Tidewater Times December 2023 by Tidewater Times

Tidewater Times

December 2023

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Vol. 72, No. 7

Published Monthly

December 2023

Features:

About the Cover Artist: Mark Montoya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Publisher's Note: A Season for Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 The Hook and the Snake: Helen Chappell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Water's Edge and Bellevue Passage Museums - part 2: Bonna L. Nelson . . . . 25 Waiting, Hope and Wonder: Michael Valliant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Jan Kirsh's Community Connections: Tracey F. Johns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Tidewater Gardening K. Marc Teffeau . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 The Man Who Cam for Dinner: A.M. Foley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Tidewater Kitchen: Pamela Meredith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 All Quiet on the Sound (chapter 4): B. P. Gallagher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Shopping in the '50s and '60s: James Dawson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Changes - Flashing Lights in the Rearview Mirror: Roger Vaughan . . . 159

Departments: December Tide Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Easton Map and History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Dorchester Map and History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 St. Michaels Map and History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Oxford Map and History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Caroline County - A Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Mid-Shore Volunteer Fire Companies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 Anne B. Farwell & John D. Farwell, Co-Publishers Editor: Jodie Littleton Proofing: Kippy Requardt Deliveries: Nancy Smith, Brandon Coleman and Bob Swann P. O. Box 1141, Easton, Maryland 21601 410-714-9389 www.tidewatertimes.com info@tidewatertimes.com

Tidewater Times is published monthly by Bailey-Farwell, LLC. Advertising rates upon request. Subscription price is $40 per year. Individual copies are $4. Contents of this publication may not be reproduced in part or whole without prior approval of the publisher. Printed by Delmarva Printing, Inc. The publisher does not assume any liability for errors and/or omissions.

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About the Cover Artist Mark Montoya Originally from Alabama, Mark is an avant-garde artist who paints and creates from his home in Saint Michaels. He is a retired product designer and developer who worked for an international manufacturer/ importer of Christmas and gift items. Mark now stays busy with commissions and gardening. He has twice been selected as an artist for the Oxford Fence Auction benefiting the Talbot Humane shelter.

Publishers’ Note:

A Season For Family This year went by very fast for us, with many challenges, some sorrows and great joy. We lost our beloved "Pop" in mid March. Later that month we had a great many additions to our family. We greeted a new son-in-law Griffin Ronning and his amazing daughters, Faye and Alice, to our merry band. In mid October we also added our miracle granddaughter, Emily Claire, to the clan. Our son Ben and his wife Alyssa built and moved into their new home in August, and couldn't be happier. We are so very thankful for our many blessings! We are also giving thanks for our Tidewater Times family - our writers, editors, proofreaders, delivery folks, printers, advertisers, and last but not least, you, our loyal and faithful readers. Thank you all for

your continued support. Without you, none of this would be possible. As we are writing this, our own Tracey Johns has become a grandmother for the first time. Mother Riley and baby Anna are both doing well! As we know this time of year brings out the spirit of giving in people, so we would like to encourage you to remember our Mid-Shore Volunteer Fire Departments. A comprehensive list of contact information is at the end of the magazine. In closing, whatever your belief system, we would like to wish you a warm and loving holiday season with family, and the people you choose to call family.

Merry Christmas from all the nuts here at Tidewater Times!

The Hook and the Snake by Helen Chappell and culture, and some of it gets passed from generation to generation, but my kids at PT are missing some of the greatest teen folklore ever. I don’t get why they have never heard these tales. They’re classics, the kind that used to get passed around in the halls of every high school in the US and maybe Canada and Mexico. It’s called urban folklore by people who seriously study this stuff, but when it came down to us in the hallways, it always really happened, and it always involved “a friend of a friend’s cousin” so you knew it was authentic.

Surely, you’ve heard of The Hook and the Snake in the Roller Coaster? Kids these days don’t know how good they’ve got it what with their games and their phones and their esoteric culture, incomprehensible to old fogies like me. I know I am an old fogie because all the young people at my physical therapy think I’m amusingly quaint. Which maybe I am, but if you can remember the 60’s you probably weren’t there. Most of these kids’ parents weren’t even conceived in the 60’s. Every generation has its folklore

The Hook and the Snake

Representing National & International Award-Winning Artists This month we are featuring

Small Treasures of Art

The Hook involved a couple necking in a parked car somewhere deep in the dark and deserted countryside. He’s about to get to second base when the radio breaks into Sam the Sham with a special announcement. A homicidal maniac has escaped from oh, let’s say The Towers and keep it local. The maniac is on the loose and can be identified by the hook he has instead of a hand. He killed a bunch of people before they locked him up, and now he’s out there again. The guy, because teenage guys are allegedly so hormonal, they’ll jump a pile of rocks if they think there’s a snake under it, keeps trying to get to second base. But the girl isn’t having any of it. She wants to get out of there, pronto.

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The Hook and the Snake

rattling on the car door. When Guy gets out to see what the trouble is, he finds a prosthetic hook hanging from the girl’s door. Woooeeeeooo! If you didn’t hear this one growing up, you’re probably pretty young. Apparently, it’s no longer passed around anymore, and kids are the less for it. The second tale, once again passed on as heard from a friend of a friend’s second cousin, involves The Snake in The Roller Coaster in Ocean City. The story goes that a couple of girls got on the roller coaster at Ocean City, and went round and round and round, screaming and yelling and waving their arms in the air so loud you could hear them in Assateague.

Guy assures her The Hook is probably across the Bridge and in Glen Burnie by now, while he fumbles with her bra clasp, but she isn’t having any of it. She thinks she hears something outside, something scratching at the door. Guy of course, doesn’t believe it or chooses not to believe, until girl, as we girls have been trained to do, puts her foot down and pushes him away. She insists they get out of Lover’s Lane. Pitches a major hissy. Finally, cursing and thwarted, he starts up the Ford Fairlane and they get back to the main road. But it sounds like something is

The kid running the ride thought they were having such a good time, he didn’t stop the coaster but sent them around again. As it turned out, the car had a nest of copperheads in the footwell, and you can just imagine the rest. Of course, there’s one last story, and this one is absolutely true.

Christmas in St. Michaels and

Historic

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The Hook and the Snake

Of course, we all know this one is true, don’t we? Or, as historians have suggested, was it a story concocted by Harriet Tubman and the underground railroad to explain any mysterious lights and doings down there? Who knows? After all, these stories must be true if they were told by a friend of a friend’s cousin, right?

Just ask anyone who did this in high school. Big Lizz was an enormous woman who was enslaved to an evil man in Greenbriar swamp. When he stole a chest of gold coins from a pirate, he took Big Lizz into the marsh to help him bury the chest. When they were finished, he shot her so there would be no witnesses to his foul deeds. But when he came back to dig up his chest, the ghost of Big Liz was there, guarding it. The story is that if you park on the DeCourcy Bridge, blink your headlights three times and honk your horn, Big Lizz will appear holding the treasure chest in her hands.

Helen Chappell is the creator of the Sam and Hollis mystery series and the Oysterback stories, as well as The Chesapeake Book of the Dead. Under her pen names, Rebecca Baldwin and Caroline Brooks, she has published a number of historical novels.

A Christmas Poem Every time a hand reaches out To help another...that is Christmas Every time someone puts anger aside And strives for understanding That is Christmas Every time people forget their differences And realize their love for each other That is Christmas May this Christmas bring us Closer to the spirit of human understanding Closer to the blessing of peace!

May Peace fill your hearts and homes this holiday season. Wink Cowee WINK COWEE, ASSOCIATE BROKER Benson & Mangold Real Estate 211 N. Talbot St., St. Michaels, MD 21663

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Water’s Edge and Bellevue Passage Museums A Revealing Journey of Discovery - Part II by Bonna L. Nelson The proximity of the Bellevue Passage Museum to the historic OxfordBellevue Ferry, Bellevue Landing Park, the Port of Oxford, a UNESCO Slave Route Site of Remembrance, and partnership with the Water’s Edge Museum, will present an immersive experience in heritage tourism and place-based education. ~ Bellevue Passage Museum Website Dr. Barbara Paca and Dr. Dennis De Shields had dreams, like all of us do. Their personal and career paths led them to success in their professions, Dr. Paca, Ph.D., O.B.E., landscape designer/art historian and Dr. De Shields, MD, internal medicine specialist and a fourth generation Bellevue descendent. But they both had other dreams that led to their paths crossing over the past few years on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Dr. Paca founded the Water’s Edge Museum (WEM) while Dr. De Shields and his wife, Dr. Mary De Shields, medical oncologist, founded the Bellevue Passage Museum (BPM) and both Drs. De Shields serve on the WEM Advisory Board. Add to the WEM/BPM founders group the museum’s executive director, Monica Davis, architectural historian, designer, and historic preservation-

ist, and you have an amazing team prov id ing impac t f u l histor ic a l, educational, and cultural opportunities through their museums for not only Marylanders to explore but to 25

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Rare opportunity to acquire a well-appointed home with immense views and convenient proximity to St. Michaels. Ideally located by land and sea in Chance Hope Farm on the Miles River at the confluence of Eastern Bay, this stunning, classic Eastern Shore brick colonial has everything the most discerning buyer needs. This Daffin custom-built home features a generous, main-level primary suite featuring a spa-like bath with heated floors, a large soaking tub and separate shower, and two walkin closets. The chef’s kitchen features high-end stainless-steel appliances, a wine cooler, a warming drawer, and a massive island. There are also formal living and dining rooms, two office spaces, a recrea�on room, and a river room with views of Eastern Bay and beyond. 220+/- feet of riprapped shoreline, a private pier with 3’ of MLW, lush landscaping, and a waterside deck with outdoor kitchen. ST. MICHAELS | $3,795,000 | Visit www.24678NewPostRoad.com

Journey of Discovery

serve as models for individuals and communities across the nation to replicate. At the Tidewater Times, we traditionally present stories about local nonprofit organizations during the holiday season to inform our readers about their mission and accomplishments. We hope that our readers will then be inclined to support the organizations in the spirit of the season. This month as we celebrate many important religious commemorations, we continue the story of the Water’s Edge and Bellevue Passage Museums, their missions, histories, programs, and plans. We hope that you will be inspired to help them achieve their goals. The sister organizations also hope that you will

Dr. Barbara Paca

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Journey of Discovery

phases of development and execution of initiatives. People from local communities serve as initiative/ project leaders, as staff, on advisory committees, and volunteer to ensure the success of the museums and their missions. Our staff here at the Water’s Edge Museum consists of individuals committed to preserving and advancing the deep African American roots of Eastern Shore history and culture. ~ Waters Edge Museum

visit, explore the properties, learn from their informative websites, attend their programs and events, volunteer, intern, donate pertinent documents and artifacts, and contribute monetary gifts. Of course, Paca, De Shields and Dav is are not operating awardwinning projects in a vacuum. Both museums are recognized and encouraged by local, state, and federal officials and organizations as well as by educational professionals and institutions at multiple levels. WEM/BPMs are most proud of their involvement with local individuals and communities, inviting their participation, and input for all

For the WEM, members of the local community, Black Founding Families and descendants of slaves, freedmen and women and individuals portrayed in the WEM’s Ruth Starr Rose art exhibit, such as the

Drs. Dennis and Mary DeShields are the Bellevue Passage Museum founders and are also on the WEM Advisory Board Committee. 30

Journey of Discovery Moaneys, Henrys and De Shields proudly serve the WEM as well as Kentavius Jones, Richard Potter and Dr. Clara L. Small amongst other notable advisors and leaders. For the BPM, members of the Bellevue and surrounding communities advise the museum founder and contribute museum artifacts, documents, and photographs. They have also participated in two Washington College Field Study summer programs in 2022 and 2023 educating and being interviewed by participants documenting the history,

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Journey of Discovery

Pick’s Restaurant which will serve as the foundation for the museum to be located in Bellevue Park. Recent sister museum accolades include the Maryland Historic Trust preservation award for Outstanding Leadership at the Local Level for the WEM/BPM and UNESCO Middle Passage Marker. The award recognizes significant achievements in preserving historic places and cultural heritage. It is the highest level of recognition for historic preservation, heritage education, and community development projects in Maryland. Ms. Dav is considers, “Thanking Governor Wes Moore [and the Maryland Board of Public works] for the million-dollar grant funding

culture, economy, and architecture of Bellev ue as well as providing biographic data about its Black residents. The resulting studies and documents will be a foundation for the BPM opening in 2024. Executive Director Monica Davis was a participant in the 2022 program. The resulting student Bellevue studies are posted on the BPM website. Dr. Dennis De Shields also credits the wonderful pro bono work and dedication of Phillip Logan, a principal architect with Preservation Green, LLC. Logan designed the museum preservation/renovation of the historic Bellevue property known as the John U. Green House and Store/

Me y Christmas, neighbor! Here’s hoping the

year ahead is filled with love,,, joy, and good memories.

Journey of Discovery

the museums and the history of the Oxford and Bellevue Black communities and individuals’ stories. The study includes the layered complexities of Black history-the history of African slaves, freedmen, and their thriving descendants. It is a study of horror and deprivation to freedom, respect, dignity, and success. There is so much more to learn and reveal, a journey of tears and joy not to be completed in two brief studies. The W EM was established in February 2021, in Oxford, MD, an historic port town on the Tred Avon River, a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay. The WEM, in the words of Dr. Paca, “is recognized as the fi rst museum to honor the Founding Black Families of America…Our mission is

[for WEM operations, staffi ng and educating youth] …a surreal moment and a life-changing experience.” After Davis thanked the Board and the Governor, she invited them to visit WEM, saying “You will be fascinated.” They accepted the invitation. After taking you on my journey to discover the import of the WEB/BPM museums and their associated initiatives in the November issue of the Tidewater Times, in this December issue I share more of the information I gleaned from my exploration and what both initiatives represent. The exploratory journey has been like peeling a giant onion, layer upon layer with the layered complexities of

Nothing compares to what’s next. 7120 COOPER POINT ROAD, BOZMAN, MARYLAND This sophisticated, elegant modern home has been designed and built to an exceptional quality level is located just 10 minutes from St. Michaels. The very private, well elevated, west facing property offers gorgeous sunset views, lush landscaping, deep water, a rare boat house, a beautiful 50’ pool and pool house, a lighted sport-tennis court and a 3-car oversized garage. This captivating 7,100 sq. ft., 5 Bedroom home offers uncompromised quality, beauty and features that will surely delight your family and guests.

