One of our fellow Cecil County Bloggers, “the Road to Compromise” has an interesting piece up about the respected, long time principal of George Washington Carver High School, Mr. Charles Caldwell. He served the county Board of Education until the Booth Street school closed at the time of integration in Cecil County. We thought our readers might find the piece to be of interest. Click here to surf over to the article.
Remembering U.S. Colored Troops From Cecil County
On the day before Christmas Eve, I paused for a few minutes in a quiet country cemetery sitting atop a knoll near Pleasant Hill. A chilling December breeze gently swept over this old burial ground in the shadows of the Griffith A.U.M.P. Church as I gazed at monuments of soldiers, ministers, teachers, mothers, fathers, and children.
Almost directly in front of me, flags flapping in the breeze drew my attention to three United States Government-issued tombstones for soldiers with the U. S. Colored Troops. In the distance, I saw more flags marking veterans from most of the country’s wars. Nothing in this tranquil spot,–noise, automobiles, or people–distracted me as I thought about the period these people lived in and how times have marched continually onward.
                                                                                                                                              It was February 26, 1864, when the three brave young men from Cecil County enlisted in the infantry with the 30th Regiment, Company C of the United States Colored Troops.  Rev. John Webster was one of the soldiers. Private Webster mustered out of the service on December 10, 1865. He died on August 28, 1890, from typhoid fever at the age of about 55 and left several small children, his wife having died about a year earlier.                   Â
In announcing his death, the Elkton Appeal of September 3, 1890, said: “Rev John Webster, a very respected colored man, living near Warburton’s mill died on Friday last. He had been suffering from typhoid fever for some time. . . He served in the war and was an honest and industrious man. . . .” It noted that his funeral took place on Sunday at Cedar Hill A.U.M.P. Church.Â
Jackson Janes, born December 12, 1864, was mustered out on March 28, 1865. He passed away on June 5, 1892. Private Cyrus T. Wesley mustered out on June 17, 1865.
These men and the other people in this final resting place lived, raised families, worked, and died in this community as time continued its onward march. They labored on the land, fought bravely for the nation, ministered to the Griffith A.U.M.P. congregation, taught at Cedar Hill School, and raised families here and each of these cold old stones has many stories that could be told.
The church that is the center of this community, Griffith A.U.M.P., was dedicated on Saturday, June 7, 1874, at services conducted by the Rev E. W. Scott. The Choir from the Providence Church was there to assist in the ceremony. The church is named for Benjamin Griffith, a resident of the area, since he donated the land for the church and nearby school.
Having spent a revitalizing few minutes gazing and walking reflectively through a country graveyard, I felt a closer connection with our past as I drove home to my family and the rapidly approaching Christmas holiday. I decided that as soon as the holiday was over I’d see if I could find out a little more about these United States Colored Troops — privates Janes, Webster and Wesley, three pioneers from the county at a time when the nation was torn by the issues of slavery and the Civil War.
Atop a hill in northeastern Cecil in the peaceful little community of Cedar Hill, as Christmas neared, it was a good day to recall the sacrifices for freedom that these three African-Americans from the northeastern corner of Maryland and others made during the Civil War.
For additional photos of Griffith AUMP Church, the cemetery and school, see this photo album on Facebook.
Route to Inauguration Will be Abe Lincoln’s
The Associated Press produced a story on Dec. 22 concerning the president-elect’s route to the inauguration over the northeast corridor Amtrak Line between Philadelphia and Washington. The piece was carried widely by many of the nation’s daily newspapers, and we’ve clipped part of it here in case you didn’t see it. For the entire article click on the at the bottom, which will take you to the Wilmington News Journal, which included a few staff photographs with the piece.
