Editing Talbot County, Maryland (section)

==Historical sites and monuments==
===Third Haven Meeting House===
The [[Third Haven Meeting House]] of Society of Friends was built in 1682 by [[Quakers]]. After [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] was executed in England in 1649, then [[Virginia]] governor Berkley, who sympathized with the Royalists, drove Quakers out of Virginia for their religious beliefs. [[Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore|Lord Baltimore]] invited the refugees to Maryland Province to settle, and passed the [[Maryland Toleration Act|Toleration Act]].<ref>''[[The Star Democrat|The Easton Star Democrat]]'', May 21, 1948</ref> John Edmondson gave the Quakers land on which to settle near the [[Tred Avon River]] in what later became [[Easton, Maryland]]. The Meeting House sits on high ground surrounded by 3 wooded acres and is positioned along the Indian Trail (today known as Washington Street). [[George Fox]], father of the Quaker movement visited several times. Upon his death, [[Third Haven Meeting House]] received his personal library and collection. The Third Haven Meeting House may be the oldest framed building for religious meeting in The United States. According to tradition, Lord Baltimore attended a sermon given there by [[William Penn]].<ref>Dickerson, Preston, ''Talbot County: A History'', Centreville, Maryland 1983. page 32</ref>

In 1794, the rafters were extended on one side of the ridgepole. While this extension made more room inside the meeting house, it also made the building look lopsided. In 1879, a new [[Third Haven Meeting House]] was constructed out of brick, and still remains in use today. The ground floor now contains meeting rooms, and Sunday School is held on the second floor.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ludlow |first=Cynthia |title=Historic Easton |year=1976 |pages=96–97 |oclc=5744626<!-- |ISBN not valid, unable to find a valid one. isbn=0-870000-305-4 -->}}</ref>

===St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church===
St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church, which still holds weekly masses, is recognized as the oldest [[Roman Catholic Church]] on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Weeks |first=Chsristopher |url=https://archive.org/details/wherelandwaterin00week/page/41 |title=Where Land and Water Intertwine |publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press |year=1984 |isbn=0-8018-3165-2 |location=Baltimore |page=[https://archive.org/details/wherelandwaterin00week/page/41 41]}}</ref> Father Joseph Mosely, a [[Jesuit]], established the church in 1765 on a farm north of Easton in [[Cordova, Maryland|Cordova]]. St. Joseph Church was the second Catholic Church in Talbot County; a chapel at [[Doncaster Town Site|Doncaster]] was the first.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Weeks |first=Christopher |url=https://archive.org/details/wherelandwaterin00week/page/42 |title=Where Land and Water Intertwine |publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press |year=1984 |isbn=0-8018-3165-2 |location=Baltimore, MD |page=[https://archive.org/details/wherelandwaterin00week/page/42 42]}}</ref>

The church had additions built in 1845 and in 1903 (the cloverleaf apse at the left where the altar is now). Father Mosley and other priests are buried under the church floor.

St. Joseph Church hosts an annual jousting tournament on the first Wednesday of August. The event has been held at St. Joseph for the past 142 years. The only time the event was canceled was in 1918, due to many of the riders' involvement in World War I.

===Longwoods School House===
Longwoods School House or The Little Red School House is located on Longwoods Road (Route 662) just north of Easton. Longwoods School House is one of the few remaining one-room schoolhouses on the Eastern Shore.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Weeks |first=Christopher |url=https://archive.org/details/wherelandwaterin00week/page/129 |title=Where Land and Water Intertwined |publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press |year=1984 |isbn=0-8018-3165-2 |location=Baltimore, MD |pages=[https://archive.org/details/wherelandwaterin00week/page/129 129–130]}}</ref> The school opened in 1865 with an average class size of about 30, and held its last class in 1967. It once had two outhouses: one for the boys and one for the girls, separated by a fence. Indoor plumbing was introduced in 1957 and electricity in 1936.

