Past Events

The Talbot Historical Society (THS) will hold its Annual Fundraiser Gala, “If These Walls Could Talk,” at a true Talbot County landmark, the Wye House on September 21, 2024 from 4pm-6:30pm. We are hosted by our honorary co-chairpersons, Richard and Beverly Tilghman. This extraordinary, elegant event promises to be an enchanting evening of food, drink, music and entertainment. The Wye House plantation has been the historic home of the Lloyd family since the mid-17th century. This beautifully significant example of a wooden frame southern plantation house has greeted the rich and famous for centuries.
History holds an equal seat with art, literature and music in creating the culture that enriches our lives and Talbot County is uncommonly rich in stories both told and yet untold. It is our mission to tell them.

A Date With History Lecture Series:
History Shared Through Music
with Ampersand
Wednesday, July 17, 2024 @ 1 PM
at the Talbot County Free Library
100 W. Dover St., Easton MD 21601
The Talbot Historical Society, in partnership with the Talbot County Free Library, is pleased to present Easton-based music group Ampersand for its July 17, 2024 “Date with History” lecture series: History Shared through Music at 1pm. Ampersand delights in sharing early American traditional music with a modern audience, drawing connections between colonial sensibilities and current-day topics and interests. Called the “Swiss army knife of folk music,” this group brings a variety of stringed instruments, including guitar, mandolin, banjo, cello, and hammered dulcimer, as well as penny whistles and percussion to underscore their rich vocal harmonies on parlor music from the 1700s and 1800s. One of the band’s founders, Beth Lawton, notes that many of the songs reflect a modern sensibility even when they use old-fashioned language. For example, “Bonnie Portmore” is an 18th century love song to a piece of property that was similar to a modern-day money pit. “Rye Whiskey,” is a perfect lullaby for easing young ones to sleep – even as the song tells of diving into a river of whiskey and drinking “thousands of bottles”. With voice, various percussion instruments, newly-adopted cello, and penny whistles, multi-instrumentalist Topher Lawton focuses on even earlier tunes and songs, such as the lively “Bear Dance” (15th century) and the title song of the new CD, “Love Will Find Out the Way.” They are joined by local favorite, Dave Moore, on banjo and bass.
This is presented by the Talbot Historical Society in partnership with the Talbot County Free Library and will take place at the library located at 100 W. Dover St., Easton, MD 21601. The lecture is free to the public, but reservations are required.
Please contact the Talbot Historical Society at 410-822-0773 or email . The program will begin at 1pm on July 17th.

Grand Opening Outlaw Gunner Exhibit
Thursday, July 11, 2024
5-7 PM
at 25 S. Washington St., Easton MD 21601
Free and open to the public
We are pleased to announce our newest exhibit, “Outlaw Gunner”, based on the book of the same title by Dr. Harry Walsh, gunner, surgeon, co-founder of the Waterfowl Festival and much more. This special exhibit chronicles the history of waterfowl and the Chesapeake Bay through the eyes of Dr. Walsh. On display are artifacts from Dr. Walsh’s personal on loan from U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Department, artifacts from the collection of his son, Joe Walsh, and from the Waterfowl Festival’s collection.

Colonial Handwriting Workshop
Saturday, July 6, 2024
10 AM-1:00 PM
at 25 S. Washington St.
Do you want to learn how to read old documents and letters but afraid to try or struggling? This workshop will show participants how to read those hard-to-read documents. Dr. Ray Thompson has more than fifty years of experience transcribing original local records. Participants will look at the various handwriting scripts used during colonial times, making use of actual documents and will find they are able to read the private correspondence of their ancestors and interpret the numerous kinds of local public records, including wills, deeds and court records. Participants will discover that they need not fear looking at original records! It can be fun!

The Talbot Historical Society invites you to our Annual Members Meeting in the Gardens on Thursday, May 9, 2024 from 5 to 7pm.