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Riding Rails May Remind Obama of Task He Faces
Associated Press, Dec. 22, 2oo8
ABOARD AMTRAK 181 NORTHEAST REGIONAL — The centuries-old right of way between Philadelphia and Washington is marked by shimmering waterways and industrial sprawl, well-kept suburbs and urban blight. Pesident-elect Barack Obama won’t be sharing a ride with thousands of long-distance commuters when he travels on a private charter train from Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station to Washington’s Union Station on Jan. 17, three days before he takes the oath of office. But his route will be exactly the same. I fact, it hasn’t changed much since Abraham Lincoln rode the rails before his inauguration.
Evidently, Obama has thought deeply about the symbolism of the 135-mile journey, something that regular riders typically aren’t inclined to do. Nonetheless, they develop a feel for the changing landscape. You see those deserted houses, and you know you’re in Baltimore,” said Gifty Kwakye, 27, a student at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who commutes daily from Philadelphia. The theme for Obama’s inaugural is “Renewing America’s Promise,” and as Kwakye noted, the need for such renewal will be clear in the five minutes before Obama’s train pulls into Baltimore’s Penn Station.
The tracks pass through some of east Baltimore’s most impoverished neighborhoods, where abandoned and burned-out row homes seem to outnumber inhabited ones. The city has nearly 30,000 abandoned properties.
Closed Chrysler plant in view
A gaze out the window could also remind Obama of the troubles of the auto industry, the decline of American manufacturing and the strain on the military. Johnnie Walker, a 60-year-old Amtrak operations supervisor from Middletown, who has been with the railroad for 29 years, finds profound scenes throughout the journey. At the just-closed Chrysler plant in Newark, “you wonder what’s going to happen to all the employees there,” Walker said. At Maryland’s Aberdeen Proving Ground, “you start thinking about the military personnel in Iraq or Afghanistan, wondering where they’re being deployed to. “There’s a lot of emotion when you travel on these trains,” Walker said . . .
African-American School Houses in Cecil County
There are a number of old schools from the segregation era in Cecil still standing around the county and their history is interesting. I just noticed that The Long Road to Compromise, a blog about school integratrion on the upper Eastern Shore has a new piece about the African-American school in Cedar Hill, a small community in the northeatern corner of the county. It’s not too far from Pleasant Hill. You may want to glance at that posting.
Inaugural Train to Pass Through Cecil
Barack Obama and Joseph Biden will travel to the inauguration by train on Saturday, January 17, the Baltimore Sun and News Journal reported this afternoon. After stopping for a celebration in Wilmington, the president and vice-president will step aboard the inaugural train for the trip to Washington. This is particularly exciting news for this memorable run will bring them through Cecil County. Naturally, this isn’t the first time a president passed through here on the railroad. There were many, including presidents Lincoln, Grant, Taft, Wilson, Hoover, Roosevelt and others. A Window on Cecil County’s Pastwill post a piece about presidents riding the rails in Cecil over the next few days and we’ll plan to do a slide show on Saturday, Jan 17 as Cecil County turns out to wish the new team well.
Dec 7, 1941 – Cecil Goes on a War Footing & Bainbridge Develops
On December 7, 1941, a serene Sunday afternoon two and a half weeks before Christmas in Cecil County, many people returned home from church and settled down to enjoy the remainder of their day. Some fidgeted with radios, slowly turning knobs and dialing up Sammy Kaye’s Sunday Serenade on the NBC Red Network. Others enjoyed a family meal and conversation or read the Sunday newspaper. As sweet, melodic orchestra music filled many homes and clocks ticked unhurriedly toward 2:30 p.m. a news flash interrupted the tranquility.
All conversation abruptly stopped as startled families gathered around the radio to hear an excited broadcaster say: “President Roosevelt said in a statement today that the Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor Hawaii from the air. I’ll repeat that–President Roosevelt says that the Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii from the air. . . .” Later, another newscaster reporting from Honolulu warned: “This is no Joke! This is war!”
While smoke slowly cleared at Pearl Harbor, the nation faced a stark, cold reality. A sneak attack dealt a damaging blow and we were at war. Bracing to do its part, Cecil immediately went on a war footing by manning aircraft observation stations and posting security personnel at critical installations. But this was only the beginning for soon tremendous activity, which drastically altered the county, came to the high granite bluff overlooking Port Deposit.
