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Oxford Map and History
Oxford is one of the oldest towns in Maryland. Although already settled for perhaps 20 years, Oxford marks the year 1683 The Strand Tilghman as its official founding, for in that year Oxford was first named by the Maryland General Assembly as a seaport and was laid out as a town. In 1694, Oxford and a new town called Anne Arundel (now Annapolis) were selected the only ports of entry for the entire Maryland province. Until the American Revolution, Oxford enjoyed prominence as an international shipping center surrounded by wealthy tobacco plantations. Today, Oxford is a 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/.
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Benoni Ave. Pleasant St. Robes Hbr. Ct. South Morris Street Bachelor Point Road Pier St. E. Pier St. Oxford Road
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Stewart Ave. Norton St. Mill St. Wilson St. Banks St.Factory St.Morris St. Oxford Park South Street Jefferson St. Sinclair St. Richardson St. Town Creek Rd.
Oxford Community Center
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Back in Washington, Eugenia made her debut into elite society. The music had barely stopped before she ran off to Rockville to marry a young man who had sat beside her in Keith’s Theater, Morton Hoyt, son of the Solicitor General. Morton’s siblings included poets, writers and artists, prone to suicide by alcohol or other means. Morton’s mother famously called her brood of five “a generation of vipers.”
Apparently, Morton’s special gift was to be a lovable playboy. Eugenia married and remarried him numerous times, the exact number depending on how one counts. The Alabama Senator John Hollis Bankhead poses with granddaughters Tallulah, left, and Eugenia in Washington, D.C., during a Confederate veterans reunion in 1917.
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captain had his sixteen-year-old granddaughter’s first marriage annulled but permitted a lavish reenactment when she came of age. Two remarriages ended in Reno, and one unconfirmed remarriage may have taken place in France. Sandwiched in between were three other husbands (one each: college student, polo player and bigamist), plus unfulfilled engagements and reputed same-sex partnerships.
William followed the captain to Washington and ultimately rose to Speaker of the House. During his tenure, the teenaged Prince of Wales arrived on a state visit. William’s mother thought the prince would be a good match for Tallulah. In the White House reception John Emery and Tallulah Bankhead
line, Mrs. Bankhead nearly fell on her head curtsying. William followed with his second wife, Florence, who said, “Billy, I’m not going to curtsy to that little boy. I’d just feel a fool . . . ”
Tallulah ultimately wed only once, to actor John Emery for seven years. She probably outdid Eugenia, though, in variety of partners. Some are still coming to light. In England, where Tallulah was a stage sensation in the 1920s, MI5 lately opened long-sealed files revealing she was nearly deported for immoral conduct involving five different juvenile Eton students. She escaped ruinous publicity only because Eton administrators, keen to avoid scandal, refused to cooperate with Special Branch’s investigation but expelled several boys, including at least one of noble birth.
Tallulah had also been seen socially with the then-adult Prince of Wales, which would explain MI5’s interest. Had future King Edward VIII tumbled for Tallulah rather than a different American, the Royals might have been left to wonder, “What ever happened to that nice Wallis Simpson?”
For a time, Eugenia joined Tallulah in England. Between marriages, Eugenia tried an acting career, playing small parts in New York and London, but gave up the stage,
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saying Tallulah had gotten all Mother’s beauty and acting ability. (“All I inherited was Daddy’s love of fishing!”) She lacked her sister’s single-minded lust for the stage, plus men greatly distracted Eugenia. In London, she made a move on Tony Wilson, barely twenty, with whom her sister was already having an affair. After Eugenia captured Tony’s favor, Tallulah didn’t speak to her for years, perhaps the sisters’ worst breach.
Tallulah made a number of films in England and Hollywood, but she much preferred live theater. She was a gifted actress, but many performances were marred by the raucous behavior of her “gallery girls,” fans attracted by her off-stage behavior and outlandish one-liners. (“My father warned me about men
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and booze, but he never said a word about women and cocaine.”) Photographs invariably show her with a cigarette in one hand and a drink in the other. Comedians doing Tallulah imitations invariably started with her habitual throaty opening, “Dahling . . .”
Tallulah’s only memorable film was Alfred Hitchcock’s Lifeboat, which earned her a Best Actress award from New York’s film critics. As stage roles became scarcer in
Tallulah with Alfred Hitchcock Tallulah’s screen test for Gone With the Wind.
midlife, her keen wit kept her busy as a talk show guest or hostess on radio and television. One of her last acting roles was as guest villain on an episode of the Batman
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Tallulah accusations. Tallulah was said to be considering relocating to the television series. Forewarned the Eastern Shore when her health show was considered “high camp,” failed altogether. she said, “Don’t tell me about camp, Despite legendary generosity, Dahling. I invented camp.” Tallulah left an estate of $2 mil-
As emphysema and alcoholism lion, relatively little of it to Eutook their toll, Tallulah remained genia. Reputedly still smarting unrepentant, saying, “If I had to over Tony Wilson (and likely Falive my life again, I’d make the ther, too), Tallulah left her sister same mistakes, only sooner.” $5,000, a mink coat and an income
Eugenia was then living in a of $250 per month. Louisa Carpensmall house outside Chestertown, ter, remembered in Kent County on the estate of her friend Louisa for extraordinary philanthropy, Carpenter, a duPont heiress, horse- received Tallulah’s favorite brooch. woman, and aviatrix. The aging Tallulah was buried in a private sisters made peace of a sort, Tal- ceremony in 1968 in historic St. lulah visiting the estate from her Paul’s cemetery. Eugenia had a rabstylish Manhattan apartment. The bit’s foot buried with her, a charm sisters passed time trading ancient Tallulah had kept close since Fa-
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ther gave it to her in 1937, when she was passionately pursuing the role of Scarlett O’Hara.
In 1976, Louisa Carpenter died in an airplane crash on approach to Easton Airport and was buried with family in Delaware. Three years later, in 1979, Eugenia died and was buried at St. Paul’s beside her sister. Fans not yet born in Tallulah’s lifetime make occasional visits to her grave, bearing flowers or bourbon miniatures.
Forty-some years ago, A.M. Foley swapped the Washington, D.C., business scene for a writing life on Elliott Island, Maryland. Tidewater Times has kindly published portions of one upcoming work, Chesapeake Bay Island Hopping, along with other regional musings. Foley’s published works are described at www.HollandIslandBook.com.
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