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Journey of Discovery

Shore over one hundred years ago.” Rose, a wealthy White woman, Wisconsin-born, from a family of abolitionists and activists, began painting in Maryland in the 1930s. She lived in Talbot County, attended church with and became friends with her Black neighbors. The powerful galler y paintings represent that mutual collaboration of learning, caring and respect. “Negro spirituals spring from a spiritual need that was once acute and is still very real – we must not forget that they are deeply religious songs…,” Rose said in 1935.

purely educational.” Through paintings, lithographs, frescoes, drawings, literature, and music the WEM portrays Maryland’s Black’s Founding Families with innate nobility and dignity. The museum presents works of art celebrating daily life, spirituality, and the environment to educate and promote healing and deeper understanding. The current WEM gallery exhibit is, “Living in Hope: Ruth Starr Rose (1887-1965), African American Life on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.” The stunning paintings, drawings and lithographs by Rose depict portraits of beautiful African American Founding families and individuals including the Moaney and Henry families as well as Clarence De Shields, uncle of Dr. Dennis De Shields. Rose captured scenes from daily work and family life in her community. Other walls in the gallery display artworks depicting Rose’s interpretation of African American spirituals, Biblical passages and world shaping events. Many painting in this inspiring collection have been reproduced in a book entitled, There is a City Called Heaven, Songs of Strength by the Founding Black Families of Maryland, by Dr. Barbara Paca. She collected Rose’s art for years. Paca states that “The book honors early African American spirituals recorded by artists, singers, and writers on Maryland’s Eastern

The book reveals Rose’s extensive visual interpretation honoring the Black spiritual music that she personally experienced in church with her neighbors. The spirituals, such as “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” are depicted in lithographs along with words and musical notes arranged on each page. The book is based on a recently discovered mock-up done by Rose. Shop the book on the WEM website or see it on display and for sale in the galleries. 38

Journey of Discovery

Histor ically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). Also, WEM/ BPM sponsored an inaugural summit of over 75 Black students from D.C. and MD, HBCUs to discuss how local waterways contributed to Black life on the Eastern Shore. The sister museums are also collaborating with the University of Maryland Eastern Shore to engage faculty and Museum staff in a multidisciplinary educational program to empower youth. They plan to host a 2024 Black History Month celebration too. Located in front of the W EM building complex is the UNESCO Middle Passage Port Marker a part of UNESCO’s Slave Route Project. The signage signifies the Port of Oxford as a Middle Passage location. The Middle Passage was one point in the triangular trade route taking trade goods from Europe to Africa, next taking Africans to work as slaves in

WEM’s Maryland Spirituals Initiative led by Ms. Davis “seeks to begin a global conversation about the essential role of spirituals as American’s finest art form.” Recordings and videos of concerts performed by Maryland Spiritual Initiative choral groups, such as the Covenant Gospel Choir of St. Michaels, Maryland directed by Leroy Potter; and individuals, such as Kentavius Jones can be enjoyed on the WEM website. Some of the spirituals visually depicted by Rose and included in Paca’s book are offered in website performances. WEM frequently welcomes school and college st udents to ex per ience learning opportunities at the museum and invest in educating the next generation. An example of a recent educational exchange includes hosting design students from Morgan State University, an

Water’s Edge Museum 40

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TIDE TABLE

OXFORD, MD

DECEMBER 2023

HIGH PM AM

1. Fri. 5:54 6:46 2. Sat. 6:44 7:32 3. Sun. 7:36 8:18 4. Mon. 8:33 9:04 5. Tues. 9:33 9:47 6. Wed. 10:34 10:30 7. Thurs. 11:33 11:13 8. Fri. 12:25 11:57 9. Sat. 1:11 10. Sun. 12:43 1:52 11. Mon. 1:30 2:33 12. Tues. 2:19 3:14 13. Wed. 3:09 3:58 14. Thurs. 3:59 4:45 15. Fri. 4:51 5:36 16. Sat. 5:44 6:28 17. Sun. 6:41 7:22 18. Mon. 7:43 8:16 19. Tues. 8:48 9:10 20. Wed. 9:55 10:03 21. Thurs. 11:02 10:56 22. Fri. 12:06pm 11:49 23. Sat. 1:05 24. Sun. 12:42 1:58 25. Mon. 1:34 2:47 26. Tues. 2:24 3:33 27. Wed. 3:13 4:16 28. Thurs. 3:59 4:58 29. Fri. 4:44 5:39 30. Sat. 5:28 6:18 31. Sun. 6:14 6:56

LOW PM

Happy Holidays

1:36 11:49am 2:19 12:41 3:00 1:36 3:40 2:37 4:17 3:43 4:53 4:54 5:27 6:05 6:01 7:13 6:34 8:16 7:08 9:13 7:45 10:05 8:25 10:54 9:09 11:41 9:57 12:27 10:51am 1:12 11:50am 1:59 12:55 2:45 2:05 3:31 3:23 4:16 4:43 5:01 6:02 5:44 7:15 6:26 8:22 7:08 9:21 7:51 10:13 8:35 11:00 9:19 11:43 10:04 12:21 10:49am 12:57 11:34am 1:30 12:20

From all of us at Campbell’s 2023 was a great boating year, and we look forward to working with each of you in 2024!

SHARP’S IS. LIGHT: 46 minutes before Oxford TILGHMAN: Dogwood Harbor same as Oxford EASTON POINT: 5 minutes after Oxford CAMBRIDGE: 10 minutes after Oxford CLAIBORNE: 25 minutes after Oxford ST. MICHAELS MILES R.: 47 min. after Oxford WYE LANDING: 1 hr. after Oxford ANNAPOLIS: 1 hr., 29 min. after Oxford KENT NARROWS: 1 hr., 29 min. after Oxford CENTREVILLE LANDING: 2 hrs. after Oxford CHESTERTOWN: 3 hrs., 44 min. after Oxford

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Journey of Discovery the Americas and West Indies, and lastly taking raw materials, mostly ag r icu lt ura l produc t s f rom t he Americas back to Europe. From about 1518 to t he mid19th century, millions of African men, women, and children made the 21-to-90-day voyage aboard grossly overcrowded sailing ships (www.britannica.com). “Research established Oxford as not only the oldest port on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay, but revealingly as the only place of disembarkation and disbursement of slaves on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, Maryland and Delaware for Middle Passage and Intra-American slave vessels,” wrote Dr. Barbara Paca. According to Port Marker Project officials the Oxford marker teaches the legacy of slavery and memorializes lives lost on the way from Africa to the U.S. The Project honors and remembers the 2 million Africans who died during the ocean crossing and the 12 million who survived, were enslaved, freed and whose resilient descendants are being honored and recognized in the WEM/ BPM and by other efforts across the national stage. The Marker on the WEM grounds includes a 1736 map by cartographer, Herman Moll of ship routes on the Chesapeake Bay to Oxford and a description written by UNESCO. Just across the Tred Avon River

by ferry (or drive around) from the WEM in Oxford is the village of Bellevue and the future location for its sister museum, the Bellevue Passage Museum. BPM co-founder, Dr. Dennis De Shields, was motivated to create a museum by his grandmother and father’s desire to display photographs, art, memorabilia, and artifacts about their beloved Bellevue community, collected over the years. His military family moved around a lot but frequently visited his grandparents in Bellevue where his father and aunt still reside. He has always been enchanted by Bellevue’s location, community spirit, and history and considered it his ancestral home. Over the years Dennis and Mary De Shields vacationed in Bellevue with their young family and eventually bought a home there. They became committed to preserving the rich culture and history of the area and sharing it with others through the establishment of the museum. They were f ur t her mot ivated 44

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Journey of Discovery

prosperity and a maritime legacy for the town. Various levels of federal, state, and local governments, educational institutions, and community members have shown interest and stepped up to help make the museum and Bellevue preservation a reality. Plans for the new BPM are in place a nd per mit processing is underway with a projected 2024 groundbreaking expected. Discussions have taken place about reviving and protecting the town of and homes in Bellevue also. The village’s name has been saved. The mission of the BPM is to honor the contributions of Bellevue’s former residents as early stewards of the environment. The museum’s goals are preservation, rehabilitation and repurposing, engagement, and inspiration, to past accomplishments as well as those of descendants, professionals, doctors, law yers, entrepreneurs, teachers, tech specialists, etc.

to create the BPM by his father’s declining health and concern for the storage of the artifacts. That coupled with developers showing interest in buy ing up Bellev ue’s waterfront properties and changing Bellevue’s name. And his knowledge of Bellevue’s historic homes lost or in disrepair, a decline in the number of residents with historic memory of the town and young people leaving. The time had come. Dr. De Shields realized that though he and Mary were busy with fulltime positions as physicians with family obligations, the museum had to be built. “There is a story to be told, contributions to be shared, history to be kept,” he told me. Bellevue was an economically successful African American maritime community with thriving businesses for harvesting, packing, and processing seafood. Their skills and dedication to the seafood industry created

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Journey of Discovery

American Black families, and citizens of African descent, as seen through the WEM/BPM portals and related projects and efforts. There will be a future story when the BPM opens. Visit, call, volunteer, contribute artifacts and art, and send gifts to the WEM/BPM. WEM off season operating hours are Thursday to Saturday, 11 am-3 pm or by appointment. Admission is free. Tax-deductible donations for the two 501 (c)(3) organizations are managed by the Mid-Shore Community Foundation. Gifts for the WEM will be used to further the WEM mission and initiatives. Gifts for the BPM will be used for capital improvements to the museum structure and campus. Your support of the WEM/BPM will preserve the history of the Eastern Shore’s A f r ican A mer ican communities and contribute to heritage tourism in Talbot County. For more information:

In the summers of 2022 and 2023, Washington College summer Fieldwork School students studied and documented the cultural landscape of Bellevue, its history, and people. They developed maps, histories, and architectural drawings of the town with homes, stores, schools, and businesses, wrote stories and poems and created art. More information on the “Black Life in Bellevue Field School 2023” projects can be found on the BPM website. The projects and findings will be included in the BPM. Join me on this journey of tears and joy. There are many more layers to be revealed and explored about the long, frequently overlooked history of Holiday 2023

Water’s Edge Museum 101 Mill Street Oxford, MD 21654 410-226-1227 watersedgemuseum.org Bellevue Passage Museum bellevuepassagemuseum.org Monica Davis, Executive Director Bonna L. Nelson is a Bay-area writer, columnist, photographer and world traveler. She resides in Easton with her husband, John.

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Happy Holidays

Waiting, Hope and Wonder by Michael Valliant Dark by 5:30 p.m. is not for everyone. Fleeting light, falling temperatures, the colors of fall starting to fade into bare branches, winter turning down the thermostat outside, and depending on the kind of year you’ve had, reckoning with the ending of the calendar year and what we have done and what we have left undone. At the same time, this can be a hopeful time of year, especially when we can find hope in waiting. On the Christian liturgical calendar, it is Advent, which is the begin-

ning of the new year. The theme for the season is waiting in hope. Unlike Walmart, Target, and other stores and online retailers everywhere, Advent is not Christmas—it’s a distinct season of preparing, of getting ready, not of inflatable lawn ornaments, wrapping paper, and holiday discounts. The first thing about hope is that it involves trust. For Christians, it’s a trust in the once and future coming of Christ. When we approach Advent, we

Waiting, Hope and Wonder

happened and we wait in hope to remember and celebrate the coming of Christ more than 2,000 years ago. But that’s not all. That was the beginning. We also believe that God is still with us, that the Holy Spirit is real and guides us when we listen and when we let Him, and we believe that Jesus is ultimately coming back to make things right in the world. That’s our hope. That’s what we are waiting for. Advent is also a waiting for this to happen in the future, which will happen in God’s time; a time we don’t know and can’t anticipate. A big part of the trust in this kind of hope is that we aren’t the ones in charge of time, we aren’t in charge of when things will happen. So we wait.

are looking back to the time of Jesus’s incarnation, something we believe happened. God became one of us, was with us, showed us what it looked like for God to become human, modeled what was important, how to live, and ultimately sacrificed himself for our sake. We believe that

Waiting, Hope and Wonder

“It’s a misnomer that hope is idealistic and saccharine. In actuality, hope is the energy of life filtering through the honesty of all its impediments. In our modern era, we endure a culture of hiddenness and denial, which has life most people frantically searching for the true energy of hope.” Hope, real hope, shouldn’t be Pollyanna. For Nepo, the hope he found was the energy in the life because he was facing death—it was the honesty

We wait with hope, despite the state of the world, despite war, disease, loss, grief. And that can be a struggle; the world seems to put things in the way that dash our hope. Waiting and hope require patience. Patience is not my strongest characteristic. But whenever I have been able to summon it, it has paid off in ways I didn’t expect. Patience has made me a better person, a better father, a better partner, a better friend. When I can let go of trying to control things that I have no control over, a weight is lifted off my shoulders. Whether or not you celebrate Advent or Christmas, the world can seem to conspire to dash our hope. We do ourselves a service to be hopeful anyway. This fall I have been reading author and cancer survivor, Mark Nepo. His life and his art changed when he stared death in the face while going through cancer treatment. In his book, “Drinking From the River of Light,” Nepo writes:

Waiting, Hope and Wonder of the struggles, the impediments that were put in his way. Nepo looks at the natural cycles around us and those that happen within us. In his “Book of Awakening,” he writes: “Time builds and erodes and we are transformed, yet the same. Wind gathers sand to a dune and tide undermines the dune. It’s how the early years pack us and the later ones softly flood us without a sound. We have no choice but to withstand the film that constantly builds and to endure the erosion that inevitably follows.” This ebb and flow can overwhelm us, it can cause us to grow dull to all

that happens around us in order to protect ourselves. Nepo says it is our sense of wonder and gratitude that keeps us alive through it all.

