American History Comes Alive in Talbot County, Maryland

As I steered the family car into the tiny town of Oxford, Maryland (population about 600), I immediately began to relax. My breathing slowed and my body slouched. When I turned to glance at my wife Fyllis seated beside me, she was having the same reaction.

Welcome to one of the minuscule municipalities scattered about Talbot County, Maryland. People are introduced to chapters of American history in books and motion pictures. Those who visit Talbot County are immersed in bygone days in a more meaningful way.

Fyllis and I quickly realized that given their hometown drawl, locals pronounce the name of their county several ways. We heard it called Tahl-but, Tall-but and Taw-but. Whatever they say, the destination offers a deep dive into intriguing chapters of our country’s past.

Talbot’s First Settlers

Indigenous people who lived in the area were followed by Captain John Smith, who surveyed the region in 1608. The first English settlers arrived in the 1630s, established tobacco plantations and formally created Talbot County in 1662.

The enclave was named for Lady Grace Talbot, sister of the second Lord Baltimore, who instituted freedom of religion and separation of church and state. Many early immigrants were Quakers or Puritans seeking a haven from persecution. There were also people from Ireland and Scotland transported to the colony as indentured servants. Adding to the mix were both free and enslaved African Americans.

Fyllis and I were delighted to learn that each town in Talbot County has a museum that relates its historical tale, along with other collections that focus upon specific parts of it.

Stories Brought to Life

The Tilghman Watermen’s Museum celebrates the work and culture of people who have long earned their livelihood fishing and crabbing on rivers and bays. Occupying what once was the island’s barber shop, the museum brings their stories to life with videos, boat models, tools of the trade and art.

The centerpiece of the Oxford Museum is a lighthouse lens which is named for Augustin-Jean Fresnel, a French engineer who in the 1820s came up with the idea for a light that produces a very strong beam. Other exhibits are devoted to oysters, ducks and watermen.  

This region is home to the oldest continuing free Black community in the United States, so it’s not surprising that there are museums, trails and other references to this part of its story. 

The Water’s Edge Museum in Oxford portrays the lives of Black farmers, watermen, sail makers and others who played important roles in the area’s commerce and culture.

The crown jewel of the collections is the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels. There is an 18-acre campus that has evolved from a humble beginning into a world-class display. It offers a variety of historic structures, more than 100 boats and boat models, decoys, a lighthouse that was moved there and much more.

Exploring the Historic Towns of Talbot County

We soon learned that a more meaningful way to steep ourselves in earlier centuries is by exploring the sites, and taking in the sights, which surrounded us. Each town has its own memories to share, and together they weave a fascinating account.

Easton (population about 17,000) is deemed the “big city” of Talbot County. The Third Haven Meeting House is believed to trace its roots back to about 1684. Among notable Quakers who worshiped there was William Penn, the English religious thinker who founded the Province of Pennsylvania during the British colonial era. The town’s Hill Community has been home to free African-Americans since the 1780s.

St. Michaels dates back to the mid-1600s. At that time it served as a trading post for trappers and tobacco farmers, and later as a ship-building center. One major claim to fame relates to the British Navy’s bombardment during the Battle of 1812 when, according to a contemporary report, “several houses were pierced” by cannon balls. 

According to its story, the townspeople escaped serious damage by turning off house lights and hanging lanterns in nearby trees, at which the Brits aimed their fire. That trick resulted in St. Michael becoming known as “the town that fooled the British.”

History of the Watermen

When we crossed the short drawbridge that connects the mainland with the tiny authentic waterman’s village of Tilghman Island (pronounced Till-man), we were retracing the route of spans that have existed at that site since the late 1600s. We were greeted by a 10-by-40-foot mural titled Pride covering one side of a building.    

The painting depicts a waterman in his boat, other vessels docked nearby and displays of the seafood for which Talbot County is rightly famous. A plaque pays tribute to the people “who have been working the Chesapeake Bay waters since the 1800s,” demonstrating and facing “Endurance.  Perseverance.  Hard Work.  Ingenuity.  Danger.  Drive.  Respect for the natural world.” 

Fyllis and I chose Oxford as our home base for a variety of reasons, including its serene setting.  Officially established in 1683, although it had existed earlier, this is a charming hamlet of brick sidewalks that lead past white picket fences enclosing elegant historic homes.

In colonial days it developed as a booming port, and later an active boat-building business thrived there.  Much later, the author James Michener chose it as the place where he wrote his novel Chesapeake.

Oxford also is notable for two other reasons. One is the Robert Morris Inn, built in 1710 as a home and since 1800 operating as a venerable hotel. Prominent dignitaries who have slept there include George Washington and Robert Morris. Morris, the British-born merchant and banker moved to Colonial America and personally helped to finance the Revolution. He also signed the Declaration of Independence. 

The original wood paneling and oak timbers were hand-made by ship carpenters. Bricks in the fireplaces were brought from England as ballast in vessels.

Riding the Oxford-Bellvue Ferry

The town is also home base for the Oxford-Bellevue Ferry, the oldest privately owned ferry boat in the country. It began transporting passengers in 1683, and now also carries vehicles, trailers, bicycles and motorcycles across the Tred Avon River.   

Talbot County has more than 600 miles of shoreline. We were never far from the waters of rivers and the Chesapeake Bay dotted by marinas and moorings and plied by both working and pleasure boats. This provides a perfect backdrop for sightings of eagles, ospreys and other resident and migrating birds plus a long list of fish species.

For more information about Talbot County, Maryland log onto tourtalbot.org or call 410-770-8057.

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Rambling Writers

Fyllis Hockman and Victor Block are a husband-wife team of experienced travel journalists who have gallivanted throughout the United States, and to nearly 80 countries around the world, and written about what they have seen, done and learned.Their articles have appeared in newspapers across the country and on websites across the Internet, and they each have won numerous writing awards. They love to explore new destinations and cultures and uncover off-the-beaten-path attractions.

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