Christmas on the Chesapeake - 1609-2013: James Dawson

Christmas on the Chesapeake 1609-2013

by James Dawson

The Chesapeake has seen many Christmases over the years. In fact, it saw one of the first Christmases in the New World when Capt. John Smith spent Christmas 1609 with a Native American tribe, where Capt. Smith had “plenty of victualls” with the “Salvages.” WHAT follows are highlights of some Christmases through the centuries on the Chesapeake.

Circa January 6, 1609 ~ In his Generall Historie of Virginia published in 1624, Capt. John Smith describes a very early Christmas in THE Native American village OF Old Point Comfort in Virginia. However, I might add that this one was not celebrated on December 25, nor had his Native American hosts ever heard of Christmas, nor were they even Christians! But, those

Chesapeake Christmas The Julian calendar used then was different than ours, so what is minor quibbles aside, the affair was called “Old Christmas” then was certainly held in the best traditions celebrated on January 6, and New of Christmas friendship, feasting Year’s on March 25. In 1752, when and good cheer for all. Great Britain adopted the Gregorian

Smith wrote, “…the next night calendar that we STILL USE today, being lodged at Kecoughtan; six or Christmas was moved to the familiar seaven dayes the extreame winde, December 25 that we know. rayne, frost and snow caused us to keep Christmas among the Salvages, 1770s? ~ Gabriel Sailes, who where we were never more merry, lived near Oxford, Maryland, owned nor fed on more plentie of good slaves, and it was said that once when Oysters, Fish, Flesh, Wild-foule, they asked Mars’ Gabriel for a day’s and good bread; nor never had bet- holiday, he exclaimed, “Holiday, ter fires in England, than in the dry ye black rascals. Yes, ye shall have smoaky houses of Kecoughtan.” holiday,” and then ordered them [Smith, Generall Historie of Vir- to sit a-straddle on the ridge of his ginia, London, 1624] barn roof for the entire day. The anonymous author who recorded this story in 1898 added that it had been told to him 25 years earlier by a 75-year-old man who said that his father had seen the slaves perched on the roof of the barn when he was a boy, so it must be true. This was said to have been the last time his slaves ever asked Mars’ Gabriel for a holiday, but they did www.tcfl.org 410-822-1626 get their revenge. At Christmas time, it was his custom to give his slaves a holiday for as long as the yule log would burn in the fireplace.

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The slaves got to pick the log, so naturally they wanted the biggest and slowest-burning chunk of wood that they could find. They had cut an enormous oak months before and let it soak in the marsh until Christmas, so it burned for a full week and Gabriel’s slaves finally got their holiday.

1790 ~ In 1790, my great-greatgreat grandfather, William Caulk of Lostock Farm in Bozman, Maryland, then 13 years old, wrote a Christmas poem that was sold in Baltimore. Probably the only copy is in the Caulk family papers.

ON CHRISTMAS DAY

What words what Voices can we bring Which way our accents raise To welcome the Mysterious king And sing a Saviors Praise If tis too little all we can For this unbounded Love All that was ever wrote by man Or sung in hymns above

William Caulk’s Piece Dec. 24, 1790

Sold by William Proust No. 4 Market Street near the market Baltimore.”

William’s “piece” was handwritten on a sheet of paper titled The Seven Works of Moses &c., with the border printed with seven engravings titled waters turned into blood, plague of locusts, the first Passover, the Tabernacle, Moses receiving the two tablets, and the glory of God appears. Called a broadside, this 15” x 18” sheet of paper was blank in the center, which is where William’s Christmas poem was written in longhand.

No doubt my ancestor was proud of his literary effort, and I hope he sold some copies, although now, some 231 years later, it occurs to me that I’m pretty sure Moses never celebrated Christmas.

1832 ~ William J. Walker from Windy Hill, near Trappe, was born on Christmas Day in 1832, and was

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not only born on Christmas, but almost made two Christmases one hundred years apart. Alas, he died on Jan. 8, 1932, 11 months short of that goal, so he “only” saw 99 Christmases.