As the Navy urgently needed facilities to train untold numbers of seaman, government officials searching for a large tract of land descended on property with a scenic view of the Susquehanna River. After negotiating with the Jacob Tome Institute, they purchased the institution’s magnificent holdings high above Port Deposit and acquired additional land from farmers and homeowners adjacent to the school.
While crews fenced the 1,132-acre property, trucks, day and night, unloaded large piles of lumber for barracks. Fifteen thousand construction workers, along with a fleet of tractors, bulldozers, and steam shovels, descended on the formerly peaceful land to clear farm fields and woods, erect buildings, and open a navy base in four months. Around-the-clock construction changed the fabric of the land and caused a hustle and bustle in the quiet little river town of 900 as traffic jammed up with crews rushing back and forth. This onslaught of workers filled every available room in town, and restaurants did “a land office business,” reported the Cecil Whig.
Enlistees started arriving in October 1942 when “45 rather nervous young men from Pittsburgh piled off a Navy bus with overnight bags in their hands,” while a military band serenaded the recruits by playing Anchors Aweigh, reported the Philadelphia Bulletin. Referring to it as the Great Lakes of the East, the newspaper speculated that it would be the “Alma Mater for thousands” of young men during the difficult times ahead.
Calling it a $50-million miracle since nearly four months to the day shovels broke ground for these arrivals, Captain Charles F. Russell told the recruits they would have to endure some discomforts because “some things we want you to have aren’t finished yet,” reported the newspaper. This is “because we are fighting a war which had been thrust upon us. We did not have these facilities ready because we were not seeking war.”
Named in honor of Commodore William Bainbridge, commander of the famous frigate Constitution, “it grew to enormous proportions, with hundreds of barracks, training halls, classrooms, gymnasiums and mess halls quickly raised on the property and at its peak the center nearly 35,000 recruits,” says At the Head of the Bay. The center’s swollen population brought prosperity to the neighboring town and by the war’s end in 1945, nearly 250,000 servicemen had passed through its gates.
Bainbridge was deactivated as a training center in 1947, but when the cold war blazed up in Korea the Navy needed the center again. This ramping up to help push back communists invading South Korea began in 1951; young sailors began preparing the neglected center to receive recruits. Working with contractors, they hustled about, repairing broken windows, scrubbing the barracks, and making general repairs since tens of thousands of recruits would pump life back into the hushed base.
At its peak during this war, the base had a population of 55,000 and was one of the country’s largest naval bases, he recalled. During its existence, it served as the home for several service schools providing technical training for recruits and fleet sailors. Radiomen, hospital corpsmen, dental technicians, electricians, storekeepers, personnel men, and yeomen were among those trades. But during the 1970s, the base withered. By the time the doors closed on March 31, 1976, barracks, unused for years, were choked with weeks and the water system leaked badly.
The “enormous amphitheater, where Bob Hope and Milton Berle entertained troops was full of saplings,” reported the Record of Havre de Grace. The U.S. Naval Training Center, Bainbridge served the nation for 34 years as a recruit training center. “When the colors were lowered for the last time . . . signifying the closing of the famous base where thousands of Navy recruits were trained,” there were tears in the eyes of onlookers, the Cecil Whig reported.
The Baltimore & Ohio Holly Tree
One tradition for kicking off the Christmas Season in Cecil County is the annual lighting of the “Holly Tree by the tracks.” This year, the 61st lighting is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 6th. The Baltimore & Ohio held its first public ceremony in 1948 when thousands of people gathered to ring in the season as lights from 
thousands of bulbs on the evergreen softly illuminated the Jackson, MD hillside.
For many years the company dispatched a special train from Mount Royal Station for the occasion. After 1971, the tree was dark for a time until a group of volunteers started making sure the tree festively blazed for the holiday season.
