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September 26, 2021

The Chestertown Spy

An Educational News Source for Chestertown Maryland

Spy Highlights Spy Top Story

Chesapeake Film Festival: Ted Adams and his Tyndall Typewriters

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Suppose someone had to find an independent film producer and director in a pile of resumes. In that case, it’s almost certain that no one like Ted Adams would be selected out of that stack.

The product of Rice University, with a degree in mechanical engineering, and advanced business degrees from UCLA and Harvard Business Schools, Ted Adams has spent most of his adult life running businesses. It is only when you reach the end of his vita that you come to realize that he has also made a name for himself as a filmmaker.

In fact, Ted Adams seems to have excelled in this sideline work in the same way he currently runs Unified Industries, Pyrocap International Corporation, and more recently Unified Resorts Ltd. With now one feature film and five award-winning shorts to his credit, the Virginia-based director could never be accused of being a recreational filmmaker.

Adams continues his work with the screening of his new film, “Tyndall Typewriters” at the Chesapeake Film Festival next month. The 22 minute short tells the story of Thomas Tyndall, a young vintage typewriter repairman, who services these outdated machines while creating a special bond with their idiosyncratic owners. One of those is former restaurant chef who has lost her creative edge and her ability to make emotional connections.

Last week, the Spy talked to Ted over Zoom to preview this film, which is scheduled to be shown at the Festival on Saturday, October 2, at 5 pm at the Avalon Theatre in Easton.

This video is approximately two minutes in length. For more information about the Chesapeake Film Festival and ticketing please go here.

 

Mid-Shore Ecosystem: Riverkeeper Elle Bassett on Swimming Safely in Bay Waters

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A few weeks ago, with the encouragement of a Spy reader, we published the weekly findings from ShoreRivers that indicated that the Miles, Wye, and Choptank Rivers all failed the Environmental Protection Agency’s recommended threshold for bacteria levels. In short, the data warned that swimming in all three rivers could cause significant health problems during the Labor Day weekend. 

Needless to say, that report created a lot of questions about these ratings and how ShoreRivers gathers this information. That’s why we decided to spend a few moments with Elle Bassett, the organization’s Miles-Wye Riverkeeper, to understand these troublesome conditions better. And more importantly, how it can help Mid-Shore families make an informed decision on when and where to swim in our local rivers.

The Spy talks to Elle about the Swimmable ShoreRivers program and how the staff and volunteers take weekly samples and publish these from Memorial Day to Labor Day for the Miles, Wye, Choptank, Sassafras, and Chester on their website.  

This video is approximately four minutes in length. For more information about ShoreRivers please go here.

 

 

 

Mid-Shore Arts: Coming Back from COVID with Lez Zeppelin’s Steph Paynes

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While there can be no doubt that the COVID pandemic was catastrophic for thousands of musicians and their bands since March of 2020, it’s reasonable to ask if those remarkably talented groups can come back from the Great Shutdown of 2020-21.

In the case of Lez Zeppelin, the all-female tribute act honoring the work of Led Zeppelin, the answer is an absolute yes but not without an entirely new perspective on performance and purpose.

For Steph Paynes, the band’s leader and founder, her shutdown experience will remain forever in her memory. Les Zeppelin was the final performance at the Rams Head in Annapolis the night before when Governor Hogan announced the state-wide shutdown. The band had planned to continue their road tour with a benefit concert for WHCP Community Radio station in Cambridge when they heard that their Eastern Shore gig had been canceled. From that evening forward, the band, which Spin’s music critic has called “the most powerful all-female band in rock history,” fell silent for over a year.

In her Spy Zoom interview from earlier this week, Payne talks about the last eighteen months and how the band somehow survived this surreal period. In fact, Steph and her bandmates Marlain Angelides, Joan Chew, and Leesa Harrington-Squyres, are performing live concerts now and will finally make good on their commitment to play a benefit concert for Cambridge’s beloved community station on September 26th Governor’s Hall at Sailwinds Park.

This video is approximately two minutes in length. For ticket information please go here

 

Meet Horn Point Lab’s Chesapeake Champions for 2021: A Chat with Beverly and Richard Tilghman

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To their everlasting credit, Beverly and Richard Tilghman rarely turn down an invitation to be honored by the local organizations they are eager to help. While this very modest couple sees this kind of attention as perhaps the equivalent of a root canal procedure, the Tilghmans understand better than most, after decades of serving on volunteer boards of schools and organizations, that this temporary spotlight on them can significantly help the causes they believe deserve support.

And it is also true that those organizations have had an abundance of cause to recognize the Tilghmans. Best known for their leadership in historic preservation and their family’s centuries-old stewardship of the famed Wye House, the Tilghmans have also had a lifelong commitment to ecological conservation. From creating their own living shoreline at Wye House to being advocates for land conservation, water protection, and the critical role of research, the Tilghmans were the logical choice to be awarded by the UM-Horn Point Lab in Dorchester County as the Chesapeake Champions for 2021.

