Road Trip 2011: Day 3…An Afternoon In Chestertown, Maryland

As I said in the post before, the weather was just right for a walk.  So we piled in our cars and headed to the historic district of Chestertown, Maryland, along the Eastern Shore’s Chester River. 

Our first stop was The Geddes-Piper House.  This beautifully restored home dates back to 1783.  William Geddes, the Customs Director of the region, purchased the original lot. He also worked as a merchant.  Some believe that he owned the brigantine Geddes, which is known to have docked at the Chestertown harbor with tea in its cargo in May of 1774.  Although little is known of the facts surrounding the oral tradition of a Chestertown Tea Party, we do know that during that month, local leaders and merchants began to put into place resolves that would eventually lead to revolution.

A merchant named James Piper purchased the lot from Geddes and is probably responsible for building the home.  After changing hands several times, George Burgin Westcott bought the house in the 1830’s and added the back portion of the house which contained a small dining room.  The Wescotts lived here for almost a hundred years before departing in 1910. 

After that, it served as a kindergarten and then an apartment building.  After many years of neglect, the Historical Society purchased and restored the home to it’s present state.  And I must say, it is BEAUTIFUL inside and out.

The home now houses three floors worth of period pieces, along with fascinating exhibits and a historical library you could get lost in for weeks!  The library alone contains 1000’s of items such as old maps (my husband’s very favorite things!), manuscripts, documents, ledgers, genealogies and all kinds of things pertinent to the local history.  And it’s all open to the public.  :) 

This, by the way, is where my mother-in-law works!  Isn’t she lucky?!  She does a lot of research both for the society and for people looking for personal family histories.  She also gives tours of the museum and of the historic district of Chestertown! 

I’m getting sidetracked.  Anyway, the arrangement on the front door was amazing!   Who would have thought to do that with a pineapple and apples??

This was one of the bedrooms.

These two dresses were in wonderful shape!

I especially loved visiting the basement, though, which is where servants did the bulk of the household work.  One side of the basement was set up as the kitchen area.  Do you see that white table?  I have one very similar to that which I use in my laundry room.  My table came from my grandmother’s laundry room and has a porcelain top and a very small drawer in the front—complete with a glass knob.  

And then the other side of the basement was where the laundry was done.   

It was one of the neatest places I’ve ever visited!  And I don’t think I’m being biased by my Mother-in-law’s connection to it, either!  We all enjoyed our tour!

From there, she took us on a walking tour of the rest of the beautifully restored historic district of Chestertown.  It was one of the highlights of our trip!  

We ended down by the water.  :)

From Mom Mom’s place in Maryland, we headed north to Townsend, Delaware, where we spent the night with my brother-in-law and his wife.  Then it was on to a cabin in Pennsylvania…

But that’s another post!