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Waiting, Hope and Wonder “Our aliveness depends on our ability to sustain wonder: to lengthen the moments we are truly uncovered, to be still and quiet till the elements of the earth and all the secrets of the oceans stir the aspects of life waiting within us.” Reading and nature are both integral to my sense of wonder and gratitude. The sky is an endless source of fascination—I can be lost in a sunrise, a sunset, or the stars in a night sky. When I look out the window, I give words to the Carolina Wren and the Cardinal on the fence and at the feeder, and a smile and shake my head at our dog for whom seven years of chasing squirrels has become Charlie Brown trying to kick the football, and the Silver Maple

Tree they run up as Lucy pulling the ball back yet again. Those things are there on both good days and bad days. I am more likely to notice them on good days, but they can also color over a bad day if I give myself over to them fully. An unseasonably warm day and a glassy river can lead to an afternoon text message from my partner Holly wondering if we can make it out in time for the sunset on kayaks and the morning and afternoon become

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Waiting, Hope and Wonder

holding on to hope. “Looking back, I see why I needed the tedium and the inspiration, the anger and the love, the anguish and the joy. I see how it all belongs, even those days of despair when the darkness overwhelmed me. Calamities I once lamented now appear as strong threads of a larger weave, without which the fabric of my life would be less resilient. Moments of fulfillment I failed to relish in my impatience to get on to the next thing now appear as times to be recalled and savored. And I’ve doubled down on my gratitude for those who’ve helped me along with love, affirmation, hard questions, daunting challenges, compassion, and forgiveness. Looking around at our shared world, its

the prelude for just a few shared minutes that define the day and maybe the week. My eyes, mind, and heart are opened by writers I encounter who find words for thoughts and feelings I haven’t been able to find words for. The Jesuits have a practice called the “Daily Examen” where they look back over the day with gratitude to find the places they have encountered the divine. Parker J. Palmer, a Quaker and a writer, turning 80, looked back at his life in the same way, in his book, “On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity, and Getting Old.” His words are a powerful way to think about

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Waiting, Hope and Wonder

suffering and its promise, I see the courage with which so many live in the service of human possibility.” The reasons we find for hope may be as different as we are; mine might not be the same as yours. Finding those things that spark our sense of wonder and being mindful of what we are grateful for, where we can see the light even during times of darkness might help. As Fr. Bill Ortt likes to point out, it is during December where the days slowly start to shift to having more light. Michael Valliant is the Assistant for Adult Education and Newcomers Ministry at Christ Church Easton. He has worked for non-profit organizations throughout Talbot County.

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Jan Kirsh’s Community Connections by Tracey F. Johns

The sun-dappled roads continued to narrow and become canopied with old-forest trees as I traveled to one of the farthest reaches of Bozman, Maryland. Glimmers of Grace Creek and Leadenham Creek hugged my horizons on either side, while the trees carried songbirds and a chilly autumn breeze. I arrived early for a Saturday af-

ternoon garden party and fundraiser for the St. Michaels Community Center’s capital campaign, hosted by landscape designer and sculptor Jan Kirsh at her gardens and studio. For me, the experience felt more like visiting an arboretum as I meandered my way through Kirsh’s gardens and whimsical, brightly colored sculptures. My eyes were

Jan Kirsh

taken with all the beauty and with an urgency to free my hands to take some photos before the party guests arrived. Kirsh and I would laugh about the quirkiness of my enthusiasm when we later sat under her locust tree, with its falling leaves dancing in the sun as they made their way to serve as a natural mulch—or leaf litter— in her gardens. Seeing me enjoy her art warmed her heart, it turns out. Which was perfect because I came back wanting to know where she found her joy and what inspired her to support the Community Center’s renovations and capital campaign. Gardens aren’t the only thing Kirsh grows. She grows friendships and connections among the people she knows and around the projects she works on. That’s where her joy is found. “I love putting people together and introducing people to each oth-

wide in a sustained state of awe while taking in every exquisite detail. Everything from the entrance’s chartreuse posts, bright red pepper sculpture, and cerulean blue grape screen to each oversized asparagus spear, artichoke, and tomato tucked in her gardens felt joyful. It was joyful. Stepping inside the beautifully lit studio with my 35mm camera hung over my shoulder, I felt like I had hit nirvana with more of Kirsh’s vegetable and nature-inspired sculptures on display. I unconsciously dropped my bag right in the middle of the entryway of the magical space, over-

Jan Kirsh with Joan Wetmore. 66

Jan Kirsh

“I think that’s why it was easy for me to slip into saying yes to hosting this party,” said Kirsh. “When Community Center Board Chair Langley Shook called me after Mark McInturff, who is a friend and fabulous architect, and they both asked, ‘Would you do this?’ I immediately said yes. I didn’t even think about it.” McInturff is the lead architect behind the light-filled, energy-efficient design of the renovated building and is collaborating with Kirsh on the final touches for the gardens, which will include raised garden beds, seating, paved walkways, lighting, irrigation, and more. Kirsh is hosting this garden party to help raise money for the build-

er,” says Kirsh. “I tend to be the catalyst that says, ‘let’s go to the play’ or ‘let’s work together.’ It’s all about building connections.” Seeing people connecting with her art—whether it be a client spanning more than 40 years looking over a matured garden that Kirsh designed and has maintained or seeing someone appreciate one of her sculptures—is what makes Kirsh’s heart sing. She says projects that make connections and build communities are especially interesting to her because of the impact and importance of the work.

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Jan Kirsh

renovated building at 103 Railroad Avenue in St. Michaels. The renovations have been underway for the past year and are expected to be completed in early 2024. “I think the front entry is really going to be special,” says Kirsh, noting that the front entry is very small and, from a design standpoint, is not an easy space. “It’s just this little, pie-shaped piece of land squeezed between the front porch and the sidewalk.” She says she’s looking forward to seeing the garden’s hardscapes installed which includes the use of Belgian block in the front garden and brick in the small, enclosed courtyard garden in the rear. The entry’s Corten steel planters with

ing renovations currently underway at the St. Michaels Community Center. She’s also personally and professionally invested in the project. She is donating her landscaping design services to create a welcoming community garden and courtyard at the Community Center’s

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Jan Kirsh

Kirsh says the plantings will be informal with a loose, textural quality, including rosemary, lavender, creeping thyme, and native shrubs and grasses. She’ll include a scattering of perennials for a pop of color. The herbs will be included especially for the culinary center’s use, with one of Kirsh’s sculptures in consideration for the overall plan. “I think what will give me great joy is seeing someone sitting on the two benches, whether they’re waiting for a bus or for a program to start, or just eating an ice cream cone from Justine’s around the corner. I want it to be a place where neighbors hang out in that little garden and take it all in.”

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Jan Kirsh

help with our food distribution services.” Rofe says the center currently provides more than 2,200 meals each week to help the area’s working poor, homebound individuals, senior citizens, people with disabilities, and families facing emergencies. When the renovated building opens in March, the Community Center expects to double the number of people served through exciting new programs for children, career and workforce training for youth and adults, expanded food distribution, community gatherings, and much more. “Our campaign has raised more than $4 million through the generosity of individual donors, private foundations, and government grants,” says Shook, who is also leading the fundraising committee

The St. Michaels Community Center’s renovations will provide state-of-the-art spaces for more children and adult programs, including a new culinary and hospitality workforce training program. Several classrooms and a large common area for community gatherings, complete with audio-visual technology for presentations and screenings, are included in the design. The renovations will also house a modern, well-equipped commercial kitchen. “The Community Center serves the community at large with programs and activities for all ages,” says Executive Director Patrick Rofe. “Our modernized building and Jan’s beautifully designed gardens will be welcoming to all our neighbors, including those we

Jan Kirsh

into her now-grown students and their comments warm her heart. “They remind me that they knew me when they were eight or nine years old,” she says. “And they’ll remark that something I said or did made a difference in their lives.” Kirsh hopes to make a difference in the lives of children that goes beyond her circle of nephews, nieces, great nephews and nieces, the children of friends, and other youth through her work with the gardens of the St. Michaels Community Center. “I hope these spaces will be where children particularly find their own joy and connections,” she says. “When we plan and build spaces like the St. Michaels Community Center to serve the community, we build vitality into a community that will carry over from this generation to the next.” You can learn more about Jan Kirsh at www.jankirshstudio.com. More about the St. Michaels Community Center’s renovations, including renderings and photos of ongoing construction is at www. stmichaelscc.org/future.

behind the nonprofit’s first capital campaign in its 33-year history. “Now we’re heading down the homestretch, with about $400,000 left to raise,” Shook says. “Funds are still needed to pay for a solar electric system that will eliminate all our future electric utility costs, Jan’s beautiful landscape and hardscape outside that she has designed pro bono, and to set aside a reserve for building maintenance and repairs.” Kirsh is hoping the guests at the garden party will be inspired to support the campaign, and that they will use their own connections to encourage others to make tax-deductible donations to the campaign. “I think giving back is especially important on a personal level and in helping organizations like SMCC, especially when it comes to helping children,” Kirsh says. She realized the importance of giving back to kids and helping boost their self-esteem while teaching art classes at the Academy Art Museum many years ago. Kirsh often bumps

Tracey Johns has worked in communications, marketing and business management for more than 30 years, including non-profit leadership. Tracey’s work is focused on public and constituent relations, along with communication strategies, positioning and brand development and project management. 76

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Easton Map and History The County Seat of Talbot Count y. Established around early religious settlements and a court of law, Histor ic Dow ntow n Easton is today a centerpiece of fine specialt y shops, business and cultural activ ities, unique restaurants, and architectural fascination. Treel i ne d s t r e e t s a r e graced with various per iod str uctures and remarkable home s , c a r e f u l l y preser ved or re stored. Because of its histor ic a l significance, historic Easton has earned distinction as the “C olon ia l C apitol of the Eastern Shore” and was honored as number eight in the book “The 100 Best Small Towns in America.” With a population of over 16,500, Easton offers the best of many worlds including access to large metropolitan areas like Baltimore, Annapolis, Washington, and Wilmington. For a walking tour and more history visit https:// tidewatertimes.com/travel-tourism/easton-maryland/. © John Norton

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Dorchester Map and History

Dorchester County is known as the Heart of the Chesapeake. It is rich in Chesapeake Bay history, folklore and tradition. With 1,700 miles of shoreline (more than any other Maryland county), marshlands, working boats, quaint waterfront towns and villages among fertile farm fields – much still exists of what is the authentic Eastern Shore landscape and traditional way of life along the Chesapeake. For more information about Dorchester County visit https://tidewatertimes.com/travel-tourism/dorchester/. 81

TIDEWATER GARDENING

by K. Marc Teffeau, Ph.D.

Gardening Gifts for Christmas The end of this year’s gardening activities is fast approaching. I hope that you had a successful gardening experience even with some of the challenges that we faced. The holiday season is coming and now is the time to think about what would be great gardening gifts to family members and friends who are active gardeners. Giving plants, of course, is prob-

ably the first thing that comes to mind. But there are many other types of gardening gifts that would be appreciated. Specialty gardening tools are a good selection. A pair of highquality pruners, gardening gloves, trowels, rakes, saws, or shovels would be nice. There are a number of garden tool sites on the Internet that showcase quality tools

Tidewater Gardening

an active gardening day and having a tool break on you. Although you can find a lot of good (and some questionable) gardening information on the Internet, for me, nothing beats a good book on a gardening topic. I still have in my library some of the classics like Donald Wyman’s Wyman’s Gardening Encyclopedia published in 1971. Many books are available on general and specific topics. Maybe your family member is into a specific grouping of plants – house plants, African violets, orchids for example - and would like more information on them. If your relative/friend is an active vegetable gardener who enjoys raised beds, small plots, or organic

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plored, developed, hybridized, and marketed many of the plants that we now enjoy. One such book is The Plant Hunter’s Garden: The New Explorers and Their Discoveries by Bobby J. Ward. Or books on landscape architecture and design. Don’t forget gardening magazine subscriptions and periodicals. Horticulture Magazine and Fine Gardening are two of the many quality magazines that come to mind. You can now receive copies electronically or in hard copy. Another great gardening gift is a membership in one of the many specialty gardening groups. Your friend may be into daylilies – American Daylily Society – Iris – Iris Society of America – Roses

gardening. Giving them a copy of the book that started the square foot gardening approach, Mel Bartholomew’s Square Foot Gardening would be a good choice. Of course, I would be amiss if I did not promote the Maryland Master Gardener Handbook as a great book gift. An excellent reference for all things gardening in Maryland. You do not need to be a Maryland Master Gardener Volunteer – though I would really encourage you to become one – to receive the Handbook. You can order it on the University of Maryland State Master Gardener Website. Being somewhat of a history buff I enjoy reading about gardening history and the people who ex-

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Tidewater Gardening

online now that also offer e-gift cards. Three companies that have ordered from include Renne’s Gardens in California, Annie’s Heirloom Seed’s, and Southern Seed Exchange. Their websites contain a wealth of information on heirloom seed varieties. And, of course, you can purchase plant material over the Internet with gift certificates from a number of nationally known nurseries and plant growers. I always encourage gardeners to buy locally when possible. Sometimes, however, there may be a cultivar of a specific bulb, houseplant, perennial, or shrub that you want that is just not available locally so you need to order it. If the person likes to garden and also cook how about some herb plants as gifts to them? For the chef in the kitchen, you can grow many herbs indoors during the winter for fresh use. Herb plants are available in the grocery stores. Maybe you have herb plants that you want to propagate and give as a gift. There are a number of indoor herbs growing “systems” with artificial lighting that would be great for your chef relative. Many of these systems are hydroponic by design. In them, you can sow seeds of parsley, oregano, sage, chives, and dwarf basil. Your chef friend will be rewarded with fresh herbs for your winter cooking. Gift plants from the local gar-

- the American Rose Society, to name a few. On the national level, the American Horticulture Society would be a possible selection, or maybe a state horticultural society if one exists in your state. With the increasing emphasis and interest in native plants in the landscape, membership in the Maryland Native Plant Society would be a good gift for your relative or friend who is a native plant aficionado. I am a member of the Georgia Native Plant Society and there is a wealth of information on native plants that I can get from this group. And don’t forget seeds. The major online seed companies like Burpee’s and Park’s offer gift certificates that you can send to someone. If your gardening relative is into non-gmo and heirloom seed varieties there are a number of smaller seed companies that are

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The cultivars of holiday plants are bred for greenhouse production and usually do not adapt long-term to the conditions in your home. Treat them like long-lasting cut f lowers - enjoy them as long as possible but discard them when they become unattractive. There are some exceptions to this rule, however. For example, Kalanchoes (Kalanchoe blossfeldiana). They are a holiday plant that is tough and can endure in our homes for a couple of months during the winter. If you compare the leaves of the kalanchoe to the common jade plant, you will notice a resemblance. They both have thick, firm, f leshy leaves. However, the kalanchoes are more f lat-

den center are also available. For ornamental shrubs and trees, you can plant them during the winter if the ground is not frozen or forecasted to freeze. When we think of Christmas gift plants, however, we usually think of the f lowering kind that is available at garden centers and grocery stores. The poinsettia is the number one holiday gift plant but there is a selection of a number of other plants that are available. As a general rule, the f lowering potted plants like f lorist azaleas and poinsettias that you give as gifts during the holiday season are not meant to be kept as permanent house plants.