Meet & Greet and Book signing 
with Steve Lingeman

Steve Lingeman will be back for another Meet & Greet and book signing on Friday, March 15th from 5pm to 7pm

Talbot Historical Society is thrilled to hold another Appraisal Day with The Potomack Company on Thursday February 22, 2024 from 11am to 4pm at the Denton Extended Museum (25 S. Washington St., Easton).  Share your art, jewelry, antiques, documents and objects with Potomack’s specialist team. Your donation of $25 for three items will benefit the Society.
View a video about The Potomack Company here: Potomack Appraisal Day 2-22-24

Carole Boston Weatherford and Jeffery Boston Weatherford’s ancestors are among the founders of Maryland. Their family history there extends more than three hundred years, but as with the genealogical searches of many African Americans with roots in slavery, their family tree can only be traced back five generations before going dark. And so from scraps of history, Carole and Jeffery have conjured the voices of their kin, creating an often painful but ultimately empowering story of who their people were in a breathtaking book that is at once deeply personal yet all too universal. Carole’s poems capture voices ranging from her ancestors to Frederick Douglass to Harriet Tubman to the plantation house and land itself that connects them all, and Jeffery’s evocative illustrations help carry the story from the first mention of a forebear listed as property in a 1781 ledger to he and his mother’s homegoing trip to Africa in 2016. Shaped by loss, erasure, and ultimate reclamation, this is the story of not only Carole and Jeffery’s family, but of countless other Black families in America.
Date: Saturday, February 24, 2024 @ 2:00pm
Location: Avalon Theatre, Easton
Free and Open to the public

Chat with the Author/Photographer and Book Signing

with Steve Lingeman

Steve Lingeman will be at the Talbot Historical Society’s Denton Extended Museum from 1pm to 3pm on Saturday, February 3rd, 2024 for a book signing. 

Frederick Douglass Remembers Talbot County
with Nathan M. Richardson
author, performance poet and Frederick Douglass historian
Friday February 9, 2024 at 5pm
Asbury United Methodist Church
18 S. Higgins Street, Easton MD

Talbot Historical Society and Asbury United Methodist Church welcome author, performance poet and Frederick Douglass historian Nathan M. Richardson on Friday February 9, 2024 at 5pm. The congregation of Asbury United Methodist Church was established in 1836. Upon his return to Talbot County, Douglass dedicated the church in 1878. Please join us in this historic house of worship for a very special evening with Nathan Richardson as Frederick Douglass.

Date: Friday February 9, 2024
Location: 18 S. Higgins St., Easton MD
Free Admission
To make a reservation please contact the Talbot Historical Society at
410-822-0773 or email 

“When Democracy Fell”
with Paul Callahan, author and historian

“Rivers of the Eastern Shore”
with Dennis Forney and Karen Footner
September 27, 2023 at 1pm
At the Talbot County County Free Library, Easton

“Answering Alaska’s Call”
with Linda Fritz, author and historian
September 20, 2023 at 1pm

2023 THS Gala Fundraiser:
“The Wedding of the Century”
at Myrtle Grove Estate

Friday, September 22, 2023 from 5-7pm
You are invited to the Wedding of the Century
(the 18^th Century) of
Robert Goldsborough & Sarah Nicols
Married in 1739

Historic Walking Tour
Saturday August 19th, 2023

Doyle Auction: Talbot Historical Society Appraisal Day
August 15th, 2023

Wednesday, July 12th at 1pm
See Below for Reservation Details

 Join Annabel Earle Lesher and her husband, Ronald Lesher, as they read excerpts from three letters of Matthew Tilghman Goldsborough Earle. The letters, written from Urbanna, Virginia in 1931 to his son, John Goldsborough Earle, describe various business ventures in Easton, Maryland in the 1880’s. M.T.G. Earle was the son of Dr. John Charles Earle, one of the founding physicians of Memorial Hospital here in Easton, who lived on a farm, Brooklets, at the southern edge of the town of Easton. In 1883, upon the death of his brother, James, at the railroad crossing on Goldsborough Street, M.T.G. Earle returned from Baltimore to try his hand at various businesses – selling coal and lumber, managing a property insurance agency, delivering ice for the iceboxes in homes and businesses in Easton, and working as the cashier of the Talbot Savings Bank on Dover Street. He was joined in those ventures by William Dawson, who would become his brother-in-law in 1888.