The magic of the 1954 lighting ceremony was captured on a 33 1/3 long playing record. It included carols by the B & O Glee Club and the B & O Women’s Music Choir. That old vinyl, a long unheard broadcast, has sat silently on a shelf, but recently I digitized the portion of the audio in order to enjoy the snap, crackle and pop of a vinyl recording from a long time ago. Musical selections directed by Dr. James Allan Dash, a narration by the master of ceremonies Walter Linthicum, gasps of delight and loud applause, and much were captured on the record. So you may enjoy a portion of that festive occasion that took place over a half-century ago, I will post a part of that audio here on the web site over the next few days.
Click here to hear a partial audio of the 1954 ceremony from a long playing album.
For more on the Holly Tree, also see
Remembering President Kennedy in Cecil County in Nov. 1963
Early this Saturday morning (Nov. 22), we traveled down to Wesley College for a campus tour since that is one of several institutions Kyle is considering for his undergraduate studies. While visiting the library two staffers started talking about how hard it is to believe that 45-years have passed since word flashed across news outlets on the Delmarva Peninsula that President Kennedy had been assassinated.  That conversation caused me to think back to November 22, 1963, in Cecil County. I was in Mrs. Gray’s sixth grade class that cold November so long ago.Â
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Dedicating the Expressway
  On Nov. 14, 1963, more than 5,000 people gathered at the Mason Dixon Line to watch President John F. Kennedy, Maryland Governor J. Millard Tawes and Delaware Governor Elbert N Carvel dedicate the Northeastern Expressway, the area’s first modern day toll road. A helicopter brought the nation’s leader to the famous old line where a speakers stand was set-up for the ceremony. The Delaware National Guard played “Hail to the Chief” while the president walked to the stand to offer remarks. After snipping the ribbon and unveiling a marker on the state line, the president shook hands while returning to the helicopter. At the door of the craft he waved to the crowd before disappearing inside.  While the bird faded into the eastern horizon, the area was bathed in a dramatic sunset as people
headed back to their cars on this chilly Thursday afternoon, the Morning News reported. The chopper flight took him to the Wilmington Airport where he climbed aboard a DC 8 for a trip to New York. Our 35th president’s 62 minutes visit to the region was over.Â
   As traffic began zipping along the superhighway for a fast trip through the county, people realized that the dream of many years was a reality. For years plans had been underway to provide a second thoroughfare to absorb some of the increased traffic on Pulaski Highway (Route 40). Economic development experts talked with great excitement about the opportunities the new road would bring to the county. Motorists were excited for they could rush along without one traffic light halting a journey between Baltimore and Wilmington. On Route 40, which ran parallel to the new Interstate and had served as the main route for auto travel along the northeast corridor, service stations, motels, and restaurants reported that business was off nearly half the weekend after the fast road opened.
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November 22, 1963Â Â
  There was such optimism in the nation as the morning of November 22, 1963, dawned on the Chesapeake Bay. Elkton Patrolman Jerry Secor signed on duty at 7:00 a.m., noting in the police blotter that a thick fog blanketed the town. On this Friday shift things were quiet as he responded to two unremarkable calls, duly chronicling them in the official record book. Then abruptly at 1:30 p.m. everything changed in this Eastern Shore town and the town. Officer Secor, in a careful hand, wrote on the docket: “President Kennedy shot and killed in Dallas Texas.”  For the remainder of that hearbreaking day, there is something about the unsettling quiet reflected in the complaint log as a deep dark, sadness penetrates the town and few calls come in for the remainder of the overnight shifts.  Law-breaking had apparently come to a standstill as everyone stayed glued to television sets, trying to comprehend the terrible event in Texas.