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Tidewater Gardening

er can be bought in any stage of growth from a single bulb to the semi-opened or “puffy bud” stage. If you purchase one be sure that one-third of the bulb is above the soil line in the pot. Place this bulb in a sunny, warm location and watch the leaves unfold and the f lower stems stretch. Keep the growing medium that the bulb is in on the dry side, don’t overwater it. Amaryllis are tropical plants, so you need to keep the room temperatures above 60 degrees and in highintensity light. If the plant does not receive enough light, its leaves and flower stem will stretch or elongate too much and fall over. It takes an average of four weeks from the time the bulb is planted until it flowers. When you see the first flower bud begin to swell and turn color, it will only be another day or two until it completely opens. As a rule, the larger the circumference of the bulb, the more flowers

tened and tightly packed than the jade plant. The kalanchoe likes it hot and dry. If you need a plant that can take residing in a hot room (like where the wood stove is located) or drafts from the nearby radiator or heat vent, this plant will do well. You can even forget to water it sometimes, however, if you do flowering will be reduced. When choosing your kalanchoe look for a minimum of two to three flower clusters on a four-inch plant and four or five on a six-inch plant. Make sure that the plant has lots of color and little or no dead flowers. Once the spring weather arrives you can set it outside with your other houseplants and it will thrive. Amaryllis bulbs are popular as Christmas f lowers. This f low90

ing a close relative - the Gloxinia? They are large, low-growing, and spreading plants with small, trumpet-shaped flowers. You can treat gloxinias like African violets. Avoid high-intensity, direct sunlight and water them from the bottom of the pot with warm water. Never water African violets or gloxinias from the top of the pot as this will encourage stem rot in the plant. Keep the soil moist but not waterlogged and avoid cold and hot drafts. Look for plants that have at least three to five open f lowers and at least that many more buds growing in the center of the plant. A six-inch gloxinia will have a dozen or more buds and will continue to f lower for three to four weeks

you will get. Larger bulb sizes (10 inches or more in circumference) will give you at least four flowers. Amaryllis flower colors range from white and pink to orange. If you, or someone you know like begonias, consider getting a Rieger begonia. They look very like the garden tuberous begonias. Reigers are relatively tolerant of sun exposure and temperature. They do prefer a slightly moist, but not sopping wet media, to grow in. Single and double f lowers can be found on the same plant. The measure of a high-quality plant will be one that is at least half covered with f lowers. African violets are always popular as a holiday gift plant. Have you considered purchas-

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Tidewater Gardening

if properly cared for. If you allow the plant to dry out or you have located it in a room that is too dark, the f lower buds will fall off. Gloxinias come in a wide f lower color range of whites, purples, pinks, and bicolor. Most people who try to keep the gloxinia growing after f lowering don’t have too much luck as they need extra care but you can always try. Happy Gardening and Happy Holidays!!! Marc Teffeau retired as Director of Research and Regulatory Affairs at the American Nursery and Landscape Association in Washington, D.C. He now lives in Georgia with his wife, Linda.

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St. Michaels Map and History

On the broad Miles River, with its picturesque tree-lined streets and beautiful harbor, St. Michaels has been a haven for boats plying the Chesapeake and its inlets since the earliest days. Here, some of the handsomest models of the Bay craft, such as canoes, bugeyes, pungys and some famous Baltimore Clippers, were designed and built. The Church, named “St. Michael’s,” was the first building erected (about 1677) and around it clustered the town that took its name. For a walking tour and more history of the St. Michaels area visit https://tidewatertimes.com/travel-tourism/st-michaels-maryland/. 95

The Man Who Came to Dinner by A.M. Foley

for Great Britain on September 1, 1939. The following May, King George VI replaced Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain with the more pugnacious Churchill. That Monday, the new prime minister delivered his first official parliamentary address, offering Britain his “blood, toil, tears and sweat.” Two days later, the ultimate rude awakening tested his resolve. Wednesday morning he took a call on his bedside phone from Premier Paul Reynaud of France. On his fifth morning in office, Churchill listened incredulously as his then-

Americans were focused on the Pacific Ocean in December 1941, as citizens spun globes and unfolded maps to locate Pearl Harbor and gauge the distance from the Territory of Hawaii to the Mainland. At the same time, a British convoy cast off across the Atlantic on a highly secretive mission. Aboard the battleship HMS Duke of York, escorted by three destroyers, was Winston Churchill, destined to be Franklin D. Roosevelt’s closest ally, and Eleanor Roosevelt’s worst house guest. The Second World War erupted

Winston

troops were left on the Continent. A distressed Churchill turned to his American counterpart, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, his only viable source for crucial resupply and support. From the war’s 1939 beginning, Roosevelt sympathized with the anti-Nazi cause but was restrained by strong elements of isolationism, and by pro-fascist and/or pro-German leanings represented in the U.S. Congress. Nevertheless, FDR pushed through the Lend-Lease Act and explored constitutionally permissible executive actions available to assist the Allies, especially isolated Britain, whose cities German bombers pummeled nightly. After two years, the World War came to America on December 7, 1941, the “date that shall live in infamy.” Naturally, U.S. public sentiment called for retaliation against Japan. Four days later, Germany declared war on the United States. (Japan had surprised their ally, Hitler, as well as America.) Roosevelt knew his country was illprepared for a two-front war. America scrambled to gain its equilibrium on its sudden wartime stance. Scarce antiaircraft guns on the White House roof were augmented by faux guns made of wood. At the same time, Churchill was on his way. Two days after Hitler’s declaration of war against the U.S., and

closest ally announced, “We are beaten.” Prime Minister Churchill’s appointment had been controversial but was gaining popular support, proportionate to Hitler’s loathing for his obstinacy. The steadfast PM was often compared to a bulldog; others likened his rotund appearance to a cherub’s. (When the PM’s daughter-in-law Pamela came home with her newborn son, an aide was alarmed by how much the infant looked like his grandfather. “All babies do,” Pamela assured him.)

Allied forces retreated that May of 1940 to the port of Dunkirk, where nearly two hundred thousand British troops withdrew, along with 140,000 French and Belgians. In the chaos, equipment was abandoned and 80,000 Allied 98

within twenty-four hours of the PM’s extracting an invitation from Roosevelt, Churchill left London, determined to meet the president, court congressional support, and urge coordinated action prioritizing Europe. Gale-tossed by 40foot waves aboard the HMS Duke of York, he described confinement below decks as “like being in pris-

on with the extra chance of being drowned.” Nonetheless, shipmates described the queasy prime minister as “cheerful” and “talking incessantly.” To retain its escort of smaller destroyers, the battleship was forced to reduce speed and take a course more frequented by German submarines. Regardless, the PM appeared unconcerned that U-boats swarmed the Atlantic, sinking nearly a half-million tons of British shipping each month, convoys averaging 10% losses. The prime minister was surely buoyed by the president’s cabling that their two countries were now “in the same boat.” December 22nd, the PM and his weary entourage passed

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Oxford, Md

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Oxford Map and History

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Oxford is one of the oldest towns in Maryland. Although already settled for perhaps 20 years, Oxford Oxford Bellevue Ferry marks the year 1683 177 166 as its official founding, 155 nd Stra St. 144 for in that year Oxford The 133 was first named by n a 18 8 19 9 hm Tilg the Maryland General k e e Assembly as a seaport Cr 122 St. n and was laid out as a son il W 11 East town. In 1694, OxSt. lair St. t nc 10 e Si rk St. Ma ford and a new town Oxford 9 t. Park hS called Anne Arundel son Hig 8 Richard . St (now Annapolis) were n Divisio St. selected the only ports of entry for the entire i Town Rd. non . eek Cr e B Ave Maryland province. n 3 isio t. Until the American S Div W. 2 Revolution, Oxford 1 t. S ne enjoyed prominence roli 7 ad Ro Ca d 333 Oxfor To Easton as an international Pleasant Oxford St. Community shipping center surCenter Hbr. Robes t. 4 C rounded by wealthy E. Pier St. Pier St. tobacco plantations. Oxford Today, Oxford is a © John Norton 6 5 charming tree-lined and waterbound village with a population of just over 700 and is still important in boat building and yachting. It has a protected harbor for watermen who harvest oysters, crabs, clams and fish, and for sailors from all over the Bay. For a walking tour and more history visit https://tidewatertimes. com/travel-tourism/oxford-maryland/.

Winston belatedly from the stormy Atlantic, through the fortified Virginia Capes, to anchor safely at Norfolk. To make up for lost time, rather than cruise up the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River as planned, Churchill and a few aides enplaned for Washington. Darkness had fallen as they approached an inner-city naval air station then on the Anacostia River. According to his everpresent Scotland Yard bodyguard, Walter Thompson, “Those in the plane were transfixed with delight to look down from the windows and see the amazing spectacle of a whole city lighted up. Washington represented something immensely

precious. Freedom, hope, strength. We had not seen an illuminated city for two years. My heart filled.” President Roosevelt awaited them on the tarmac, seated in the backseat of a black limousine,

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which the Treasury Department had confiscated from a tax evader named Al Capone. Undoubtedly Churchill, whose mother was born in Brooklyn, appreciated this bit of Americana. The two Democratic leaders, former First Lord of the Admiralty and former Secretary of the Navy, had much in common. They were already acquainted, having first met at a London dinner party in 1918, and again at a secret rendezvous off Newfoundland the prior August, where they jointly issued the Atlantic Charter, outlining theoretic post-war aims. After the two reached the White House from Anacostia, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the staff found their eccentric house guest a unique

challenge. Wherever he was, he normally spent the early part of each workday dictating from bed, only to return later for a nap. Interspersed with each period of rest were two daily baths, in a tub twothirds full of 98-degree bathwater. This routine enabled him to work well past midnight. His associates could expect their phones to ring at any hour. On the first evening, the president wheeled his chair down the hall from his private rooms, to knock at Churchill’s suite. As Inspector Thompson opened the door, the prime minister emerged from the bathroom, naked, a cigar in one hand and a drink in the other. Thompson later wrote that

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Winston

Roosevelt started to back up, but Churchill said, “Come in, Franklin, we’re quite alone.” When Roosevelt shrugged and wheeled himself in, his guest said, “You see, Mr. President, I have nothing to hide.” In Thompson’s opinion: “I don’t believe Mr. Churchill would have blinked an eye if Mrs. Roosevelt had walked in too.” In the course of his stay, which stretched into January 1942, Churchill spoke at the lighting of the national Christmas tree on the White House lawn (the last until peace came). At the U.S. Capitol on December 26th, he addressed a joint session of Congress, receiving thunderous applause. Besides their private conversations, the two

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leaders presided over joint conferences with military leaders. These talks continued, while Churchill entrained for a brief visit to Canada, then f lew from Washington to Florida as a guest of Lend-Lease administrator, Edward Stettinius. William Manchester’s biography The Last Lion tells another naked-Churchill tale from Florida. The prime minister was enjoying

a well-earned respite from war, f loating nude in the warm, clear waters off Pompano Beach, until a shark cruised up and made a long, slow circle around him. Alarmed, Inspector Thompson ordered the PM out of the water. Churchill retreated to the shallows, but assured Thompson, “My bulk has frightened him into deeper water.” Locals said it was “just a sand shark,” but Churchill stuck closer to shore for the remainder of his five-day stay, before returning to the White House. For her part, Mrs. Roosevelt later wrote that she was quite solicitous for the prime minister, “but I was always glad when he departed, for I knew my husband would need

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Winston a rest since he carried his usual hours of work in addition to the unusual ones Mr. Churchill preferred.” On the other hand, the Roosevelts had a habit that struck their British guest as unfortunate: After dining, instead of excusing herself, Eleanor lingered at the table while

gentlemen discussed political matters. Though she may have suspected it struck him as unseemly, she even had an opinion or two. After five weeks, Churchill departed. By the end of January 1942, he was back in London, having traveled over 9,000 miles to achieve his main objectives. Again, at the last minute, he had scrapped prior arrangements. He f lew home via Bermuda, while staff boarded the HMS Duke of York that awaited them all. The alteration was attributed more to impatience than to fear of U-boats. Unknown at the time, January 1942 was the first month of a period German Admiral Karl Doenitz would call “The Happy Time,” be-