The Talbot Historical Society restored the schoolhouse to it original form, removing the electrical lights and the modern plumbing and added the outhouse to the back of the building.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Talbot County – Outdoor Recreation |url=http://www.tourtalbot.org/showrecreation.asp?rid=68 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203052843/http://www.tourtalbot.org/showrecreation.asp?rid=68 |archive-date=December 3, 2013 |access-date=May 5, 2013}}</ref>

===Poplar Island===
[[File:Poplar Island.jpg|thumb|Poplar Island]]
Popeley Island (later [[Poplar Island (Chesapeake Bay)|Poplar Island]]) was one of Talbot County's first islands that was given a name and location on a map. Popeley Island was given its name by Captain William Claibourne after Lt. Richard Popeley. Popeley Island was the first land to be settled in 1632 by Captain William Claibourne. The first fields were planted in Talbot County on Popeley Island in 1634, and in 1635 Claibourne granted the whole island to his cousin Richard Thompson.<ref name="Preston 1983 6">{{Cite book |last=Preston |first=Dickerson |title=Talbot County: A History |publisher=Tidewater Publishing |year=1983 |isbn=0-87033-305-4 |location=Centreville, MD |page=6}}</ref> During the summer of 1637, while Thompson was off the island on an expedition, [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]], the [[Nanticoke people|Nanticoke]] tribe, massacred Thompson's whole family and workers.<ref name="Preston 1983 6" /> Through the 1700s the name changed spelling from Popeleys to Poples to Poplar. Thompson went back to Virginia and never came back to his island. In 1654 Thomas Hawkins acquired Poplar Island and sold half to Seth Foster, [[Tilghman Island]]’s founding father. Poplar Island is only accessible by boat today and is currently being rebuilt by the Army Corps of Engineers.

===White Marsh Church===
In 1691, [[William III of England|King William]] and [[Mary II of England|Queen Mary]] appointed Sir Lionel Copely as the first [[Colonial government in the Thirteen Colonies|royal governor]] and told him that the [[colonists]] needed to become more religious. The Establishment Act of 1692 divided Talbot County into three parishes to serve the [[Church of England]], and Old White Marsh was one of them. The location of the church was to be in Hambleton, with the decision based upon the trade routine of the time. It was between the two ports in Oxford and Dover (small town on the Choptank near where Dover Bridge today sits).
The original church is believed to have been built between 1662 and 1665; however, the first mention of the church is in 1690,<ref name="Weeks-p44">{{Cite book |last=Weeks |first=Christopher |title=Where Land and Water Interwine |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |year=1984 |location=Baltimore |page=44}}</ref> although the Talbot County Court House has a record of repair made to the road to Old White Marsh Church in 1687.

In 1751, repairs were made to the church, and it was doubled in size due to the fact the membership was so large.<ref name="Weeks-p44" /> Reverend [[Thomas Bacon (priest)|Thomas Bacon]] was the cause of the large membership. Reverend Bacon was the writer of the Bacon's Laws. Membership decreased when Reverend Bacon left to assume leadership of Maryland's largest parish (at that time), [[All Saints Church (Frederick, Maryland)|All Saints Church]] in [[Frederick, Maryland]], and services alternated between White Marsh and the new [[Christ Church (Easton, Maryland)|Christ Church]] in the growing county seat of Easton.<ref name="Weeks-p44" /> Services finally ended at White Marsh, and the church was abandoned after it burned in brush fire during a cleanup operation in 1897.<ref>Arthur Pierre Middleton, Tercentenary Essays Commemorating Anglican Maryland 1692-1792 (Virginia Beach, The Donning Company 1992) p. 73</ref> A few of the original items used at the church rest at the St. Paul's Church in Trappe: White Marsh's Bible, communion items and the old wooden alms box.<ref name="Weeks-p44" /> The remaining brick wall can still be seen from U.S. Route 50 between Trappe and Easton.

The first rector, Reverend Daniel Maynadier, and his wife are buried in the floor of the church. Robert Morris Sr., merchant and father of founding father [[Robert Morris (financier)|Robert Morris]], is buried just outside the church to the left. Plaques show the graves of all three individuals.<ref name="Weeks-p44" />