A Date with History Lecture Series
“African Prince, Eastern Shore Slave”
The Quakers and Slavery on the Eastern Shore
with Dr. Ed Papenfuse, MD State Archivist and Commissioner of Land Patents
May 10^th, 2023 at 1pm

Dr. Edward Papenfuse will speak about an Eastern Shore slave who ran away from his owner in 1734, was captured in Delaware, and then discovered to be an African Muslim Prince from Gambia whose family owned slaves.  He made it home by way of a visit to London to meet royalty, but thousands of other slaves on the Shore did not.  At this time the only voices faintly calling for the end of slavery were the Quakers and for a time, the Methodists.  

A Date with History Lecture Series
“364 Years of History at Easton Point”

with Priscilla Morris, Pete Lesher, Bob Shannahan and Marion Lyttle
April 12th , 2023 at 11am

A panel of local experts and descendants will discuss the history of settlement at Easton Point with a focus on Captain Clement Vickars and his family. Vickars was a pivotal figure locally during the War of 1812 and throughout the Federal Period. He defied the British throughout the blockades on the Chesapeake to supply the townspeople of Easton, only to pay a terrible price at the close of conflict. Priscilla Morris, Pete Lesher, Bob Shannahan, and Vickars descendant Marion Lyttle will present, beginning with an overview of Easton Point from 1659 to the Federal beginnings of Easton and concluding with current efforts to reclaim recognition for the early families still buried at Easton Point.

Poplar Island Tour – THS MEMBERS ONLY

We are excited to offer the members of the Talbot Historical Society a personal tour of Poplar Island on Friday August 12th, 2022. The boat taking us to Poplar island will depart from their base on Tilghman Island promptly at 9am and will return to Tilghman Island by noon. Detailed information will be provided for those interested closer to the tour date. Unfortunately, they can only accommodate 24 guests, so attendance will be limited. Please call 410-822-0773 or email to reserve your spot as soon as possible.

UPDATE: ALL SPOTS ARE FILLED, THERE IS NOW A WAITING LIST. 

The tour begins with a 20-minute boat ride to Poplar. We will then board an air-conditioned bus for a tour of the island and visitor’s center. “Tours and educational programs at Poplar Island focus on details related to the beneficial use of dredged material to restore remote island habitat. Tours cover erosion, the process of habitat restoration, water quality monitoring, and species diversity. Participants will also learn about cultural history on the Chesapeake from the 1600s through today, including how in the past, the Poplar Island chain once hosted a thriving Bay community and later a retreat for politicians, including President Franklin D. Roosevelt.” 

Poplar Island Restoration Project Website: http://www.poplarislandrestoration.com/

A Date With History Speaker Series

When Claiborne Bridged the Chesapeake:
The History and Legacy of the Claiborne Ferries

While it has been 70 years since the last Claiborne ferry connected Talbot County with the far side of the Chesapeake, the legacy of those days is still with us.  Claiborne’s multiple ferry lines – there were five of them over the decades serving four different destinations – literally put the town on the map. This lecture will describe the history of the Claiborne ferries: how they were generated initially by a political tug-of-war between Baltimore and Philadelphia, how Eastern Shore politicians used their statewide leadership positions to solidify Claiborne’s role, and how the ferry lines were shaped and ultimately made obsolete by technical revolutions in ground transport. It will also illustrate how the evidence of Claiborne’s days as a major ferry and rail hub can still be found all around us — if you know where to look.

Marty Bollinger is a retired management consultant and amateur historian, now residing in Claiborne. He has always had an interest in naval and maritime history and has published three books and several articles on the subject. His publishers have included the Naval Institute Press and the World Ship Society. He currently serves as the Vice President and a Director of the Naval Historical Foundation, works as an Adjunct Executive Lecturer at the University of Virginia, and participates as an active volunteer with the ShoreRivers organization. In his spare time he plays with boats and takes pictures of distant galaxies and nebulae with his telescopes.