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December Calendar 12/1-3 - Christmas on the Creek in Oxford. See https://portofoxford.com/ for full schedule of events. 12/1 - Bluegrass Nutcracker - Experience Tchaikovsky’s Christmas classic like never before! Features a bar-for-bar rendition of The Nutcracker played by an 8-piece bluegrass band. Before each movement, a zesty narrator recounts ETA Hoffman’s story while poking fun at it’s often-overlooked ridiculousness, Oxford Community Center, 7:30 p.m. $25. Tickets at oxfordcc.org/. 12/1-3, 8-10, and 15-17 - Special Holiday Exhibit: Creches! Oxford Museum Fri. - Sun., Noon to 4 p.m. Barbara Cross shares her heavenly collection of creches from around the world. On Dec. 1 at 4 p.m. Barbara will lead a personal tour of the collection. Free. www.oxfordmuseummd.org/. 12/1-24 - Santa’s Mailbox - Oxford Vintage and Trade. Have your little ones drop off their letters and wish lists! 202 Bank St. - www.facebook.com/oxfordvintage.trade/. 12/2 - Holiday Bazaar - Holy Trinity Church, 9 a.m. to noon. Handmade wreaths, crafts, gifts; homemade soups, and more. 502 S. Morris St. 12/2 - Calliope Musical Exhibit, featuring artist Jonathan King, 1-3 p.m. at the Treasure Chest, 111 S. Morris St. www.treasurechestoxford.com/. 12/2 - Cookie Walk - 2 to 5 p.m. Look for a ‘Cookie Stop’ sign at a participating shop, pick up a map of all the sites and eat your way through Oxford! 12/2 - Dock Tree Lighting at Dusk, along Town Creek. 12/2 - Town Tree Lighting and Santa - Town Park, 6 p.m. 12/2 - Caroling with Mrs. Claus - hot chocolate and sliders at Pope’s Tavern Porch, 6:30 p.m. following the town park tree lighting. 504 S. Morris St. http://oxfordinn.net. 12/2 & 3 - Winter Sale at Treasure Chest - 10-50% off most items in the store. Free drawing for a gift basket. 111, S. Morris St., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. www.treasurechestoxford.com/. 12/2 - 21 - A Collaborative Holiday Shop hosted by Duck and the Dog and Barefoot Dwelling. Enchanting gifts for infants/toddlers, parents, and grandparents, along with high quality, sustainable items for the home curated by an interior designer. Open Fri.-Sun., 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. (extended hrs. on 12/2), 100 W. Division St. www.duckandthedog.com/ and www.arefootdwelling.com/. 12/3 - Pancake Breakfast with Santa - All you can eat breakfast, gift shop, delish homemade baked goods, and Santa! Oxford Volunteer Fire Department, 8 to 11 a.m. 12/3 - Afternoon Tea - finger sandwiches and Mark Salter’s tea cakes, scones, prosecco and select teas/ coffees. Robert Morris Inn, 2:30 to 4 p.m., $42, reservations required 410-226-5111 https://www.robertmorrisinn.com/. 12/7 - Wine Tasting/Pairing Dinner - Pope’s Tavern, 504 S. Morris St., $80, reservations requested, 410226-5220. www.xfordinn.net/dining/. 12/7 - SILK All-in-One Chalk Paint Demo - 5 to 6 p.m., $10. Limit of 6 participants. The Treasure Chest, 111 S. Morris St. For more info or sign up, go to www.reasurechestoxford.com/ or call 410-924-8817. 12/16 - Holiday Afternoon Tea - benefit for the Oxford Volunteer Fire Dept. Savories, scones, sweets and Doehrn Teas. Reservations required, 202-320-1110. $35, 2 p.m. at Oxford Community Center, 200 Oxford Rd. 12/17 - Caroling in Town Park, 6 p.m., followed by refreshments at the Oxford Museum. Check restaurant and shop websites or facebook for current days/hours.

Oxford Business Association ~ portofoxford.com 107

Winston fore the Allies developed countermeasures against his Wolf Packs. Under the admiral, Germany’s U-boat f leet had increased from thirty to three hundred vessels. In the course of the war, they sank approximately 8,000 ships. Hunting along the East Coast between that January and the first of April, 1942, German submarines sank a dozen merchant and naval ships just off the Eastern Shore of the Delmarva Peninsula. Visiting the U.S. years later, Queen Elizabeth II told the story that Churchill was responsible for the U.S. government purchasing a house across Pennsylvania

Avenue from the White House. The queen said the prime minister had phoned late one night to invite President Roosevelt to his rooms, but Eleanor put her foot down. Before the year was out after Churchill’s Christmas visit, the government bought Blair House as an official guest residence for presidential visitors. Forty-some years ago, A.M. Foley swapped the Washington, D.C. business scene for a writing life on Elliott Island, Maryland. Tidewater Times kindly publishes Foley’s musings on regional history and life in general. Published works are described at www.HollandIslandBook.com.

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10-Minute Appetizers While there is nothing wrong with serving chips and salsa to accompany cocktails; special holiday meals often call for fancier appetizers. Why not offer a selection of tasty nibbles that your guests will remember long after the party is over? Most of these appetizers can be made ahead of time and none requires special equipment or hard-to-find ingredients. Consider serving at least three different appetizers so that guests have a choice. Include something crisp (apples), something meaty (sausage), and something starchy (artisan bread). A bowl of salted nuts and a dish of mixed olives will finish out the menu. You can even bake olives purchased from the deli department to the next level with lemon zest and a few seasonings in Warm Fennel-Olive Sauté. But no matter how delicious your appetizers are, if guests are invited for dinner, keep the cocktail period from 45 minutes to one hour. Delicious

food and great friends equal good times and that’s what the holidays are all about! But even though this time of year is crazy busy, you can impress your friends with these fast, eye-catching starters.

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Holiday Much?

Tidewater Kitchen Warm Brie with Fig-Citrus Glaze If you are serving bread with this warm cheese, place slices on the same baking sheet with the Brie. They will toast while the cheese cooks. 1 – 8-ounce Brie round 1/4 cup fig preserves 1 tablespoon honey 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar 1-1/2 teaspoons orange zest 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary 1/4 teaspoon sea salt 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper Assorted crackers, fresh fruit (grapes and apples)

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Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Trim and discard rind from top of Brie. Place Brie on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake 8 minutes or until cheese is just melted. Meanwhile, microwave fig pre-

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Tidewater Kitchen serves and the next 6 ingredients in a small microwave-safe glass bowl for 30 seconds; stir until blended and smooth. Microwave another minute and let stand while cheese bakes. You can also heat on top of the stove on medium low if you’d rather not microwave. Transfer Brie to a serving dish; drizzle warm glaze immediately over Brie. Serve with assorted crackers or bread and fresh fruit. Tip: If you put Brie on an oven safe serving plate and bake as directed, the hot plate will keep the cheese warm and gooey longer! Serves 6-8.

A Taste of Italy

Italian Cheese Tray Make a more spectacular cheese tray with a few unexpected additions. One large wedge of cheese looks like you splurged but it is less expensive than several smaller cheeses. 1 8-ounce wedge fontina cheese 2 Honey crisp apples, sliced. 1/4 pound thinly sliced prosciutto Sliced ciabatta bread Arrange all ingredients on a large serving platter or cutting board. Tiny Champagne grapes, quartered Seckel pears, or a bowl of pomegranate seeds are fun additions as well. Serves 8.

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Warm Fennel-Olive Sauté A dish of olives is always on my cocktail party menu. When it’s 114

leftovers, they can be kept for up to five days and reheated, if desired. 1 lemon 3-4 garlic cloves, minced 3/4 teaspoon fennel seeds 1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil 1-1/2 cups mixed olives 8 pickled okras, cut in half lengthwise 1 fennel bulb, cored and sliced 1/2 cup lightly salted roasted almonds cold out, I like to warm them and add a little spice with crushed red pepper and fennel seeds. Save your

Remove lemon peel in strips using a vegetable peeler, reserving lemon for another use. Sauté lemon peel, garlic, fennel

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Tidewater Kitchen seeds, and red pepper in hot oil in a large skillet over medium heat for 1 minute. Add olives and the next 3 ingredients, and cook, stirring occasionally, 5-7 minutes or until fennel is crisp-tender. Transfer to a cocktail glass or a shallow serving dish. Tip: If your olives have pits, be sure to set out a small bowl for your guests to dispose of them. Serves 12. Smoked Trout or Smoked Blue Catfish Horseradish Spread Transform leftovers into crostini (means “little toasts” in Italian)

by topping toasted French bread rounds with this creamy spread and a sprinkle of finely diced apples and toasted pecans. 8 ounces smoked trout or smoked

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Blue Catfish 1 8-ounce package of cream cheese, softened 2 green onions, sliced 1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves 5 teaspoons horseradish 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill 1 teaspoon lemon zest 2 teaspoons lemon juice 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper 1/4 teaspoon sea salt Honey crisp apple slices, celery sticks, f latbread crackers Remove and discard skin and bones from the fish. Flake trout into small pieces. Pulse cream cheese and the next 8 ingredients in a food processor 8 times or until combined, scrape down as needed. Stir in f laked fish pieces. Transfer to a serving dish. Serve immediately or cover and chill for up to 2

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dium-high heat for 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Stir in oregano, garlic, and paprika, and cook for 1 minute or until fragrant. Add red wine, and cook, stirring often for 3 minutes or until wine is reduced and thickened. Transfer to a shallow bowl, and garnish. Serve with wooden picks. Tip: If you don’t have smoked paprika, substitute ½ teaspoon traditional paprika and ¼ teaspoon ground cumin. Serves 8.

1 medium avocado, diced 2 tablespoons minced red onion 2-1/2 teaspoons lemon juice 3/4 teaspoon chopped fresh dill Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Mini Caviar Parfaits Purchase peeled, boiled eggs to put this dish together fast! 1/2 cup sour cream

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Tidewater Kitchen 1 small plum tomato, seeded and finely chopped 1 large, hard-boiled egg, peeled and finely chopped 1 2-ounce container black caviar, chilled and drained Thin breadsticks Spoon sour cream into a 1-quart zip-lock bag. Snip 1 corner of the bag to make a small hole; pipe sour cream into 6 (2 ounces) assorted shot glasses. Combine avocado and the next 3 ingredients in a bowl. Mash with a fork, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Spoon avocado mixture over

sour cream in shot glasses. Top each with tomato, egg, and ½ to 1 teaspoon caviar. Reserve the remaining caviar for another use. Serve parfaits with breadsticks. Tip: Lumpfish caviar found near the canned tuna is half the price of salmon caviar. Try fresh caviar if your seafood department stocks it. It may cost more but you only need a few teaspoons. Pamela Meredith, formerly Denver’s NBC Channel 9 Children’s Chef, has taught both adult and children’s cooking classes. For more of Pam’s recipes, visit the Story Archive tab at tidewatertimes.com.

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All Quiet on the Sound A novel by B. P. Gallagher

Chapter 4: Shingled Out Leon was stomping around upstairs before Earl got up the next morning, for a wonder. Only a small wonder, since Leon’s upper-story room would’ve made first contact with the evening’s precipitation and Earl’s first-story bedroom was suffering its own ill effects from the wintry mix. Yet Earl was surprised to be awoken by heavy footsteps overhead just the same. “Damn roof’s leaking, Earl!” his brother thundered. Earl was already acutely aware of the issue. The ceiling of his room had sprung not one, not two, but three leaks in the night. Two ran down the walls and pooled in opposite corners, while a third streamed through the floorboards overhead, where water that had permeated the roof above Leon’s bedroom was coalescing on his floor. The latter rivulet doused the rug between the wardrobe and the foot of Earl’s bed, sparing its occupant the same fate by less than two inches. Snatching up the little wastebin from the corner—not one of the leaking corners, naturally; that would have been too convenient—he placed it to catch the flow onto the rug.

“Mine’s leaking too!” yelled Maggie from down the hall. “And in the den, looks like!” “Leaky old sumbitch,” said Earl to the geriatric house. Then, to his siblings, “Grab whatever pails and such you can find. Let’s try and keep the worst off the floorboards!” “Little late for that,” said Leon, stomping down the stairs in longjohns and muck boots. He was otherwise undressed. Earl handed him a mop bucket from the kitchen and seized the dish pan for himself. Together they stomped upstairs to stay the deluge. That the leaks had awoken Leon at all, let alone first, turned out to be the real wonder, judging by his

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All Quiet lurching gait and the empty fifth of whiskey discarded in the corner. Chill rainwater had infiltrated the shingling in at least half a dozen places, the individual breaches unidentifiable for the way the water flowed along the rafters and spilled in a curtain of dirty brownish beads over the nook where Leon’s bed usually lay. Leon had pushed the bed across the room, but not in time to avoid his covers and mattress getting doused. This, coupled with the dampness of his hair, begged the question of how long he’d lain stuporous under the miserable conditions and whether they might have staunched the worst of the damage had the rest of the household been warned earlier. Earl said nothing to that effect, much though part of him wanted to castigate his brother. It’s not his fault, he tried to tell himself. It was just the way Leon got sometimes, the same bug that had got into both Mom and Pop on occasion. Something in their nature. Bears hibernated in the winter, got slow and stupid and sleepy with the cold and dark. So did Higginses, sometimes. Slow and stupid and sleepy and sad, most of all. Starting an argument, getting angry over it, was only apt to drive Leon deeper into the black recesses of his cave. Hard-won experience had taught Earl it was best in such cases to shoo the surly bear

afield while he put his brother’s den in order for him. Besides, as shaky as Leon looked at present, he ought to steer clear of heights. “Think I’ll stick around home today and patch the roof,” said Earl. “While I’ve got a fresh sense of where the leaks are. You just go on to the marina without me.” “What about Bunky?” Leon went to his dresser, pulled out a pair of trousers and a flannel shirt, and discarded both with a look of disgust. Wet. So too the next items, and the next. In short order the entire drawer lay in a damp heap on the floor. “Bunky’ll understand, so long as you don’t show up late. I got plenty done yesterday while you were goofing off up the river, anyways.” “Sonofa—! I’ll catch my death if I have to wear any of this shit on the water!” said Leon. He aimed a kick at the pile of moistened laundry, strewing it about the room. “Borrow some of mine then, or pull your oilskins over your longjohns and wear those. Just don’t be late!” “Hold on a goddamn minute, will you?” A bit more rummaging in the second drawer saw Leon produce a passably dry button-down and pair of jeans, which he threw on over his nightclothes. “I don’t think Clara’s going to work today!” called Margaret from downstairs. “Can I catch a ride with you two?”

