Consider less-explored aspects of the past at events scheduled for the last week in September at Historic St. Mary’s City (HSMC).
On Sunday, September 22, the public is invited to explore the former slave and tenant quarter from St. Mary’s Manor. The building is located behind The Inn at Brome Howard (18281 Rosecroft Road, St. Mary’s City). Join us at 3 p.m. to tour the structure and learn about its history and archaeology from Terry Brock, a graduate student at Michigan State University who has been studying the site for his dissertation. Meet Joseph McGill, Jr., Program Officer at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and learn about his Slave Dwelling Project. McGill sleeps in historic slave dwellings to call attention to the need to preserve these structures and make them part of our American story. “If structure is there, said McGill, “It makes it a whole lot easier to tell the story.”
McGill, Brock, and other interested parties will spend the night in the structure. The following day, September 23, McGill will offer a public lecture about the Slave Dwelling Project. The talk will take place at 7 p.m. in the HSMC Visitor Center auditorium (18751 Hogaboom Lane, St. Mary’s City).
On Thursday, September 26, HSMC director of archaeology Tim Riordan, Ph.D., will discuss Life and Death in 17th-Century Maryland. Coming to Maryland in the 17th century represented great opportunity. All of the promotional literature touted the wonders of the New World and the easy living. None mentioned the risks involved. Riordan will examine the downside of coming to Maryland — the constant acquaintance with death and how the fledgling society strove to cope with it. The lecture will take place at 7 p.m. in the Visitor Center.
These events are free and open to the public.
