The Historical Society of Kent County presented its annual Roger D. Brown History Award to Nellie Rhodes on Sunday, May 21, during a Society event at a historic home near Rock Hall.
The award is made annually by the Society to a graduating senior from Kent County High School in recognition of outstanding achievement in history. The award includes a plaque and a $500 scholarship. It is named for the Society longtime treasurer Roger D. Brown. Phyllis Brown, wife of the late Roger Brown, presented the award to Nellie.
Nellie, daughter of Susan Newton-Rhodes and Frank Rhodes, has spent her entire high school career at Kent County High School, where she completed an AP Course in International History with a score leading to college credit. She is bound for the University of Kansas, where she will be a fifth-generation legacy student following in the footsteps of her mother and other relatives.
The award was made during a special Society event held at the historic home of Dennis and Betty Martin at Reese’s Corner near Rock Hall. The event raised funds to support the Society’s programs, exhibits, speakers, brochures, and archives, most of which are offered without charge to members and the public.
In other HSKC news:
New Board Members and Officers
Sunday’s event followed the recent 87th Annual Meeting of the Society held at St. Paul’s Church on April 30, at which new directors and officers were elected.
Joining the board for the first time was Ashley Files Flory, who always lived in historic districts during her 30-year tenure with the federal government, retiring as Deputy Executive Secretary to the Department of Health and Human Services focused on budgeting issues and policies. Flory is a member of the Board of Historic Takoma, Inc., a historical society and advocacy organization in the Takoma Park Historic District, which covers portions of Montgomery County, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. She is currently restoring an 18th century home in Chestertown, which she saw on a snowy January day in 2022 and purchased several months later. Her other interests include furniture restoration and kinetic sculpture racing.
The Society also welcomed Michelle Pilliod Carroll, who joined the Board for the first time earlier this year. Trained as an art therapist and after a successful career as a meeting planner for large corporations, Carroll turned her talents to history when she retired in 2013, researching and writing coffee table books on historic homes in the D.C. Capitol Hill neighborhood where she then resided. She is a former vice president of the Capitol Hill Restoration Society. Carroll and her husband purchased a home in Chestertown in April 2021.
Re-elected to second terms as directors were LaMonte Cooke and Nivek Johnson.
New officers were Victoria W. Smith as vice president and George Corey as treasurer. Re-elected were Barbara Jorgenson as president and Erik T. Gulbrandsen as secretary.
The Historical Society, founded in 1936, collects, preserves, and interprets the history of Kent County to foster a knowledge and understanding of the shared heritage of our community. Its archives and library house scores of local genealogies, books on local history, and original documents. It is the only library decided solely to Kent County history.
The Society’s museum and gift shop, located in the Bordley History Center at 301 High Street, are open Thursday and Friday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Museum admission is free, and exhibits change periodically. The Society’s library is open by appointment only. Contact [email protected]; 410-778-3499.
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