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All Quiet Just wonderful, thought Earl. Amid the excitement he’d forgotten all about Clara’s Pop Pop being under the weather. How inconvenient. He felt an immediate stab of guilt at thinking of Geezer Gibbs that way, as if he truly were a natural fixture of the island rather than a real live person. A resource to be relied upon like the tides, the disruption of which rippled through the social ecosystem with unanticipated and inopportune consequences. What a horrible, inconsiderate way to account a dying old man! “I’ll take her,” Leon said. Shouldering past Earl, he made his way down the stairs on shaky legs. “It’s just you n’ me today, Maggs, no time for breakfast! C’mon, let’s get a move on!” “At least have coffee first,” said Maggie. “Or else I’m driving to the cannery.” She appeared in the foyer a moment later dressed and holding a steaming tin mug of the stuff, which she pressed into Leon’s waiting hands. Her expression was uneasy. “The hell you are,” said Leon. “I can drive almost as good as you! Better, when you’re like this!” “Like what? I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.” They headed out the door together, bickering the whole way, but Leon was behind the wheel when Betsy chugged up the driveway

despite Margaret’s protestations. So long as Leon managed not to go veering off into the water while driving across to the Shore, Earl figured his siblings would make out just fine. Then Leon would be Bunky’s problem for the day. The sleet abated shortly thereafter, leaving Earl to bail out the impromptu receptacles from inside and mount a relief mission to the roof. He braved the ascent in the damp mid-morning chill, equipped with his grandfather’s ladder, a pail of roofing nails, two bundles of cedar shakes, and his father’s mahogany-handled roofing hammer. He hoped the antique tools with which he was planning to repair the ancient roof didn’t also decide to reveal their age. Pop Pop’s old ladder sure did sway and creak in the breeze. Bolstered with the knowledge of which sections needed patching fresh in mind, Earl meant to make short work of the project and have done with the roof until spring at least. Matters of household are

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All Quiet rarely so simple, however. As he should have expected, it was almost noon before he finished patching the rot over Leon’s bedroom—and his room below that—to his satisfaction, by which time he was sore and exhausted. He had done this work before, some of that experience gained during the summer when the sun beat down thrice as brutal, and the boards were apt to leave splinters in a boy’s scabby knees and elbows. This wasn’t quite that bad, but even in the cold of late autumn the sandpaper texture of the wood grain bit at his exposed skin, and an icy breeze nipped wherever it found purchase—drying his eyes, stinging the tips and lobes of his ears, stealing his breath away. Earl got back to it after an earthbound lunch of saltines, cheese, and canned ham. Quick fare, but replenishing, and taking his meal inside granted him time to reinspect the ceilings in the single-story wing of the house. There were leaks in the kitchen, back hall, and Margaret’s bedroom, so he collected another bundle of shakes from the shed before returning to the outsized task. He was working on the southwardfacing side of the house’s first story when he heard a vehicle splashing through the shallow puddles on the island road to the north. It was barely three in the afternoon, earlier than most sensible Moore Island-

ers would attempt the crossing on wheels, and Earl’s first thought was that he never should have handed Betsy’s keys over to Leon. They were already dealing with a swamped house; the last thing they needed was a swamped engine atop it. Earl needed that like a hole in the head. Sidling up to the peak of the roof, he peered northward. A pickup truck was trundling through the brackish swill, but not Betsy. A rusty red Ford, the water up to its hubcaps at points along its foolhardy dash across the flooded gravel lane. Yet it reached dry land without stalling and sped up the dirt lane with water streaming from its undercarriage. Bypassing the Higgins household so quickly that Earl couldn’t get a clear glance at the driver, the Ford careened into a left turn and lurched to a stop in the Gibbses’ driveway. The driver’s side door opened and a tall figure slid from the cabin. Now Earl recognized the truck, that spidery gait. It looked like Clara and Geezer Gibbs were being graced with an odd hours visit from Pastor Calhoun. The preacher crossed the yard to the Gibbses’ front porch at a rapid

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All Quiet clip, shoulders hunched as if trying to reduce his gawky profile. His head swiveled, casting furtive glances in all directions like a turkey vulture seeking a meal. But he didn’t think to glance up at the eaves of the Higgins house, where Earl spied with growing curiosity—and suspicion, the longer he looked. Reaching the Gibbses’ front door, Pastor Calhoun neither knocked, clanged the bell, nor even tried the doorknob. Instead, the preacher leaned forward and, shielding his eyes with a hand against the overcast day’s grey glare, peered through the pane of semi-decorative glass centered at the top of the door. Impossible to say what Peter Calhoun saw therein, but it wasn’t likely to be Geezer Gibbs or his granddaughter. The preacher’s dried-blood pickup was the only vehicle in the driveway. Earl hadn’t seen the house’s occupants depart for the day. They must have left with the first low tide while the Higginses were still contending with the morning’s leaky start. Off to a doctor’s appointment in Salisbury, maybe, and Clara gone with him. By now, Pastor Calhoun had to have realized the house was empty. Yet he tugged on the doorknob nonetheless and, finding it locked (an oddity on the island), strode off the porch. What followed was the most suspicious behavior yet by far.

As Earl watched dumbfounded, the preacher went from window to window of the Gibbs house, checking to see whether each was locked before moving onto the next. He repeated this process for the whole first floor and tried the back door of the house for good measure. All shut tight and locked. When had the Gibbses become so security-minded? Earl wondered. Only when he had exhausted all possible points of ingress did Pastor Calhoun return to his vehicle. What was the good preacher up to? Was the sly bastard really trying to break in? It seemed insane, but that was sure what it looked like. Could he have turned to burglary to pad out his food pantry, or perhaps to cover a secret gambling debt? There had been rumors… A whole host of intriguing possibilities occurred to Earl, each more lurid than the last. Keeping his gaze fixed on the preacher, Earl reached to his left for a handhold, seeking a better vantage—to see if the man was drunk, perhaps, or to gain some other clue as to what state of mind might explain his erratic behavior— and seized empty air. “Shit, shit!” He had been so focused on Pastor Calhoun that he’d sidled too far out along the roof! For a dizzying moment he tottered, left arm pinwheeling, dangerously close to tipping into the twiggy autumn shrubs some dozen feet below. Not a deadly fall at this height, but enough

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All Quiet to break bones if he landed wrong, and those sticks wouldn’t have felt good whatsoever jabbing into his flesh. At the very last instant he caught himself, heaved a huge sigh of relief as he scrambled back to the gentler slopes of the roof. Peter Calhoun’s head snapped around. Earl swung to his right on a paranoid impulse, crept down out of sight until his feet almost dangled over the gutters, feeling foolish. Hiding like a peeping child, breath quickening and heart pounding like one too, and for what? A man had every right to be atop the roof of his own house, and to see what he may therefrom. The rust-colored truck sputtered again to life, emitting a wet cough from its innards. Earl listened, not daring to peek again despite his self-assurances, as the old Ford turned onto the dirt lane, moving far slower than before. In fact, the truck appeared to be coming to a stop already, creeping closer and closer to Earl’s vantagepoint. Pastor Calhoun was turning down the drive. Suddenly Earl was six years old again, playing in the front yard while the Pastor spoke with Mom in the kitchen. The patch of skin right between his shoulder blades was crawling, because he knew that if he looked up he might see Peter Calhoun’s stormy grey eyes fixed

on him from the kitchen window. If that cold regard fell on Earl, or baby brother Shane, it would pin them to the spot like bugs in a museum display case. Only Leon had been old enough, brave enough, to play on in protest when the preacher’s steely gaze swept his way. Let the old basturd-Pasturd (as the boys named him in private) see them unafraid— big brother Leon would stand for them all! Except Earl always had been a little afraid, and Shane even more so, and Leon too after one fateful summer afternoon when, at the age of ten, big brother got the bright idea to moon Pastor Calhoun in his rear-view mirror as the preacher’s cherry-red truck rolled down the driveway. Then the wrath of God had fallen on them all in indiscriminate Old Testament style, through the earthen vessels of Pastor Calhoun and, later, Mom. The driver’s side door opened. Pastor Calhoun climbed from his truck the color of dried blood and approached the Higgins household. Lowering the pail of roofing nails to the ground on its rope and slipping his father’s hammer through his beltloop, Earl mounted his grandfather’s ladder and descended to earth. Better to announce himself, meet this trespasser head on. This was Higgins property, dammit, and Earl a boy no longer. He hopped down from the ladder and went to confront Peter Calhoun on the front stoop.

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All Quiet “Hello, Pastor,” said Earl as he rounded the corner of the house. Peter Calhoun leapt almost out of his skin at the sound of Earl’s voice, the movement reminiscent of a bullfrog leaping from a muddy bank at full stretch. The spindly preacher was beady-eyed and sweating despite the autumnal chill, projecting nothing like the icy confidence with which he usually faced the world. “Looking for someone?” Earl asked. “Mom ain’t here, Pastor, but I’d think you’d know that.” “I assure you I’m well aware of that,” said Pastor Calhoun. “I performed her last rites, as I’m sure you recall.”

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“Oh, I assure you I recall quite vividly,” said Earl in a flat tone. “You sure that’s what you want me remembering right now? That your reason for showing up unannounced on my porch, to remind me of your irreverence for my late mother?” “Irreverence? Listen here, boy—” began the Pastor, flint and steel sparking in his eyes, but he curbed his tongue and said instead, “I only wished to pay a visit to a few of my flock on Moore Island.” “Lechery, then.” “Lechery?!” said Pastor Calhoun, in such an affronted tone that Earl might almost have forgotten which of the pair of them was trespassing. “How dare you accuse me of lechery towards—” “Mom ain’t here no more, no thanks to you,” said Earl, bulling over the preacher before he could summon his strange, age-reversing magic that paralyzed with a word, “and she’s about the only one in the household I can think of who’d take a social call from you at this hour. No wonder the paint on that old truck is so peeled, if you been driving like a madman through the shallows at odd hours all these years! So I’ll ask you again: who are you looking for? Maggie? Clara Gibbs?” “What? No! Why ever would I be looking for Miss Gibbs?” Peter Calhoun’s face had drained of blood. There! thought Earl in triumph. Leon himself couldn’t have done a better job of putting the pastor off

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All Quiet his paces and in his place. “I been fixing my roof all morning. Don’t think I didn’t see you rooting around next door, and I’ll bet you were about to do the same here before I hailed you! You’re lucky neither the Gibbses nor us have a big mean hound—or poor eyesight and a shotgun, come to think of it. You oughta know better than to show up unannounced and uninvited.” “But that isn’t entirely true, you see! I am here by invitation—your sister’s, to be precise, and although I’ve clearly mistimed my visit, I suppose its purpose extends to you as well. And your brother, of course. Um… Is he here, your brother?” Pastor Calhoun’s stormy eyes flitted past Earl and roved the windows at the front of the house. “I’ll say you mistimed it.” Earl stepped towards the preacher, placing the house squarely behind him. “I’d think an old Shore boy like you’d know not to come knocking before the tide’s all the way out.” “Your sister—” “Maggie invited you, did she? I don’t seem to recall her mentioning that. What for?” “To further discuss her prospective employment, I presume. Or perhaps to evangelize, reflect in prayer together…like your mother and I used to. I don’t suppose you have any interest in such activities, do you? I’ve brought my Bible in the truck if

so, and a hymnal if you truly wish to see where the Spirit takes us.” “Sorry you came all this way, I guess,” said Earl, unmoved, “but Maggie ain’t here right now. If she decides she wants to see you, or my brother and I discover a sudden hankering for proselytizing, we’ll pay you a visit on the Shore.” The preacher turned as if to scuttle away, but it was Earl’s turn to pin the beetle now, and he intended to relish it. “Say, what were you doing next door, anyhow?” “Oh, that,” said Pastor Calhoun breezily. “Miss Gibbs forgot to lend me her housekey, that’s all, and I had promised to stop by and pick something up for the collection. It’s what reminded me to inquire after Margaret in the first place. Clara’s…not working out, I’m afraid. I have found her to be less-than-reliable.” “That so?” “That’s the simple truth, Mister Higgins. No grand conspiracy.” Frowning, Earl laid a hand on the head of the roofing hammer tucked into his belt and said, “You’d better get going now, Pastor. The sun goes down early this time of year, and I’ve got work to do before the weather turns bad. And you better warn us before you show up here unannounced again. Leon and I really have been talking ‘bout getting us a dog.” Taking the hint, Pastor Calhoun started up his waterlogged truck and fled with his sputtering tailpipe be-

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All Quiet tween his legs. When the preacher had gone, Earl headed back up the ladder to finish repairing the roof and mull over the man’s suspicious behavior. He reached few conclusions, and decided to raise the issue later at the dinner table. Betsy’s hacking baritone announced Leon and Margaret’s return a few minutes after sunset, by which point Earl had retired inside for the evening. They shared scant conversation over their frugal supper: porridge, with raisins and lumps of brown sugar mixed in. Safe to say Leon’s temper hadn’t benefitted from a day of performing double-duty at the boatyard, and Margaret was scarcely more upbeat than her eldest brother. Still grieved over Geezer Gibbs, Earl guessed. He hoped their moods would improve for a dry night of sleep, now the roof was patched. When no one else seemed inclined to discuss their day, Earl said, “Seems Peter Calhoun wanted to see Clara Gibbs about something this afternoon. Came looking for Maggie when he couldn’t—” “He what?” Margaret slammed down her bowl so hard that her glass jumped and nearly upended. “Good lord, Maggie, you’re white as a sheet! I just said Pastor Calhoun came by looking for Clara is all—snooping around, more like. Would’ve done the same here if I

hadn’t met him in the yard. I don’t know why you’re so surprised, though; he claimed you invited him.” “Did he now?” said Leon, arching an eyebrow. “Dammit Maggie, I thought we told you to steer clear of that man!” “I didn’t invite him!” Maggie insisted, color flooding back into her cheeks. “And I have been steering clear of him, you big dummy!” In two seconds flat she had flashed from aghast to angry, and Earl couldn’t quite figure what had caused either visceral reaction. Last time the preacher came calling she seemed to have cottoned to him right away. Apparently she’d taken their advice to heart. “What’d he want, anyways?” said Leon, adding to Margaret, “And I ain’t no dummy.” Earl shrugged. “Something ‘bout that collection he wants to take up. I sent him packing, don’t worry.” “We oughta get a dog,” said Leon, not for the first time. His grim tone made it a dire pronouncement. “Really?” Margaret’s face brightened. “You mean it?” “Biggest, meanest dog we can find,” said Leon. “Downright vicious, if possible.” Earl couldn’t help but laugh. Brendan Gallagher is a 2013 graduate of Easton High School and is currently finishing up a Ph.D. in Social-Personality Psychology at the University at Albany.

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Shopping in the ’50s and ’60s by James Dawson When I was growing up in the ‘‘fifties (that’s the nineteen fifties) there were of course interesting stores in Trappe, Oxford, and St. Michaels, but families in the hinterlands of the county usually went to Easton maybe once a week to buy groceries at Acme or A&P and later at Food Fair or Safeway. And of course, while you were in town you went to other stores, too. During the week, I mainly read comic books on the rack in Simpson’s store in Trappe, but on our

weekly trips to town, I could also read them at Reads Drugstore and other places. While the grown-ups were shopping, kids could entertain themselve s by re ad i ng c om ic book s which were displayed on spinner racks - these were rotating circular wire display racks with several tiers of comics. My friend Pat, a budding artist who lived in Easton, seldom had the 20¢ to buy one, so he would spend hours not just reading but studying each panel for the artwork.

