Category: Programs

Interest in History of the Mason Dixon Line Grows as 250th Anniversary Nears

On the eve of the 250 anniversary of the Mason Dixon Line I have been doing a number of talks about the history of this famous boundary.  To end a boundary dispute between the Penns and Calvert (the proprietors of the British colonies of Maryland and Pennsylvania) it was surveyed in the 1760s.  Delaware was part of Pennsylvania at that time.

While speaking to a group at the Wicomico County Public Library yesterday and sketching out the details about the work commissioned by the Penns and Calverts, one gentleman had some stories of his own to share.  His family, some of the earliest European settlers in the region, own property on both sides of the line.  In an old trunk in the attic he located detailed surveys from the era showing the property boundaries and topographical features along the transpeninsular boundary.  It was a fascinating historical document and we had a long enjoyable talk about some of the manuscripts he possessed, as well as some the markers and points along the 325-miler border.

Here are a few modern photos of the famous line that got its start in 1763.  Next year, I am scheduled to do a number of additional talks about the line that grew to have representations far beyond that associated with a boundary dispute.

Post Road crosses Mason Dixon Line
The Mason Dixon Line on the Old Baltimore Pike between Newark and Elkton.
Mason Dixon Line near Unions Mills MD
Route 97 between Littlestown, PA and Union Mills, MD

.Mason Dixon Line near Littlestown PA

“If this Place Could Talk: Researching the History of an Old House” Examined in Talk at College of Southern Maryland

“If this Place Could Talk: Researching the History of an Old House” is a talk I am giving at the College of Southern Maryland on Oct 19, 2012.  The free program takes place at the Leonardtown Campus, 22950 Hollywood Road, Building A, Auditorium, Leonardtown  at 7:00 p.m.

Just as families have a past, old houses and properties have histories. When was the structure built? Who lived in it? How has it changed over time? And what are its stories? The lecture will introduce participants to strategies of discovery: organizing a research process, finding available records and documents, and     interpreting the findings.

The program is part of the Maryland Humanities Council’s speakers bureau series.  It brings historians, writers, poets, and living history scholar-actors to the community to present programs to audiences across Maryland.

Speaking About The Stories of Everyday People in the War of 1812 at the College of Southern Maryland

I have been asked to talk about “the Stories of Everyday People in the War of 1812,” as part of the College of Southern Maryland’s 2012-13 professional speakers series. The free program takes place at the La Plata campus,  8730 Mitchell Road, BI-113, La Plata on Oct. 22, 2012 at 7:00 p.m.

During the lecture I will largely draw on unpublished stories of underrepresented people, such as slaves, African-Americans and other people who aren’t talked about in the history books.  Along the way, we’ll consider what it was like when war came to the shores of the Chesapeake for the farmer, workingman, hired-hand, slave, freedman, and woman, the people who don’t usually make the accounts found in our published works.

The program is part of the Maryland Humanities Council’s speakers bureau series.  It brings historians, writers, poets, and living history scholar-actors to the community to present programs to audiences across Maryland.

Voters at Last: Battling for the Ballot — A New Program Available From the Delaware Humanities Forum

This is a new program available from the Delaware Humanities Forum

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This program examines the struggle to extend voting rights to most adult citizens in Delaware and the nation.  Using archival photographs, newspapers, cartoons, letters and speeches the  organizing, petitioning, picketing, leafleting, educating, and politicking that went on is presented in a lively way.  The program picks up the story as debates swirl over whether voting rights should be extended to white males regardless of property ownership.  From there it traces history through the extension of the vote to African-American men, takes note of the attempt to disenfranchise voters, and concludes with a closer look at the time when vocal suffragist pushed forward a movement to extend the right to women.  Special attention is paid to the women’s suffrage movement in Delaware