With a community celebration set for September 30th at the Tidewater Inn. the Tilghmans sat down with the Spy at Wye House last week to talk about their love of Horn Point, its remarkable research by its talented pool of young graduate students, and how education is making the difference in protecting the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem.

This video is approximately minutes in length. Additional photography by Jeff McGuiness. For more information and ticket information for the Chesapeake Champion event please go here.

Chesapeake Film Festival 2021: Monda Raquel Webb and her Pooch Sitter

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It takes an exceptional amount of emotional intelligence to reimagine a character whose vocation is as simple as a dog sitter; those being universally known for warm personalities and special passion for pets. It seems like an extra stretch for a writer to impose real-world problems on this happy lot. But that was precisely what film writer and director Monda Raquel Webb wanted for her short film entitled Pooch Sitter.

For Webb, a dog sitter is a perfect protagonist for her story. Dog sitter Claire Wingham (brilliantly played by Annapolis-based Donna Deter) shares all the loveable character traits of her peers, except that she is homeless. Her career as a pooch sitter is fulfilling, but it also gives her a roof over her head.

In our Spy Zoom interview with Monda last week, she talks about the special humanity of Claire, her bond with pets and their owners, and how diverse our homeless population is in America these days.

This video is approximately two minutes in length. For free ticket information about “Pooch Sitter”  or about the Chesapeake Film Festival please go here.

 

Mid-Shore Arts: A New Era for Talbot Arts with Joan Levy

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While Joan Levy arrived at the Talbot County Arts Council just as the COVID-19 pandemic started to take hold, she pulled off two remarkable feats over the last twenty months. The first was working with every Art Council’s grantee to ensure that those organizations and individuals would receive those important funds even during the health crisis.

But the second was working with her board to successfully re-envision the mission and brand Talbot County’s primary public funding source for the arts.

Even with social distancing and the compromises of Zoom calls, Levy and her directors created a plan that not only changed the organization’s name to Talbot Arts, but reinvented objectives to proactively reach out and serve entirely new and diverse communities in Talbot County. Just importantly, Talbot Arts double-downed on using the power of its website and multimedia to share these remarkable stories of art and artists with the public.

The Spy down with Joan at the Talbot Arts office in the Eastern Shore Conservation Center a few weeks ago to talk about some of these changes and what it will mean for our County and our gifted artists and those seeking to be one.

This video is approximately five minutes in length. For more information about Talbot Arts please go here

The Journey to Chestertown: A Chat with Washington College’s 31st President Michael Sosulski

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Perhaps one of the greatest challenges that faced Michael Sosulski after he finished his undergraduate work at Georgetown University was whether to become a jazz sax player or pursue an academic career in foreign languages.

There was more to this decision than wishful thinking on Michael’s part. As someone who had spent his junior year abroad, he was part of a jazz band that played professional gigs throughout southwest Germany. This was ample evidence he could provide his parents, who raised their family in the Western Suburbs of Chicago, that he had both the talent and the ambition to “make it” a career.

Their response was a thoughtful one. Rather than convince Mike to follow the more financially secure route into scholarship, they made the case that he should pursue a career in music by entering a well-respected conservatory. He felt this was a reasonable suggestion, and the following year he entered the highly regarded Berklee School of Music.

To make a long story short, Michael Sosulski failed brilliantly at Berklee. For many reasons, large and small, he realized that he was never intended to be a professional musician. And so, with the help of some generous scholarship support, he enrolled in the language graduate program at the University of Chicago, where he would earn both his master’s and a doctorate in Germanic Studies.

And it was at Chicago that Michael realized that his future in academics was to be in the small liberal arts college environment. While he was the product of much larger schools, he had come to conclude that the best form of higher education was when small communities of students and teachers could built a foundation of critical thinking and knowledge in a close, personal way.

From that point on, Dr. Sosulski has followed up on that intuition. Over the past two decades, he has served on the faculty of  small schools like Valparaiso University, Pacific Lutheran University, Kalamazoo College, and eventually Wofford College.

It was at Kalamazoo College that Sosulski first became interested in the administration of a college. As a department head there, he started to see how one could have a more significant impact on an institution’s mission which eventually led him to Wofford, where he began Provost in 2016.

All of this was done while supporting his wife, Dr. Corinne (Cori) Crane, in her own academic career, and the raising of two boys, who have both now graduated from college themselves.

In this introductory interview with President Sosulski, the Spy’s Dave Wheelan and Jim Dissette learn about his unique journey to Chestertown, his impressions of Washington College and his passionate conviction that America’s needs to double-down on the liberal arts tradition.

