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The Cultural Heritage of Caroline County
on Maryland’s Eastern Shore
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Hear Our Stories
Leaders for Freedom & Civil Rights
Bishop Alexander W. Wayman, founding AME Bishop, was raised in Tuckahoe Neck. Underground Railroad conductors Daniel Hubbard and Arthur Leverton barely escaped lynching. The parents of William Still, “Father of the Underground Railroad”, were born into slavery near the Choptank River. James H. Webb, a free black, farmed here before the Civil War.
Courageous & Creative Women
Nettie Dean Carter, prominent teacher, suffragette, and businesswoman – a century ahead of her time. Enolia McMillan, NAACP’s first woman president, started her teaching career in Denton. Harriet Tubman’s Underground Railroad ran through the heart of Caroline County. Anna Murray of Tuckahoe Neck helped Frederick Douglass escape north before they married and raised a family.
War Heroes
Capt. Quentin Walsh, USCG, captured the French seaport that secured D-Day. 2LT Louise Hollister was Maryland’s only Army Nurse casualty in WWII. Col. Peter Adams commanded Maryland troops at Yorktown. Col. William Richardson, “Father of Caroline County”, also saved the Continental Treasury from the British. Cpl. William H. Carney, 38th US Colored Troops, was laid to rest at Union Church after the Civil War.
Everyday Citizens
Captain C.C. Wheeler was illiterate yet built and operated a successful steamboat line. George Swartz and his mule loaded sailing vessels in West Denton in the 1930s. The Two Johns were vaudeville actors whose riverside theater scandalized the locals. Georgist Tax Rebels planned a colony at Gilpin Point. Robert Jacobs was a modern blacksmith at age 14.
Stand in the Place –
The Society’s Preservation Projects
Underground Railroad House (c. 1820) to be Available to the Public
The Society documented the dwelling in 2005 for the National Park Service as the only surviving UGRR station house on the Eastern Shore. It was then placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The UGRR network that operated here was run by Quakers and free...
Gadow Dwelling (c. 1851) Being Restored
Despite living his life in the local Long Depression (1819-1895), Jesse Hubbard (c. 1811-1879) was determined to erect for his wife and nine children a fine house in the Greek Revival style of architecture, a style then prevalent in the Deep South and other prosperous...
Tuckahoe Neck Meeting House (1804) Being Preserved
Looking for stories wherein politics, religion, and education interact? Civil War soldiers occupying Caroline camped by invitation here. Public as well as religious schools operated here. And Quakers, Nicholites and "Dunkers" worshiped here. Worshipers included a...
Rebecca Tylor Dwelling (c. 1810) Rescued
Despite being a widow with seven children, Rebecca Tylor (1823–1884) was indomitable in addressing local ills: She educated free and enslaved blacks, sought fair treatment for county “Poor House” inmates, demanded equal rights for women, advocated prohibition, took in...
1927 Firehouse Being Exposed and Repurposed
The 1927 Denton Firehouse was the epitome of the bygone era of a true "community project". Based on newspaper reports of the times, virtually every family in the town or vicinity voluntarily contributed money for its construction. In 1954 its size was doubled and in...
Site of Barwick’s Inn (1775) Studied
Thee location of Barwick’s Tavern (c. 1775–c. 1790) was part of a colonial commercial cluster of now-vanished buildings that once included a government-mandated tobacco warehouse, a "jail", a ferry crossing and several buildings that all predated 1747. The site is...
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Caring, Sharing, Giving
The CCHS depends on your generous contributions to continue to promote and protect Caroline County’s rich heritage. Funds are used to operate the Museum of Rural Life, sustain our programming, and restore and maintain historically significant structures throughout Caroline County.