Main Street Delaware City, Inc. opened the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street exhibit Between Fences 
this week. This project, which brings rural Americans one-of-a-kind access to prestigious Smithsonian exhibitions and first-rate educational programs, is a joint project of the Smithsonian and the Humanities Council. For the show that is making its way through Delaware, I had the opportunity to do a talk about the story behind our regional boundary, the Mason-Dixon Line. Born as the result of a bitter territorial dispute over land grants, the talk examined the line’s past, but goes on to discuss how it has become a symbolic dividing line for regional attitudes and customs. It was a nice evening at the Delaware City Arts Center and a great group turned out to hear the talk.
This is the second time I’ve worked with the Smithsonian traveling exhibits. The first occasion was when Key Ingredients made its way through Maryland. Here’s a piece I wrote in August 2007 for the Smithsonian blog, Road Reports Across America.
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Reinvigorating the Past in Elkton, Maryland
The Historical Society of Cecil County was pleased to sponsor Key Ingredients in northeastern Maryland. Building on the Museum on Main Street product, we curated a display, held lectures, and sponsored a photo contest. When the evening arrived to kick off the activities, 17 downtown Elkton shops, galleries, restaurants, and bars stayed open to celebrate the Smithsonian’s arrival. We also partnered with the local Arts Council and the Elkton Alliance, the Maryland Main Street’s revitalization authority, for the visit, which was made possible through the Maryland Humanities Council.
It was an unsually comfortable August evening on the Chesapeake Bay when we opened our doors to welcome the public and a great crowd turned out. People filled our headquarters as fantastic original music flowed and shop owners and restaurants greeted some 400 visitors. Before strolling through the business district on the “Taste Loop,” I was already so pleased with the pleasant evening, the outstanding exhibit, and the astounding turnout that filled our museum. But as dusk settled on Cecil County, I strolled down Main Street with Jean Wortman from the Maryland Humanities Council and her husband. That’s an experience I will long recall for it was wonderful to see the business area filled with strollers enjoying the ambiance of the evening, the entertainment and displays, and the samplings of local food that a dozen restaurants offered. As we passed from shop-to-shop, enjoying conversations at every stop, it was reminiscent of a downtown I recall from forty or more years ago, when Elkton’s business district regularly filled with shoppers and strollers on Friday and Saturday evening.
This was a wonderful opportunity for the community and the Society. Hundreds of patrons visited the museum and businesses on opening night and a large portion of the assemblage was new to our downtown and to our organization. After the show, a number of the older businesspeople remarked about how much they too enjoyed the evening for it reminded them of a time long ago when the heart of the historic town was a bustling place on shopping nights. It was wonderful for us to be able to facilitate this occurrence for it demonstrated to key community stakeholders the power of our museum as an anchor in an old town that is working to draw people downtown and it demonstrated the value of working together on large initiatives.
We thank the Smithsonian and the Maryland Humanities Council for making this possible and we look forward to building on this broad-based demonstration project.