1890s ~ Family lore has it that little “Bessie” Caulk of “Isle of Rays Farm, near Trappe, Maryland, my great-aunt, found only a lump of coal in her stocking one Christmas morning when she was a girl. I never could fi nd out whatever it was she did, but it must have been something spectacular to have ticked off Santa Claus that much.

Meanwhile, another Trappe family adored Christmas, as some of the entries in the diaries of Charles F. Willis of Clora Dorsey Farm show:

December 24, 1904 ~ “I went to the woods and got a Christmas

tree for Catherine...Tonight we have dressed the tree for Catherine, put her numerous presents beneath it and filled her little stocking which she helped to hang on the mantel on going to bed at 5 p.m. The tree is very pretty - and the presents valuable.”

December 25 1913 ~ “Christmas!!! We, adults, got the little ones sound asleep in their beds as early as we could last night, as we proceeded to arrange their presents ~ dress their tree ~ one for their dolls and lastly to hang their stockings for Santa Claus to complete as he deemed best. At 5.30 a.m. to day a sound of a musical horn came from the girls’ room: the boy was soon awake looking, or rather feeling for his horn, which he soon found and then all was life & stir. We all assembled in the sitting room and the next hour was spent in pleasure to one & all. The children rec’d many useful & valued presents, as we older ones did.”

December 25, 1920 ~ “Christmas. Lula & I dressed the tree & arranged the stockings. Just before the clock struck 6 a.m., Chas Jr. awoke, secured his “cow’s horn” and gave a “long-loud blast” which awoke Mar. & Cath. & they added to the din. Soon we all were dressed & came to the living room & rec’d our presents & good wishes…”

Willis’ daughter Catherine was Shop Sma Shop Local!

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Chesapeake Christmas ally got a book. Often there were dolls. I always had a doll with black born in 1904 and remembered more hair, called Dorothy. Margaret’s about the family’s wonderful Christ- doll had blond hair. She called it mases in her memoir, Growing Up At Rosebud. The dolls had china heads Clora Dorsey: that usually got broken before the next Christmas, so a new doll was

“Christmas was at home. Pop needed…” [Willis excerpts from removed a piece of molding from 100 Years of Change on the Eastern the mantel piece support and made Shore - The Willis Family Journals it into a kind of hidden box. There 1847-1951; edited by James Dawson, we put letters to Santa Claus telling published by Charles “Nick” Willis] what each one craved. The door to this box was never lifted at any other By the way, unlike William Walker time. Maybe that hidden box is still (Dec. 25, 1832-Jan. 8, 1932), Caththere. We put up the tree Christmas erine (July 1, 1904-Oct. 14, 2005, did eve. But Santa Claus would decorate see 100 Christmases. it during the night while we were asleep. The tree had some candles but they were never lit because of the fire hazard. We hung our stockings and in the morning there was an orange, a bunch of raisins and a gift, a game or a puzzle. I usu-

Next we will leave the Willises for some Christmas cheer. Eric Steinlein remembered hearing that in the early 1900s, Ruth Tucker Smith, who ran a seafood restaurant in Gailesville, in Anne Arundel County, was always careful to use an eyedropper when adding the alcohol to her eggnog because adding it any faster than one drop at a time would cause the eggnog to curdle.

1957-1970s ~ Christmas at Talbottown

Helen Cardiff has vivid memories of Christmas at Talbottown Shopping Center in Easton when she was young. “Talbottown was alive and vibrant back then ~ plenty of colored lights on the buildings with the big ceramic lights! Since this was before the little white lights that came in the late ‘70s to early ‘80s!

“It was a big deal back then that nothing happened before Thanksgiving. All the windows of all the stores were covered in brown paper to keep the anticipation as to what the Christmas displays were to look like, not to be exposed until the Friday after Thanksgiving! Oh, my ~ the excitement that was held in all those exciting displays ~ going to see them was an outing in itself! Now, the cherry on the top was Rudolph. You can only imagine the excitement for us kids!”

