“Being recognized as a ‘Mover & Shaker’ indicates that, as a professional, one has the passion, dedication and desire to serve the public,” said Francine Fialkoff, Library Journal Editor-in-Chief.
A native of Cecil County, Ms. Jesonis graduated from Perryville High and attended the University of Delaware. She has worked at CCPL since 2006.
The 2012 Movers & Shakers were selected by the editors of Library Journal, the profession’s leading trade magazine. Each of the Movers & Shakers will be prominently featured in the March 15th issue of Library Journal and celebrated at a special luncheon in June during the American Library Association’s annual conference in Anaheim, CA. The print feature’s companion website is sponsored by OCLC and available at www.libraryjournal.com/movers2012. The luncheon and awards ceremony is made possible by the support of sponsors, including ABC-CLIO, DEMCO, ProQuest, Reference USA, and Rosen Publishing.
The Cecil County Public Library operates seven branches located throughout Cecil
County, MD. The library serves over 50,000 registered borrowers. The mission of the Cecil County Public Library is to provide access to educational and cultural resources for all and to promote individual and community success.
About Library Journal
In its 136th year of publication, Library Journal is the oldest and most respected publication covering the library field. Considered to be the “bible” of the library world, LJ is read by more than 100,000 library directors, administrators, and staff in public, academic, and special libraries.
During a disastrous fire that swept through a large part of Elkton’s central business district in 1947, an urgent telephone call was made to the Wilmington Fire Department. One of the city’s ladder truck was desperately needed to help control the blaze that was ripping through Main Street businesses. The firefighters from Delaware’s largest city answered the call, coming to the aid of the local volunteers.
A few years after that insurance rating agencies recommended the growing town purchase an aerial unit to protect commercial buildings and taller structures. In 1966, the county’s first aerial unit, an 85-foot Pitman Pirsch Snorkel, was put in service by Singerly Fire Company. A photographer snapped this picture of the unit on the ramp of the old Station 3 on North street in the summer of 1972.
Charlestown, March 29, 2012 — At the Cecil County Tourism Partners Breakfast at the Wellwood Club, I was pleased to run into my old friend Zebulon Hollingsworth, Jr. (aka Gordy Johnson). Now Zeb is what you might call a real old-timer as he’s been around Cecil County for centuries. Born in the 1730s, the gentleman passed away in 1812, just before the British invaded the Upper Chesapeake Bay. But Gordy, an exceptional performer, brings him back to us for occasional visits as an actor with the Heritage Troupe.