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He rarely got through more than a quarter of one before risking the inevitable, “Hey, kid! Are you gonna read it or buy it!?” from the owner or clerk, then biked off to continue the story in another store. Sometimes it took three or four stores to finish one comic book. He wa s never ordered not to come back, because of the hope that maybe he might actually buy one someday, and also by the next week all kids pretty much looked alike anyway and most of us were reading and not buying, instinctively hiding on the far side of the spinner rack to evade detection. Since spinner racks were circular and slightly taller than a kid, you could easily edge your way around one if the clerk walked by you down the aisle, and still keep reading. It’s a wonder these stores could stay in business, certainly not by trying to sell comics, anyway. But we did buy candy after school and on Saturdays. Jawbreakers that contained many layers of f lavors that grew smaller as you sucked

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Christmas Shopping away on them while eroding what little enamel remained on our incisors. An actual jawbreaker had several levels to suck on, thereby guaranteeing future extensive and expensive dental mining and coring and drilling. One of the treats we could buy was paper strip candy which hung on long strips of paper, the candy being different colors and different flavors and you would tear off the length you wanted. There were Nehi sodas in various semi-natural f lavors including grape, pineapple and lemon-lime in the cooler, along with the Cokes and Pepsis. No sissy diet drinks back then)! There was also a chocolate drink which, after it sat in the cooler for a time, a brownish particulate of whatever it was inside would settle down to the bottom several inches thick leaving a muddy-colored liquid f loating above. You’d shake it before you drank it, but I was always suspicious of it because it looked more like something scooped out of a mud puddle than a refreshing

drink. However, I guess most kids weren’t too discriminating as long as it sort of looked like chocolate and was cheap. Easton had a Coca-Cola bottling plant then on Bay Street and once or twice I’ve dug up some of the old heavy glass Coke bottles with “Easton, Md.” embossed on the bottom. Then there were the pickles floating in open barrels - just reach in

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and grab one. No sanitation worries then! But somehow we didn’t all die, so either we were tough back then, or even 1950s germs couldn’t survive in the pickle brine. For some strange reason, once a year, Food Fair sold tiny Venus

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Fly Trap plants in little pots which fascinated me, so every year I’d get one, only to have it die when I got impatient and force-fed it bits of hamburger. So the next year I would get another one only to have it die, too until I finally gave up. I never did get one to live. Friends of mine remember going with their father to the Candy Soda Shop on Dover Street and happily reading comics on the spinner racks only to realize years later that unbeknownst to them, all the time they were drinking sodas, engrossed in the latest escapades of Superman, Batman and the Phantom up front, Dear Old Dad was swilling beer and ogling Men’s magazines like True, Saga, Real Adventure, Rampage, Sir, Gent, Nugget and Playboy in the

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Christmas Shopping back. Most of their covers featured some variation of a scantily clad, busty young woman menaced by a giant cobra or other large creature with claws and fangs, or f loating in Outer Space without the need of a space suit. There was something for everyone, it would seem and it certainly explained why Dad was always so interested in going there. “Hey, kids! Wanna go to the soda shop?” It was his clever ploy to to show Mom that he was spending Quality Time with the kids, and also to get out of the house to avoid doing chores. One of the sodas they sold was the rarely seen and almost mythi-

cal Suburban Club Almond Smash, rumored to be only available in Baltimore and Easton. It was either an almond-flavored cherry soda or a cherry-f lavored almond soda. Nevius and Frampton Hardware store at the corner of Goldsborough and Washington Streets was just the most interesting store any where

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Christmas Shopping and I went there every chance I got. Nevius and Frampton had opened in Easton in 1898. The brothers Carl and Ronald had worked there since high school, taking over the store when their father died. Carl had started after his discharge from World War I in 1919. Imagine all the changes he had seen looking out the front windows over all those years. Nevius had everything it would seem and had the most charming low-key sales technique. For example, if you asked for some nails, they’d ask you if you needed a hammer, or if you went in for a hammer, they’d ask you if you needed some nails. The saying was that if Nevius didn’t

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have it, you didn’t need it. A friend’s mother wanted an old-fashioned coffee grinder which were antiques even then, and Nevius still had some in stock upstairs. She was impressed. The building was originally the Frame Hotel in the early 1800s, so they used the upper f loor for storage, and if you got lucky and asked for something, not in the store part downstairs, you might be invited to go upstairs with them to get whatever it was. The old rooms, which seemed tiny now, were piled to the brim with all kinds of ancient devices and tools. Of course, I was all eyes looking at all the stuff stacked in those tiny little hotel rooms. It looked chaotic, but they always knew where everything was. You would usually see their old 1940s International pickup parked in an open bay at the store during the day or parked in front of one of the brother’s houses after hours. Unfortunately, all things must end and Nevius closed in 1982. After the contents had been auctioned off, going to the store had become so ingrained in Ron’s DNA that before the building was sold, I would see Ron (or maybe it was Carl) at the counter reading the paper just like he had done for probably the last 50 years. It was sad to see him in there alone in the empty building like that, and then he was gone, too. Atkinson’s women’s wear shop on Washington St. still used an oldfashioned contraption called a cash

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trolly which probably came with the old building. There were no cash registers on the first floor. The clerk would fill out the ticket and put it and the money on a little basket hanging from an overhead wire, pull a lever, and the spring-loaded basket would shoot up like a small ski lift, carry-

ing the money up to the central cash register on a second-floor balcony. The cashier on the second floor completed the transaction and sent your receipt and any change back to you. I saw this by chance once because a friend’s mother shopped there and showed it to me, but later on, I could

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Christmas Shopping never remember which store it was in, and for the longest time I couldn’t find it. The cash railway lasted until I was in high school in the 1960s. As far as I know, it was the only one in Easton, and in fact, was the only one I’ve ever seen anywhere. Shannahan and Wrightson was

the premiere hardware store in Easton opened in 1877 in a building on the main block across from the Court House. By the 1890s it sold bicycles and in 1911 it had the Buick dealership in town. The building which had been built in 1791 was enlarged and expanded as the business grew. Bricks on the front dated 1877, 1881, and 1889 mark each time it expanded or grew more stories as the building was enlarged. A 1964 fire seriously damaged the upper f loors. The building was repaired, but Sha n na ha n a nd Wr ig ht son closed, ending a run of 88 years. The space was taken over by Rowens Stationery which opened a very nice book department in the back under the management of Judith In-

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gersoll. She later managed the Book and Card Mart, which was later the News Center in Talbot Town Shopping Center. Then the front of the fi rst floor of the old Shannahan and Wrightson building became The Bird Cages for a group of small shops, but they too are long gone. However the dated bricks are still there, and also the plaque on the top of the building still reads “Shannahan & Wrightson Hardware Co.” Sometimes I see old Talbot County store advertising collectibles that were given out to customers. Fans, calendars, mirrors, and thermometers were popular. Sullivan’s Esso station in Trappe even gave out little plastic gas pump salt and pepper shakers as souvenirs.

Some years back, I bought several glass advertising slides from Nevius’ store which were projected on the screen in local theaters in silent movie days. One advertises an ice cream freezer from the days when you had to hand-crank your own ice cream. Also, local stores also accepted produce like milk and eggs and paid you with brass or paper tokens, which could only be used to purchase items from that particular store. I have some from several stores, but those were used before my time. James Dawson is the owner of Unicorn Bookshop in Trappe.

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Caroline County – A Perspective Caroline County is the very definition of a rural community. For more than 300 years, the county’s economy has been based on “market” agriculture. Caroline County was created in 1773 from Dorchester and Queen Anne’s counties. The county was named for Lady Caroline Eden, the wife of Maryland’s last colonial governor, Robert Eden (1741-1784). Denton, the county seat, was situated on a point between two ferry boat landings. Much of the business district in Denton was wiped out by the fire of 1863. Following the Civil War, Denton’s location about fifty miles up the Choptank River from the Chesapeake Bay enabled it to become an important shipping point for agricultural products. Denton became a regular port-ofcall for Baltimore-based steamer lines in the latter half of the 19th century. Preston was the site of three Underground Railroad stations during the 1840s and 1850s. One of those stations was operated by Harriet Tubman’s parents, Benjamin and Harriet Ross. When Tubman’s parents were exposed by a traitor, she smuggled them to safety in Wilmington, Delaware. Linchester Mill, just east of Preston, can be traced back to 1681, and possibly as early as 1670. The mill is the last of 26 water-powered mills to operate in Caroline County and is currently being restored. The long-term goals include rebuilding the millpond, rehabilitating the mill equipment, restoring the miller’s dwelling, and opening the historic mill on a scheduled basis. Federalsburg is located on Marshyhope Creek in the southern-most part of Caroline County. Agriculture is still a major portion of the industry in the area; however, Federalsburg is rapidly being discovered and there is a noticeable influx of people, expansion and development. Ridgely has found a niche as the “Strawberry Capital of the World.” The present streetscape, lined with stately Victorian homes, reflects the transient prosperity during the countywide canning boom (1895-1919). Hanover Foods, formerly an enterprise of Saulsbury Bros. Inc., for more than 100 years, is the last of more than 250 food processors that once operated in the Caroline County region. Points of interest in Caroline County include the Museum of Rural Life in Denton, Adkins Arboretum near Ridgely, and the Mason-Dixon Crown Stone in Marydel. To contact the Caroline County Office of Tourism, call 410-479-0655 or visit their website at www.tourcaroline.com. 157

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Changes:

Flashing Lights in the Rearview Mirror Excerpt from a Memoir by Roger Vaughan

Chapter 9: Fazisi (part 1 of 2) On LIFE’s staff, assignments overlapped. It was a matter of finding something you’d like to do before a house-bound editor came after you with some marginal, seminally boring assignment. The rule was, never return from an assignment without a good idea for your next project. One broke that rule at one’s peril. As a freelancer, the trick was to simply land an assignment. Magazine editors got overwhelmed daily by ideas from dozens of freelancers. Not only did your idea have to be good, it helped if there was a little icing on the cake, like you had some inside information, or you had worked with the subject before, or he was your cousin, or you used to date his wife. Several photographers I knew practiced a devious scheme that often worked. They would tell the subject that (enter name of periodical here) was interested in a story about him or her. At the same time, they’d tell the periodical that (add

celebrity name here) had agreed to an exclusive story about him or her. Neither were true, but it was a creative approach that sometimes made it happen. After I had left LIFE’s staff and become a freelancer, I would occasionally propose a story to them. I knew it was a long shot, given their large staff, but when the Whitbread Round The World race was getting underway in 1990, I suggested they assign me to cover it. The additional icing on that cake was excellent. I was a former staffer, I had covered the previous race for ESPN, and I am a capable sailor. LIFE’s response: if you can get yourself on a boat, we’ll do it. That should have ended it. The 30,000 mile race around the world with half a dozen stops that consumed nine months was already underway. One might think that given the sustained, dangerous nature of the race -- the distance, the time, the history of breakdowns (dismastings, broken booms and keels, collisions

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Skip Novak had sailed three Whitbread races before he got hooked up with whales and containers, physi- with Fazisi. An American who recal injuries and the deaths of several sided in England at the time, Novak crew members), the long succession belongs to a small, stalwart group of alternately frightening and bor- of men and women for whom life is ing conditions – that crews would adventure. Three Whitbreads atbe hard to come by. But as with any test to that: three, nine-month-long extreme undertaking, climbing K2 periods of subjecting oneself to life or participating in Iron Man triath- on a 70-to-80-foot sailboat at the lons, there’s a hard core of candi- mercy of the oceans of the world. dates standing by. Crew positions on In between what any average deround the world boats are both few, cent sailor would consider those and hard won. “extreme ordeals,” Novak’s idea I had a secret weapon (more ic- of a good time was to head for the ing). After the skipper of the Rus- Antarctic on Pelegic, a 54-footer he sian entry, Fazisi, had committed owned a share of, with an internasuicide following the finish of the tional team of ice climbers, sailors, first leg from Engand film makers, and No one goes along land to Uruguay, vetspend six months “for the ride” on a eran blue water sailor “basking in the puSkip Novak had been round-the-world race boat. rity of the ice, and elevated to skipper. I breathing clean air,” knew Skip well enough to ring him as he put it. up and suggest he take me along so He got involved with the Russians I could write a story for LIFE. He because, well, here was another liked the idea. He was still scratch- Whitbread, and with 23 boats ening his head over why he had agreed tered in the 1989-90 race, it looked to take on such an odd boat crewed like a good one. He liked the idea of by Russians. He said he had a French spending some time in Russia. And journalist on board already (Theirry as he admits in Fazisi, the book he Rannou), so I’d have company. No wrote about his involvement, “I did one goes along “for the ride” on a have a practical problem in that I round-the-world race boat. Theirry was stone broke and needed a job.” and I would have to agree to be part Even adventurers have bills to pay. of the working crew. Skip said I could Novak quickly found that debt join the boat in Auckland for Leg 4 was also the top item on the Fazisi to Punta del Este, Uruguay – 6,255 team’s list. Amid a list of sponsors nautical miles. LIFE confirmed the for other teams that read like a corassignment. porate who’s who (Phillip Morris, 160

