Have you ever wondered what the inside of Twigs & Teacups looked like before? This image of the Gill Bros. Ice Cream Factory and Dairy, ca. 1950s, should give you an idea! Image courtesy of the Historical Society of Kent County.
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Have you ever wondered what the inside of Twigs & Teacups looked like before? This image of the Gill Bros. Ice Cream Factory and Dairy, ca. 1950s, should give you an idea! Image courtesy of the Historical Society of Kent County.
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Be sure to enjoy your time at Downrigging this weekend! This image is of the steamboat l on the Chester River ca. 1910. Image courtesy of the Historical Society of Kent County.
Please join the Historical Society of Kent County here.
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“Stop by the Bordley History Center to take a look at our new exhibit highlighting the architectural drawings of Michael Bourne. Pictured here is his drawing of the Brampton, done in 2003. Image courtesy of the Historical Society of Kent County.”
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Pictured is the Chester River Bridge House ca. 1910, home of the author Gilbert Byron. The bridge itself was completed in 1821 in partnership between a committee of citizens from Kent and Queen Anne’s Counties. The Maryland State Roads Commission took over the bridge in 1914 and was replaced with a concrete bridge in 1929.
Please join the Historical Society of Kent County here.
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Looks like a great week to gather! Pictured is a scene from Edesville, near Rock Hall, ca. 1900s. Image courtesy of the Historical Society of Kent County.
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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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The weather is warming up—time for watermelon! Image of the Brice family at their home on Eastern Neck Island.
Join the Historical Society of Kent County. Please visit our website here.
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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 [email protected] or (410) 778-3499.
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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 86th 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.
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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 [email protected] 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.
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