The Bordley History Center, located at 301 High Street, is now open after its winter hiatus.

Beginning Thursday, March 2, the Bordley museum and gift shop will be open Thursdays and Fridays, 11 am-2 pm, and Saturdays, 10 am-1 pm.  The Bordley will also be open on First Fridays, 5 pm-7 pm. The museum is free and open to the public.

The Bordley window exhibit currently features the African American Heritage Walk, a self-guided tour of Chestertown’s many sights commemorating the town’s rich African American history and telling the stories of the men and women who helped build Chestertown into a bustling commercial success.  The full exhibit can be seen at the Cerino Center at the Chestertown Marina.

Inside the Bordley museum has a major exhibit on Radcliffe Mill, the oldest mill in Kent County, dating to 1694.  The exhibit traces the Mill through its several owners and iterations, from grist mill for wheat to strawboard factory to manufacturer of Rosebud Flour to today’s office/restaurant complex.  A smaller, companion exhibit featuring other Kent County mills is available at the County Office Building.

The Bordley museum also has several smaller exhibits including a pictorial history of 329 High Street, which is currently being renovated into a restaurant.

The Bordley’s gift shop has an extensive collection of books on local history, as well as locally themed gift items, including those from Rock Hall designer Becky McVan.

The Bordley History Center is the headquarters for the Historical Society of Kent County.  The Society also maintains the only research library and archive devoted solely to Kent County history.  The library is open by appointment only; contact director@kentcountyhistory.org or (410) 778-3499.

Tabitha Timmons Shaking Hands with Phyllis Brown.

Tabitha Timmons of Still Pond has been awarded the Roger D. Brown History Scholarship by the Historical Society of Kent County.  The presentation was made at the 86^th Annual Meeting of the Society on June 26 at historic Columbia Farm.  Phyllis Brown, wife of the late Mr. Brown, made the presentation to a crowd of more than 70 gathered for the annual meeting.

Timmons, 18, graduated from Kent County High School in May.  She was chosen for the award based on her interest and excellence in history.  She will be majoring in history at Frostburg State University in August.

The award includes a $500 scholarship and a plaque.  The Bordley History Center, headquarters of the Society, also has a plaque with the names of all past recipients. The Brown Scholarship was created in 2019 to honor Roger D. Brown who served as the Society’s treasurer from 1983 until his retirement in 2019.

Elections were also held at the Society’s annual meeting.  Re-elected were the following:  Barbara Jorgenson, president; Bridget Mahoney Campbell, treasurer; Erik T. Gulbrandsen, secretary; and LaMonte Cooke, director.

The Historical Society of Kent County is dedicated to preserving and sharing the history of Kent County. It maintains the only archive and library devoted solely to local history.  Headquartered at the Bordley History Center in the heart of downtown Chestertown at 301 High Street, the Society has a museum and gift shop on its first floor and research library and offices on the second floor.  The museum is open Thursday and Friday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.  The library is open only by appointment.

Historical Society releases new and expanded heritage walk with book & exhibits, open first Friday.

A new and expanded African American Heritage Walk is now available.  The self-guided Heritage Walk covers more than 30 sites in downtown Chestertown, dating from the 1700s to the present.

Free copies of the Heritage Walk brochure are available at the Bordley History Center, the Visitors Center, and the County Tourism office.

“The Heritage Walk is a continuing project of the Historical Society,” explained Society President Barbara Jorgenson.  “It was first issued in 2013 and revised in 2015.  We are particularly proud of this new edition expanded to a 34-page book which brings to life the men and women who lived and worked in the sites listed and who are featured in exhibits at the Bordley History Center.”

The new Heritage Walk project has three parts: a brochure with map, a 34-page book with map, many illustrations, and detailed descriptions, and museum exhibits at the Bordley History Center, titled “Walk in Our Shoes.” The exhibits will be on display through July.

The book, Community, Prosperity, & Resilience:  African Americans in Chestertown, Maryland, 1700s to the Present, may be purchased at the Bordley History Center for $5.00.  Proceeds of the sale benefit the digitization of the Society’s local history archive.

The Bordley History Center is free and open Thursday and Friday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and Saturday, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.  Groups are encouraged to contact the Society at director@kentcountyhistory.org to arrange special openings. The

The Heritage Walk project was supported by Kent County and by grants from Stories of the Chesapeake, a program of Eastern Shore Heritage, Inc., and by the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority Grant, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and Maryland Humanities as part of the American Rescue Plan (ARP) and the NEH Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan (SHARP) initiative.