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A Date With History Speaker Series

Mitchell Northam will be speaking on his new book “High School Basketball on Maryland’s Eastern Shore: A Shore Hoops History”. From Kent County down to Pocomoke City, the Eastern Shore of Maryland has a deep history of successful coaches, talented players and championship-winning teams. Explore nearly a century’s worth of games and seasons as the region has fought for respect on the hardwood. Dive deep into teams like the 1952 tourist town boys from Ocean City and the great squads of Moton High School, and players like Stephen Decatur’s Keve Aluma, an All-ACC selection at Virginia Tech. Using extensive research and dozens of original interviews, Shore native and sportswriter Mitchell Northam chronicles the Women’s Professional Basketball League days of Gail Tatterson Gladding, the rise and fall of Carlton Dotson, and the careers of basketball lifers like Butch Waller and Tia Jackson.

Mitchell Northam grew up on the Eastern Shore in Federalsburg and graduated from Colonel Richardson High School, Wor-Wic Community College, and Salisbury University. His career in journalism began at the Delmarva Daily Times in Salisbury, and he now works at WUNC — the NPR affiliate in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. His work has also been featured at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, NCAA.com, the Orlando Sentinel, the Associated Press, Sports Illustrated, and Pittsburgh Sports Now. He is a member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association and a voter in the AP Top 25 Poll for women’s college basketball. He lives in Durham, North Carolina with his wife Rachel.

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A Date With History Speaker Series

The story of Chesapeake pirates and patriots begins with a land dispute and ends with the untimely death of an oyster dredger at the hands of the Maryland Oyster Navy. From the Golden Age of Piracy to Confederate privateers and oyster pirates, the maritime communities of the Chesapeake Bay are intimately tied to a fascinating history of intrigue, plunder, and illicit commerce raiding. Dr. Goodall’s work introduces infamous men like Edward “Blackbeard” Teach and “Black Sam” Bellamy as well as lesser known local figures like Gus Price and Berkeley Muse whose tales of piracy are legendary from the harbor of Baltimore to the shores of Cape Charles. Her talk will focus specifically on the Oyster Wars of the 19th Century, highlighting an often overlooked aspect of Chesapeake Bay history.

-Dr. Jamie L. H. Goodall

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A Date With History Speaker Series

Chesapeake author and historian Kate Livie for a presentation about the “Chesapeake’s Showboat”, The James Adams Floating Theater.  From 1914 to 1941, the James Adams Floating Theater enchanted riverside small towns and cities throughout the Chesapeake’s tributaries with theater productions, musicals, and other entertainment. Long after its circuit was abandoned for motion pictures, the legacy of the magical little showboat lived on in the memories of its audiences. In her talk, Livie will share images, stories, and history about the Floating Theater, its national impact, and the ways it shaped life in the Chesapeake for almost 30 years.

A Date With History – Lecture Series

Featuring: James Foster

Sailing on the Chesapeake Bay’s myriad inlets in summer it is hard to imagine that, come January, icebreakers may be plowing the waters you cruised in July. When portions of the Great Shellfish Bay are iced up, the flow of commerce is impeded. At the turn of the nineteenth century, with the center of the new nations’ government established in its arms, a frozen Bay meant that the United States’ emergence to a status on par with the foremost nations of the world would be painfully slow. James Foster chronicles the disasters and pitfalls, large and small, that come with the coldest of winters.

James Foster is a lifelong resident of the Chesapeake Bay region. He first became interested in icy winters on the Chesapeake Bay while working at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, in the 1970s. He had the opportunity to study satellite images of the Bay during the intensely cold winter of 1976-77 and has written several scientific articles that deal with ice and snow in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. This is his first book on the Chesapeake Bay.

Author, James Foster, joined us on Wednesday, November 17, 2021 at 1p.m. to speak about his newly released book, Icy Winters on the Chesapeake Bay.