Talbottown Shopping Center opened on March, 14, 1957, the 1.5 million dollar brainchild of Easton native and developer James W. Rouse. The fi rst shopping center on the Eastern Shore, it got a special guest at Christmastime.

“Talking Reindeer At Talbottown. Rudolph the Talking Reindeer arrives at Talbottown today for a pre-Christmas visit. ‘Rudolph’ was still under construction when this picture was made. This creator, Howard Alder, is at left in the photograph. Joseph Neal, shop foreman

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Chesapeake Christmas on the corner of the roof of Eagle’s five and dime store, holding a giant phone during Christmas seasons for many years. It took a crew of four men from Easton Utilities with a crane to hoist the severalhundred-pound reindeer up to the rooftop perch. Phoning Rudolph was a special treat, and children waited in long lines to talk to him. They could see him sitting up on the roof. When a child picked up the receiver of an old-fashioned phone in the Fairy Tale Phone Booth below, this triggered a recorded message from

is in the center, and Basil Sabaniev, papier mache artist, at upper right adjusting the telephone through which Rudolph will be talking to Santa on behalf of hundreds of children…” [Easton Star Democrat, Nov. 29, 1957]

Adler, of Adler Display Studios in Baltimore, Maryland, also created the iconic figures for The Enchanted Forest in Elliott City and Frontier Town in Ocean City.

The 20-foot-tall figure dressed in a red coat with brass buttons sat

Chesapeake Christmas kids like I was remained silent during the pauses and still had Rudolph Rudolph with pauses for the child’s tell me that was a nice present, responses, which went something which, as I informed my cousin, like this, “Hello, my name is Ru- scientifically proved that Rudolph dolph. What’s yours? [pause] That’s wasn’t listening. I thought I was a nice name. Have you been good so clever. In hindsight, though, this year? [pause] What would you this probably destroyed Christmas like Santa to bring you for Christ- forever for my poor cousin. mas? [pause] That’s a nice present. Alternately, if you wanted to I’ll tell Santa.” This was followed talk to the Man directly and not by an abrupt “Goodbye” as Rudolph go through a reindeer intermediran off to tell Santa. ary, you went down the hill, where

Children came from neighboring Santa’s Shack was set up in the counties to talk to Rudolph. How- parking lot. Santa’s Shack had a red ever, somewhat older kids, like my door and green shutters and was friend Pat, doubted he would get surrounded by a candy cane picket any presents from this, so he gave fence. Once inside, you told Santa a false name and asked for comical what you wanted, had your picture gifts. Even older, more skeptical taken with him and got a red cherry

Chesapeake Christmas lollipop shaped like a Christmas tree from a basket as you exited. Rudolph was retired in the early ’70s, probably because the papiermâché was getting a bit ratty. He was in storage for some years and then vanished, his fate unknown. Later, his loss was mourned by many of those same kids who doubted him then, but were now all grown up and wanted the Rudolph experience for their own kids.

1973 ~ On December 16, 1973, a photo of the skipjack Rebecca T. Ruark published in the Salisbury Daily Times showed the small Christmas tree that Capt. Todd nailed to the mast each year. Later, after Capt. Wade Murphy Jr. of Tilghman purchased the boat and had to replace the mast, he said the top was punctured with many Christmas tree nail holes.

2013 ~ Reindeer redux! The return of Rudolph! In 2013, a new Rudolph was created by Chisel 3-D production studio in Atlanta and in made his first appearance just

in time for Christmas that year perched back on a Talbot Town roof, and ever since. And you can see him back on his rooftop perch this Christmas. Note: Talbottown is now Talbot Town.

P.S. Don’t forget to tell Rudolph what you want for Christmas. Perhaps I was wrong, you never know but that he might be listening.

And many thanks to Helen Cardiff, Patrick Cardiff and Michael Cardiff for sharing their memories.

James Dawson is the owner of Unicorn Bookshop in Trappe.

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