This afternoon at the Historical Society of Cecil County, Emily Kilby talked about mysteries, puzzles, and other wonderments from the past for the monthly winter lecture. In the program, “Reconstructing 100 Ruins,” the retired magazine editor explained how clusters of crumbling stone ruins and other physical surviving evidence from centuries ago got her attention as she strolled the Fair Hill Natural Resources Management Area. Curious about the narrative behind these old artifacts, Emily asked questions, but there were few answers.
The more she wondered about these bygone curiosities, the more convinced Emily became that she needed to look into the matter. So the writer took a systematic, scholarly approach, an in-depth exploration of a previously unstudied subject in a scenic region of Cecil County. Emily spent many weeks pouring over original, largely untapped source materials, such as old pictures, maps, court documents, census registers, and family papers, and these provided original insights, slowly revealing lost histories of abandoned properties within the Fair Hill Natural Resources Management area.
In this lively program attended by 50 people, she talked about the sparks that raised her interest, the chase for evidence from long ago, and the investigative methods that provided the evidence to piece together the puzzle of 100 ruins at Fair Hill. The audience was engaged, and once the formal remarks wrapped up they had plenty of questions for the researcher.
Thank you, Emily Kilby, for an outstanding program.
The winter series takes place on the first Saturday of each month and on February 1, 2014, Syl Woolford will talk about Early Black Methodist on Delmarva.