This video is approximately minutes in 11 minutes in length. For more information about Washington College please go here.

 

House of the Week: Stylish Queen Anne 

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My reference book on architectural styles lists six subcategories for the Victorian style.  One of my favorites is the Queen Anne style, with characteristics found in this house including the predominant octagonal three story tower, asymmetrical front porch, bay window projections, bracket eave extensions, multiple gables and dormers.  The front elevation has delightful curb appeal with the three-bay porch whose low slope metal roof extends to the side wall of the octagonal tower. One of the tower’s windows faces the porch interior at the point where the stair handrail begins, creating wider stairs to the half-glass paneled door for a welcoming effect. The wood shake wall around the perimeter of the porch gives privacy from the street. Since all the facades of the house are rich in architectural details, the single siding choice of wood shakes ties it all together and adds texture.  Instead of a simple band to separate the third story portion of the front gable wall from the other two floors, the band is detailed with the same molding as the gable’s eave extensions for a seamless look.  

Instead of narrow side yards for its urban lot, this house is sited with a driveway at one side and it is separated from the adjacent building on the other side by a parking lot that provides abundant sunlight for all three floors. The perimeter of the fenced rear yard is shaded by a dense groupings of several types of foliage including hydrangeas, fig trees and viburnum under the canopy of towering mature trees including a magnolia. The crape myrtle and a tree with oval red leaves (perhaps a sweet gum?) provide color. The carriage house at the rear of the property dates from another era next to a garden of raised beds in full sunlight. The main floor deck leading to the brick terrace and the deck above on the second floor overlook this verdant oasis.

The front door opens into a parlor that extends into the turret infilled with windows with built-in seating below.  The beautiful inlaid flooring has a border of interlocking shapes in alternating dark and light shades for a 3-D effect. I believe the stair once opened into the wide hall between the second parlor and the dining room but now the stair has a second landing near the bottom to place the final steps opposite the front door.  A wide elliptical molded arched opening reaches up to the crown molding at the ceiling to separate the entry parlor from the main parlor with its corner fireplace.  Here the inlaid wood flooring is laid on the diagonal and the border is composed of pairs of stacked black diamond shapes.  

Another wide elliptical arched opening leads to the hall opposite the stairs and then through a wide cased opening with a paneled pocked door to the dining room. The side bay window sets up the octagonal shape of the dining room detailed with a paneled wainscot of deep slate blue. A period pendant light fixture and sconces on the two longer side walls create a candlelight like mood. I could well imagine buffets or sideboards below the sconces and a large table under the pendant light to set the scene for a memorable dinner party. Off the dining room is a hall with light slate blue bead board wainscot and a built-in corner cupboard for storage of serving pieces convenient to the dining room. 

The hall leads to the adjacent kitchen where the bead board wainscot changes to a white finish. One side wall has a boxed bay that would be the perfect space for a banquette and table for a breakfast area. The kitchen’s “L” shape opposite a peninsula has been updated with wood cabinets, granite countertops and light stone flooring. The other side wall has a single window and an exterior door to the driveway, convenient for unloading groceries. Another stair that was probably once a service stair leads to both the second and third floors to what could have originally been servants’ quarters on the third floor. 

Behind the kitchen is the family room addition with one side wall of built-in millwork flanking the fireplace. The wall adjacent to the kitchen has a bar equipped with a sink, undercounter fridge, wine cooler and cabinets waiting for guests to spill out onto the deck and terrace for a garden party. The rear pair of French doors and full sidelights frames the lush garden view. 

At the top of the stair landing, another wide elliptical arched opening separates the primary suite from the other bedrooms. The turret space may once have been a sitting room for the primary bedroom but could be another bedroom since it is a separate room off the hall.  The primary bedroom is located at the front corner with pairs of single windows on both walls for glimpses of the Chester River.  I envied the primary suite’s bath with a free-standing soaking tub enclosed by the bay window, dual lavatory cabinets, tiled shower with a partial glass wall and the walk-in closet. The sunlit hall along the side wall leads to the washer-dryer closet, access to the second stair, another bedroom and bath. This bedroom may be the smallest of the three bedrooms but its bonus is the French door leading to the rooftop terrace that spans across the full width of the house over the family room below.  What a perfect spot for warm weather star-gazing before you fall asleep on an air mattress!

The third floor has been used as an apartment with the kitchen at the rear wall.  The dramatic interior architecture from the intersecting gables, double and single dormers and the exquisite turret create a very unique space. If one added an elevator next to the second stair, this apartment with views of the Chester River would be in great demand and I would be first in line!

Great location in the Historic District, rich details including inlaid wood floors, door and window frames with corner medallions and fluted centers,  five-paneled doors and oversized pocket doors, exquisite spaces created by the turret on all three floors, a third floor with an open floor plan and views of the Chester River, private rear garden and mature landscaping-a true gem!