  Two operators worked the Armstrong Phone Company Switchboard in Rising Sun. Perodicially lights on the board flickered on indicating someone had picked up one of the old hand crank telephones to make a call so the operators would answer “number please.” The call volume was routine as they juggled cords and plugs on the last day of the work week as the lunch hour rolled around. But in a flash the entire board lit up, alarming the operators. Something similar happened when one of the women activated the fire siren for people would call to see where the fire was.  But this time it was different for everyone on the network, it seemed, picked up receivers at exactly the same time. Answering as many calls as they could, they heard upset people saying did you hear the news, the president has been shot or connect me with so and so as callers reached out to talk about the unfolding tragedy. Sometime after newscasters announced the president had died, an erie silence settled over the telephone network as people headed home to be with family at this sad time and to monitor the newscasts.Â
  Since it was the middle of the workday many people first received news from the radio. At Elkton’s top 40 AM Station, WSER, the mid-day disc jockey worked the turntable playing the hits of ’63 when a network flash interrupted his entertaining routine. Once the first flash got everyone’s attention, listeners huddled near receivers at home, work, and in cars to hear the latest. As the hours unfolded the network kept up a steady stream of bulletins and flashes.
  Les Coleman, had opened the county’s first station, but was working as a sales representative at WDOV in Dover that day.  When he checked with the station, they told him that they were going to pull all commercial programming.  Les recalled in a conversation with me a few years ago that his job that afternoon was to call advertisers and let them know what the station was doing.Â
  At Gilpin Manor Elementary we were informed about the tragedy shortly before regular dismissal. Of course all the children on Mrs Sprat’s bus were talking about it, trying to comprehend the meaning of it all. Throughout the county, it was particularly quiet as that unusually dark night got underway, perhaps not unlike the evening of 9/11, as people rushed home to learn more details of the tragedy in Dallas from broadcasters. Activities throughout the county quickly ground to a near halt as bewilderment and disbelief paralyzed Cecil and the nation.
  Practically everyone recalled that only eight day earlier the president had visited the county to open the northeastern expressway. In 1964 I-95 was officially renamed the John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway.
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(NOTE: Be sure to click on the links to hear some interesting audio from Wilmington Radio Station, WDEL’s broadcasts in Nov. 1963. The audio is courtesy of www.oldwilmington.net, a fascinating site containing photographs, ephemera, sounds, and much more about Wilmington Delaware. We’ve mentioned them before and thank them for permission to use a partial segment of their audio. Check out the web site for it contains more audio and lots of other things we find fascinating.)
Remembering Jim Cheeseman, Cecil Whig Photographer
Saturday, I did a talk for the Cecilton Library on research with old photographs in Cecil County, which had me thinking about the work Jim Cheeseman did in this county for over 20 years. A photojournalist for the Cecil Whig, he donated his collection of over 10,000 photographs and an untold number of negatives to the Historical Society about ten years ago. I’m reposting a piece I blogged about for the Historical Society when I got a call letting me know he passed away on April 12, 2007.  Â
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SAD NEWS – April 12, 2007
While I eagerly worked to create our first blog, my cell phone brought some sad news that dampened my enthusiasm for the task on this cool spring day. The Cecil Whig’s Katy Ciamaricone was on the line, saying she needed to talk with me about Jim Cheeseman, who had passed away earlier in the day. Shortly after that conversation, our regular office line rang, and it was Don Herring, a retired editor from the Whig.
If you don’t know, the “Cheese” served Cecil Countians as a photojournalist for over 20 years, capturing attention-grabbing images for our weekly and then daily newspaper as his camera documented the unfolding of history here at the top of the Chesapeake. He was there when the big disasters took place and as the county celebrated holidays and everyday happenings.
He retired in 1983, and back in the mid-1990s, I still recall the phone ringing another time. This time, the voice crackling over the line was Jim’s, joking and jovial as always. Would we be interested in adding his photographs spanning three decades to our library, he inquired. Oh, how exciting that call was for I couldn’t wait to get over to his apartment to see the scope of the pictures and negatives. In a few weeks, joined by his former editor, Don Herring, we sat for many days, pulling box after box of unorganized material together and adding his recollections to as many as possible.