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Fazisi

ary naval architect who designed Fazisi. His English was quite good, Mastercard, Gatorade, Rothmans, and when I first met this gregarious, Eurocard, to mention a few), Fazisi confident fellow, he began telling was struggling to understand the me stories about how confusing it big money game called sponsorship. had been to make his project come The concept of Glasnost – greater to life. “We need sails,” he said. “I openness, more freedom – a policy call North Sails in Germany, and ask USSR leader Mikhail Gorbachev them can you help us? They say yes, had instituted in the mid-1980s, had they could, and made us some sails. been a bit much for the Russian pop- Then they sent us a bill - after saying ulation to grasp. It also turned out they could help us!” to be Gorbachev’s folly. Having been I call Vladislav a visionary bephysically and economically isolated cause of the boat he designed. Here under a rigid Communist regime is how Skip Novak reacted when he for many decades, exactly what was first saw it: “It was one of the most involved in mounting even a small radical hulls I had ever seen, with project involved a steep learning almost no depth [freeboard] at all. experience. Before Its configuration was Fazisi was struggling to glasnost, all projects more like that of a had been either state understand the big money dinghy than an offsupported or under- game called sponsorship.. shore boat. A raised taken under the rabow profile and very dar at one’s risk. Designing, build- fine forward sections gave it an aling, outfitting, and finding crew for most comical appearance. For a a race boat in the 80-foot range that minute or two I was incredulous. could survive 30,000 miles at a full The deck was straightforward, but gallop is a daunting challenge for the down below was a nightmare. Withsavviest group of western entrepre- out any head room, the interior was neurs. It starts with raising money. nothing more than a crawl space. In 1990, the budget of a well-funded Even without any fixtures or fittings, Whitbread syndicate was between it was already claustrophobic.” $3.5 and $5 million dollars ($7 milWhat was also confounding was lion to $10 million in 2023 dollars). that the guys who had been building For openers, at the time the Russian the boat for the past seven months of ruble was not welcomed enthusias- 12-hour days were also the crew that tically by other countries. But even had been selected to sail it. Skip’s before that, there was a cultural reputation included a keen ability communications problem. to put out fires on the various boat Vladislav Murnikov is the vision- projects he had been associated 162

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all accounts, but it didn’t last long. Shortly after the finish, Fazisi’s skipwith. That talent would be severely per, Alexei Gryshenko, hung himself tested by the lack of even basic Eng- from a tree on the outskirts of Punta lish speakers among the crew (and del Este. Skip’s lack of Russian); the growing Gryshenko had not been popureluctance of Pepsi International to lar on board. The responsibility of continue as a Fazisi sponsor; the building the boat, which had retribal tension among Russian crew- quired months away from his family, members from different sections had rested too heavily on his shoulof their country; and trying to find ders. He spoke not a word of Engways to pay those endless bills. As lish, which made press conferences Novak writes, “Over half a million embarrassing for him. His commupounds sterling for goods ordered nication with co-skipper Novak durhad to be paid for in hard currency.” ing the first leg had been awkward, The reality of dealing with the and it was clear he was not enjoying fledgling free-market economy of the sailing. In fact he had announced the Soviet Union featured almost his retirement from Fazisi, and had non-existing compurchased tickets Over half a million pounds munication, misunhome. Why he took derstanding as to the sterling for goods ordered had his own life remains chronology of the pa- to be paid for in hard currency. a puzzle. “He was reperwork needed, and served, introverted,” the complications of a Soviet bank said a distressed Novak at the time, guaranteeing a German bank that who would be elevated to Fazisi’s would guarantee an English bank. skipper. “Before the start, he wanted “None of us were clear who Fazis to go home. He hadn’t seen his wife (The Fazis Moscow Company that and baby in eight months. I persuadwas officially entering the boat – a ed him not to leave, in retrospect a concept foreign to the old regime) bad idea. In his planned return to was or where they were getting this Kiev, possibly he saw himself as a cash.” failure.” Somehow enough of the bills got paid. Fazisi had made the start *** on September 2 in the Solent, and While the race went on - Punta del amazingly finished 6th twenty-eight Este to Freemantle, Australia (Leg 2, and a half days later in Punta del Fazisi placed 10th), and Fremantle Este, Uruguay. Beating many boats to Sydney, Australia (Leg 3, Fazisi that were better funded and more placed 10th) – I did some reading to organized than Fazisi was a win by become more familiar with certain 164

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wasn’t about to board a lumbering square rigger on which nine knots parts of the world’s oceans I was of boat speed was considered fast. about to visit. The title of a book by For all their disregard for comfort, Alan J. Villiers, an Australian mas- and their less than robust constructer of square riggers in the 1920s, tion, the speed they were designed caught my eye. By Way of Cape Horn for gives the modern boats a ceris Villiers’ tale of a passage he’d tain control over the seas. Getting made in command of the full-rigged, “pooped,” a frequent occurrence 1,565-ton ship, Grace Harwar. It when a following sea caught up with wasn’t reassuring. Villiers wrote of the old ships and broke upon the one evening when the ship’s carpen- helmsman, sometimes washing him ter was asked to take the helm dur- away, was unknown aboard the new ing a moderate gale while the crew boats. All of them can outrun those was raising a sail. seas. But Villiers wasn’t through with me. His description of what When [the carpenter] went to the happened after the ship had taken a wheel, a boy was sent aloft to shake rogue wave that had caused its cargo out the main upper to shift, was disturbtops’l, and the crew The job done, the carpenter ing: gave that sail to her, was relieved, and as he walked tramping it up by forward beneath the boat skids It was pitch dark, the main lee capand above they stan. Seas still came aboard while could hear the ceaseless frightening they were doing this and they had crashes of the giant seas sweeping to run for it once or twice, but there aboard and the screaming of the was nothing dangerous. The job furious wind; they knew only too done, the carpenter was relieved, well that at any moment their ship and as he walked forward beneath might take a mad lurch, and never the boat skids and along to get his rise again. They worked until they breakfast, she rolled her side into had no minds, and went on. . .They a sea and when she cleared herself worked without food, rest, sleep, inagain, he was gone. She was run- terruption of any kind. They worked ning heavily at the time, about nine because they would die if they did knots; there could be no going back. not. . .One of the boys had been flung It was known that he couldn’t swim against the bulwarks when the ship a stroke, and he had been heavily first lurched, and his left arm was clad; they were glad of that. broken. He worked too. Nobody set his arm. The blood congealed on it, That sounded a little scary, but I and it hung from his shoulder un166

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Paykel, Merit, and The Card. While all of them had their individual perset and unattended. It must have sonalities - their naval architect’s caused him screaming pain, but he best concept of what was fastest did not appear to notice it. It was they shared an essential sea-going three days before he fainted. shape. Fazisi’s very low freeboard, the pronounced sheer ending in the Grim stuff. Villiers dramati- raised bow Novak had mentioned, cally described another night as and those fine forward sections, did Grace Harwar approached Cape give the boat the racy look of a dinHorn: ghy. But it was a look that suggested it would be at its best in flat water, not at the mercy of those menacing, Ahead stretched nothing but “great running seas” Villiers had rethe blackness of the sea-wastes, called. extending from there to beyond I stepped aboard and encountered Cape Horn; in the stygian gloom three of my Russian crew mates sitthe white phosphorescent heads of ting on the deck in the sun, chatgreat running seas ting. They looked up We wanted the west winds, and stared at this rose ominously, and their roar as they fell and here they were, welcom- American guy. We upon our decks rose ing us in their wild manner. shook hands, I said above the shrieking my name. They said and howling of the wind. . . This was their names. One of them, Juki, the kind of thing that we could ex- had some English. He asked where pect indefinitely, until we came past I was from. I said near WashingCape Horn. . . There was little of ton, DC. They looked at each other. good weather or of kind skies to be Juki translated. They laughed. Juki expected from the Cape Horn road said to me, “We had all our missiles at any time. . . We wanted the west aimed at Washington.” The others winds, and here they were, welcom- laughed again, knowing what Juki ing us in their wild manner. was saying. “That was the right place to aim them,” I said. Juki translated. Those dramatic images were play- We all laughed. ing in my head the day I walked down That night, the crews from all the the dock in Auckland and saw Fazisi boats had to participate in a fashion for the first time. Novak was right. show held at the convention cenWhat struck me immediately was ter. It was one in a series of events how different the boat looked from Auckland hosted to promote the other maxis: Steinlager 2, Fisher & Whitbread stopover, and to support 168

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Fazisi local charities. The runway was the enormously long set of escalators that rise from the center of the open, ground floor of the building, where dining tables had been set up. The idea was that three or four sailors from each boat would take their turn accompanying a model down the escalator, while trying not to look too ridiculous. It was meant to be entertaining. The sailors singled out for this dubious honor assembled on the second floor, part of which had been hastily arranged as a changing area for the models, a couple dozen of Auckland’s most attractive young women. The sailors had

to stand around until their names were called by the woman in charge. This turned out to be easy duty because the effort to hang blankets for a bit of privacy was soon ignored by the models, who were changing at breakneck speed. The result was an intimate look at a couple dozen of Auckland’s most attractive young women in various stages of undress. All the sailors enjoyed this behind the scenes show, but none more than my three Russian accomplices. Glasnost had not offered anything like this. They were wide-eyed. Juki poked me with an elbow, lowered his head and whispered with a big smile, “This is the West.” Vaughan.roger@gmail.com

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Volunteer Fire Departments of the Mid-Shore Dorchester County: Rescue Fire Co.- P.O. Box 766, Cambridge, MD 21613 · 410.228.1670 Neck District Vol. Fire Co.- 954 Cook Point Rd., Cambridge, MD 21613 · 410.228.2434 Church Creek Vol. Fire Co. - P.O. Box 16, Church Creek, MD 21622 · 410.228.4156 East New Market Vol. Fire Depart. - P.O. Box 280, East New Market, MD 21631· 410.943.3663 Hurlock Vol. Fire Co. - P.O. Box 178, Hurlock, MD 21643 · 410.943.3110 Madison Vol. Fire Co. - P.O. Box 23, Madison, MD 21648 · 410.228.8703 Eldorado Brookview Vol. Fire Dept. - 5752 Rhodesdale-Eldorado Rd., Rhodesdale, MD, 21659 · 410.943.4004 Secretary Volunteer Fire Dept. - 115 Myrtle St., Secretary, MD 21664 · 410.943.3545 Taylors Island Vol. Fire Co. - P.O. Box 277, Taylors Island, MD 21669 · 410.397.3524 Vienna Vol. Fire Co. - P.O. Box 5, Vienna, MD 21869 · 410.376.3319 Lakes and Straits Vol. Fire Co. - 2103 Farm Creek Rd., Wingate, MD 21675 · 410.397.8154 Talbot County: Oxford Fire Co. Inc. - 300 Oxford Rd., Oxford, MD 21654 · 410.226.5110 Trappe Vol. Fire Co. Inc. - P.O. Box 86 Trappe, MD 21673 · 410.476.3535 St. Michaels Fire Depart.,Inc. - 1001 South Talbot St., St. Michaels, MD 21663 · 410.745.9393 Cordova Vol. Firemens Assoc. - P.O. Box 102, Cordova, MD 21625 · 410.364.5400 Easton Vol. Fire Dept. - P.O. Box 851, Easton, MD 21601 · 410.822.4848 Tilghman Vol. Fire Co. Inc. - P.O. Box 297 Tilghman, MD 21671 · 410.886.2101 Queen Anne – Hillsboro Vol. Fire Co. - P.O. Box 226, Queen Anne, MD 21657 · 410.364.5612 Caroline County: Federalsburg Vol. Fire Co. - P.O. Box 99, Federalsburg, MD 21632 · 410.754.7400 Preston Vol. Fire Co.- P.O. Box 44, Preston, MD 21655 · 410.673.7874 Denton Vol. Fire Co. - 400 South Fifth Avenue, Denton, MD 21629 · 410.479.2121 Ridgely Vol. Fire Dept. - P.O. Box 425, Ridgely, MD 21660 · 410.634.2424 Greensboro Vol. Fire Co. - P.O. Box 307, Greensboro, MD 21639 · 410.482.8420 Goldsboro Vol. Fire Co. - P.O. Box 35, Goldsboro, MD 21636 · 410.482.6196 Queen Anne Hillsboro Vol. Fire Co. - P.O. Box 226, Queen Anne, MD 21657· 410.364.5612 Queen Anne’s County: Kent Island Vol. Fire Dept. - 1610 Main St., Chester, MD 21619 · 410.643.5454 Grasonville Vol. Fire Dept. - 4128 Main St., Grasonville, MD 21619 · 410.827.8100 Queestown Vol. Fire Dept. - 7110 Main St., Queenstown, MD 21658 · 410.827.8377 173

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Chesapeake by Del Webb. This popular 2 story Wittman model features a great room with gas fireplace, office, gourmet kitchen with granite countertops, all GE Profile stainless appliances. 1st floor primary suite, guest bedroom and bath. 2nd floor sitting room, guest bedroom and bath. New roof 2022. Recently painted throughout. Move-in condition. Close to downtown Easton. $530,000

UNDER CONTRACT

Easton Club - Spacious 4-5 bedroom, 3 bath end unit townhome. First floor great room with gas fireplace and built-ins, primary bedroom suite, guest bedroom or office, open kitchen/dining area, hall bath. Second floor offers family room, 3 additional bedrooms and bath. Other amenities include wood flooring on 1st floor, one car garage, front porch, fenced backyard and patio. Roof 4 years old and new HVAC 2nd floor. Community pool and tennis/pickleball court. $474,500

OXFORD - This brick rancher features a living room, eat-in kitchen with stainless appliances, 3-4 bedrooms, 2 baths, covered rear brick patio, fenced backyard, shed with electric and wood flooring throughout. Paved driveway. HVAC system one year old. Close to downtown, restaurants, churches, Oxford Market, exercise track, tennis courts and marinas. Situated on a +/- .34 acre lot - room for an attached garage. Recently painted throughout. $450,000

This is a great time to list your home. Our inventory is low and we have buyers looking for their dream home. Please call me for a no obligation Comparative Market Analysis.

27999 Oxford Road, Maryland 21654 175

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BUILT IN 1763 by Quaker Emanuel Jenkinson, this important Georgian house has a wealth of original woodwork. The structure has been partly restored but is awaiting your completion either on its present site or moved to a new site. $290,000

EASTON CLUB RENTAL: Freshly remodeled townhouse off the Oxford Road (Rt 333).Great Room/K/DR, attached Garage, Primary BR with sitting room, walk-in closet;. 2nd BR with small office. ELEVATOR. Community pool. Long term lease available. $2,650/mo.

RESIDENTIAL or GROUP ART STUDIO RENTAL formerly an art gallery, located across the street from the Academy Art Museum. 5 studios/display rooms plus kitchen, bath and storage room. Very reasonable rent, available long term. Call agent/owner for details.

SHORELINE REALTY

114 Goldsborough St., Easton, MD 21601 410-822-7556 · 410-310-5745 www.shorelinerealty.biz · bob@shorelinerealty.biz

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