For more information about this property, please contact Tracy Stone of Coldwell Banker Chesapeake Real Estate Company at 410-778-0330 (o), 443-480-0610 (c), or tstone@cbchesapeake.com , For more photographs and pricing, visit www.Tracystonehomes.com, “Equal Housing Opportunity”.

Photography by Patty Hill, www.pattyhillphotography.com, (410) 441-4719

Spy House of the Week is an ongoing series that selects a different home each week. The Spy’s Habitat editor Jennifer Martella makes these selections based exclusively on her experience as a architect.

Jennifer Martella has pursued her dual careers in architecture and real estate since she moved to the Eastern Shore in 2004. Her award winning work has ranged from revitalization projects to a collaboration with the Maya Lin Studio for the Children’s Defense Fund’s corporate retreat in her home state of Tennessee.

It is hard to believe but this article marks my fifth year of celebrating Chestertown and Kent County’s best architecture, interiors and landscape. It is also a happy coincidence that the first article for the Chestertown Spy was a listing by today’s Realtor, Tracy Stone.  I am indebted to the owners who graciously gave me tours of their homes, the architects and realtors whose outstanding properties inspired me and their administrative assistants who provided the info I needed. 

 

Mid-Shore Arts: The Work of Daniel Robbins

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After Plein Air Easton 2021 this summer, there was a good bit of talk on the street about the art and artists that were awarded with best of show recognition. That wasn’t too surprising but what was to the Spy was the universal praise for the work of Daniel Robbins, who took the Artists Choice Award and was the winner of the quick draw competition. And given all this positive noise on Danny’s work, we decided to stop by his studio in Virginia for a quick check-in before his work goes on display at Studio B this weekend.

Almost unlike every other artist the Spy has profiled over the years, Danny had a clear sense of his artistic calling by the age of four. From those early days, his parents caught on that their son was destined for an art career,  and were willing to support his attendance at Virginia’s high school programs for the arts. That lead to an arts degree at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, where he would eventually become an adjunct professor in the art department.

And while Robbins has explored many different approaches to his artwork during his lifetime, he talks in his Spy interview about the profound and lasting impact of his daughter’s birth, his wife’s post-birth health challenges, and finally the COVID pandemic over the last four years. During this time, his works with light, and his rediscovered passion for the ocean, which only a native of Virginia Beach could have, made him recast his work in ways he could never have imagined before these significant events impacted him and his family.

This video is approximately two minutes in length. For more information about Daniel Robbins and his new representation at Studio B, please go here.

Bay Ecosystem: The Life and Biological Times of Dr. Thomas C. Malone

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Tom Malone, the former Director of Horn Point Laboratories near Cambridge, should have had a career west of the Mississippi. Born just outside the city limits of San Francisco, a graduate of Colorado College, and who later earning a master’s degree from the University of Hawaii in oceanography, and finally, a Ph.D. in biology from Stanford, this academic pedigree would have suggested a career on the West Coast rather than his distinguished tenure at the University of Maryland’s Center for Environmental Science over the past five decades. 

But the way Dr. Malone tells it, it was his wife’s gentle reminder after he had completed his doctorate in 1971 that he did, indeed, need to make a living. And with that in mind, he and his young family moved East, first by teaching at City College of New York and then joining Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, before agreeing to move to the Eastern Shore to be part of UM’s Center for Environment Study. 

Since those early days, Malone had a remarkable impact on that institution. During that time, he served as the Director of its Horn Point Laboratory, was appointed Interim President of UMCES, the Interagency Ocean Director, and served on the US Office for Sustained and Integrated Ocean Observations. 

And while those titles do indeed suggest a career in academic bureaucracy, what is remarkable was how successful Tom has been in maintaining his primary focus on research. In fact, over his time there, Malone has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications on phytoplankton ecology, coastal eutrophication, and the development of ocean policy and integrated coastal ocean observing systems.

Even when he “retired” and assumed the title of Professor Emeritus in 2010, Malone has never stopped his scholarship work. In fact, at the time of our interview with him, Tom, along with his colleagues, Alenka Malej and Jadran Faganeli, had just published Coastal Ecosystems in Transition: A Comparative Analysis of the Northern Adriatic and the Chesapeake Bay, which provided an in-depth study of how two coastal ecosystems are responding to the pressures of human expansion. 

While Malone quips in his recent Spy interview that he’ll need to figure out what to do in the future to maintain his “relevance” since the book was published, there is little doubt of his lasting impact in leading and assisting his colleagues to protect the Chesapeake Bay. 

This video is approximately ten minutes in length. For more information about University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and Horn Point Laboratories, please go here.