Today we have over 10,000 of his images, which are such a valuable collection for studying our past. Jim left us with a permanent, unmatched visual record, with a unique depth and quality, focusing on everyday life in Cecil from 1963 to 1983. When his health was still good, he would often stop in to chat and joke with our volunteers and tell stories about his experiences. He always seemed to be in the middle of the action, whether it was chasing police cars and fire trucks, attending fire company banquets or church events, taking pictures of presidents, or visiting around Elkton after he retired.
That time and those memories seem a lot more distant as I write this late on a Friday afternoon as strong guests from an approaching nor’easter rattle our historic old bank building in downtown Elkton. But even now I vividly remember sitting there with Jim and Don over 10 years ago, pouring over those old images as “the Cheese” easily recalled time-tested stories about many of the pictures and related many tales about his escapades from the 1930s on. He always enjoyed an audience and he was entertaining for I still recall many of those stories.
I, too, remember his visits to the Society and seeing him around the community as he worked every job to its maximum, before and after retirement, often announcing, “Never fear the Cheese” is here or something like that. He had a great sense of humor, was always joking, and got along easily with people. That approach helped him, for he was able to work his way into any unfolding news event.
So long, Jim. Though we’ll never hear that familiar phrase again, we will carefully look after the “Cheeseman Collection” (http://www.cchistory.org/photos/index_files/Page1129.htm) for we are pleased you selected us to be the custodians of such priceless materials. As the time you traveled every corner of Cecil, from Bald Friar to Warwick and everyplace in between, grows more distant, your record of the county grows immensely more valuable and your work will serve as a tangible reminder of the contribution you made.
Cecil’s Bridge to the Past: Federal Dollars Come Home to Help With Gilpin Falls Covered Bridge
As many of you are aware the county recently obtained a $1-million dollar grant from the federal Covered Bridge Preservation Program. Soon after the award was announced a Whig editorial calling it “Cecil’s own little bridge to nowhere” suggested that the county make a “symbolic gesture” by refusing to accept the grant. Also Commissioner Tome voted against receiving $1-million in federal dollars while the other officials voted in favor.Â
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As regular readers to A Window on Cecil County’s Past are aware we strongly favor preservation. In this case, federal dollars from a restricted program are going to substantially aid the county in saving this centuries old cultural resource. By refusing to accept the funding, all we will do is make sure more help is available for another county. It’s one thing to argue that such programs shouldn’t exist, but as long as it does we should accept our share since Cecil Countians contribute to the levy. Of course, we see value in these types of preservation funding streams.Â
Below you will find a letter to the editor outlining our position. Since Whig letters may contain no more than 250 words, it is challenging to fully develop your points.Â
For a fuller piece on the covered bridge preservation effort click on this linkÂ
—– Letter to the Editor – Cecil Whig
A Whig editorial questioned whether the county should accept a million dollar grant to restore the Gilpin Falls Covered Bridge. In response, I say we should since county taxpayers contributed their dollars to this federal program, which will be used somewhere for preservation projects. If we do not, others will willingly use our money to restore their bridges.Â
Beyond that, preservation is important. The county puts a lot of effort into marketing Cecil to tourist, relocating BRAC workers, and higher-end corporations. Our natural beauty, historical character and cultural resources are things these target groups find most appealing here.Â
There is also a private partnership. Earl Simmers has worked hard to ensure that this old structure is not lost to age or neglect. Spearheading a private fund drive that has collected over $17,000 thus far, he also seeks out grants and recognition for the structure.Â
Since federal restricted funds were going to be used somewhere, it was wise of the county commissioners to bring some of our tax dollars back home. I thank the commissioners who voted in favor of the grant.Â
It is one thing to argue that this program should not exist, but as long as we shoulder some of the burden to fund it we should obtain our share. Finally as links to our past quickly disappear in the 21st century in Cecil, historic preservation is a worthy goal.