The Historical Society of Kent County, a non-profit organization dedicated to collecting and telling the stories of Kent County, has been awarded an Operations Grant in the amount of $10,000 from the Maryland Humanities Council.

“We are so pleased to be one of just 91 entities in Maryland to receive this grant.  With it, we plan to refocus our energies on programming for our members and the Kent County community,” said Historical Society President Barbara Jorgenson.

The Maryland Humanities Council strives to inspire learning and promote dialogue about our heritage, culture and future as Marylanders, much like the Historical Society of Kent County strives to do on the County level.

The Historical Society of Kent County was one of 140 applicants for the SHARP Recovery Grants Fund, part of the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act of 2021, in which the National Endowment for the Humanities received supplemental funding to distribute emergency relief for cultural institutions adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Through this effort, Maryland Humanities was allocated $910,000 to distribute to non-profit organizations that provide opportunities for Maryland communities to access and engage with public history, cultural heritage and civic learning during this continued unprecedented time. The Maryland Humanities Council awarded $10,000 grants to 91 different organizations across the State of Maryland, including the Historical Society of Kent County.

The Bordley History Center, home of the Historical Society of Kent County, will reopen this Saturday, November 7, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Center will remain open on Saturdays only through Christmas Eve.

Visitors are welcome to the first-floor museum and gift shop. The Center’s research library remains closed to the public.

Strict public hygiene procedures will be in place: All visitors must wear a mask. Only 6 visitors will be permitted at a time. Social distancing will be required inside the Center. Hand-sanitizer will be available and its frequent use encouraged, especially before touching any items in the museum and shop.

“We are very pleased to be reopening for the first time since late March,” said Society vice president Barbara Jorgenson. “We have spent the pandemic-forced closure taking care of much needed interior and exterior renovations. With a fresh coat of exterior paint and our beautiful new windows, we look forward to seeing all our members and friends again.”

In addition to its ever-popular window exhibits on High Street, the Center’s museum is currently featuring “Lost Towns,” an exhibit showcasing the once-bustling small communities now lost in Kent County. This Saturday is also the opening of The Bramble Collection, a breath-taking collection of mostly 18th century tea caddies bequeathed to the Society by Mark Bramble in honor of his mother, Marnie Bramble.

In addition to a unique collection of local and regional books, the museum’s gift shop has lots of new items for holiday gifts—children’s puzzles and games, hilarious stuffed animals, handmade candles in vintage crystal and tea cups, one-of-a-kind tree and table-top holiday decorations, locally themed decorator items, and holiday cards featuring local winter scenes.

The Center is located at 301 High Street at the corner of High and Cross Streets. It will be open each Saturday from November 7 through Christmas Eve, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

During this time of closed businesses and social distancing, the Historical Society of Kent County is still offering our county’s stories to visitors and residents.

Take a walk to corner of High and Cross Streets in the heart of Chestertown’s Historic District to visit the window exhibits at the Society’s home, the Bordley History Center. Right now, the Center’s south window is hosting a guest exhibit on “The Port of Chestertown,” created by Washington College’s C.V. Starr Center for Study of the American Experience. The Center’s north window features local African American legend, Henry Highland Garnet, for whom our local elementary school is named and was known for his fiery rhetoric. These exhibits will be in place until early May when new exhibits will be installed, including one on the Eastern Shore’s famous indigenous log canoes.

Continue walking into the Historic District with the Society’s “paperless” walking tour of the historic homes there. Just visit the Society’s website www.kentcountyhistory.org and scroll down the first page to “Historic Chestertown Walking Tour.” The online tour covers 25 sites in the Historic District, describing the history and architecture of each site. The online tour replicates the original architectural walking tour written by local historian Robert Janson-LePalme in 1985.

The Society’s website also has extensive information on local history from the 1600’s to the present, with links to other sources too. Click on Events, then First Fridays to see a video of Bill Leary’s presentation at Legacy Day 2019 on the county’s African American churches.

More videos of the Society’s First Friday talks can be found on the Society’s Facebook page.

The Society plans to re-open the Bordley History Center as soon as Gov. Hogan permits non-essential businesses to re-open. Until then, take advantage of the Society’s website, Facebook page, and its window exhibits at 301 High Street.

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