=== Talbot Boys monument ===
[[File:1talbot co. courthouse statue.jpg|thumb|upright|The "Talbot Boys" confederate monument outside the county courthouse]]
From 1916 to 2022, a statue honoring the Talbot County men who fought in the [[Confederate States Army]] in the [[American Civil War]] stood in front of the [[Talbot County Courthouse (Maryland)|Talbot County Courthouse]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=(Talbot Boys Monument), (sculpture) |url=https://www.si.edu/object/siris_ari_324947 |access-date=September 12, 2020 |website=Smithsonian Institution |language=en}}</ref> The statue depicted a young boy holding and wrapped in a [[Flags of the Confederate States of America|Confederate flag]], and bears the inscription: "To the Talbot Boys · 1861–1865 · C.S.A.". Talbot County also had over 300 Union soldiers in the war, but there has never been a monument to them.<ref name="newyorker" />

Like other [[List of Confederate monuments and memorials|Confederate monuments]] installed during the [[Jim Crow era]], the monument drew increased opposition in the 21st century by those opposed to honoring the Confederacy and its defense of slavery. In 2015, the local N.A.A.C.P. chapter proposed removing the statue, but the County Council unanimously voted to keep it in place.<ref name="newyorker" /> In June 2020, a lengthy series of letters to the editor of ''The Talbot Spy'', a local newspaper, was published, all arguing for the removal of the statue.<ref>{{Cite news |date=June 23, 2020 |title=(Many) Letters to the Editor: Remove the Talbot Boys Statue |url=https://talbotspy.org/many-letters-to-the-editor-remove-the-talbot-boys-statue/ |access-date=June 22, 2022 |work=The Talbot Spy}}</ref> In August 2020, after the [[George Floyd protests]] led to a new wave of [[List of monuments and memorials removed during the George Floyd protests|removals of Confederate monuments]], the County Council voted down 3:2 a resolution to remove the statue, triggering loud public protests.<ref name="newyorker">{{Cite magazine |last=Cep |first=Casey |date=September 12, 2020 |title=My Local Confederate Monument |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/us-journal/my-local-confederate-monument |access-date=September 12, 2020 |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |language=en-us}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Moyer |first=Justin Wm |date=July 3, 2020 |title=Purge of Confederate symbols comes for Maryland's 104-year-old 'Talbot Boys' statue |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/purge-of-confederate-symbols-comes-for-marylands-104-year-old-talbot-boys-statue/2020/07/02/f7b39edc-bbb3-11ea-86d5-3b9b3863273b_story.html |access-date=September 12, 2020 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref>

By 2021, the statue was the only remaining Confederate statue on public grounds in Maryland.<ref name="sun" /> In May 2021, the [[American Civil Liberties Union|ACLU]] sued the county in federal court to demand its removal.<ref name="sun" /> In September 2021, the County Council voted 3:2 to remove the statue.<ref name="sun">{{Cite news |last=Oxenden |first=McKenna |date=September 15, 2021 |title=Talbot Boys Confederate monument to be removed on courthouse grounds on Maryland's Eastern Shore |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/eastern-shore/bs-md-talbot-boys-statue-relocation-20210915-q63slcw6nzgkbbb6275pwj3vtm-story.html |access-date=March 5, 2022 |work=[[The Baltimore Sun]]}}</ref> It was removed on March 14, 2022, and relocated to the [[Battle of Cross Keys|Cross Keys battlefield]] in [[Harrisonburg, Virginia]], under the control of the nonprofit Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Leckrone |first=Bennett |date=March 12, 2022 |title=Confederate Talbot Boys Statue to Be Removed from Easton Courthouse Lawn Monday, County Says |url=https://www.marylandmatters.org/2022/03/11/confederate-talbot-boys-statue-to-be-removed-from-easton-courthouse-lawn-monday-county-says/ |access-date=March 15, 2022 |work=[[Maryland Matters]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=March 14, 2022 |title=Crews take down Maryland's last public Confederate statue |url=https://wjla.com/news/local/maryland-last-public-confederate-statue-removal-talbot-boys-civil-war-eastern-shore-county-courthouse-lawn |access-date=March 15, 2022 |work=[[WJLA-TV]] |agency=Associated Press}}</ref>

=== Frederick Douglass monument ===
Near the Talbot Boys monument, a statue of the abolitionist [[Frederick Douglass]], born into [[Slavery in the United States|slavery]] near [[Tuckahoe Creek]], stands in front of the courthouse. Douglass had been held in jail at the rear of the courthouse after his aborted attempt to escape slavery on April 2, 1836.

The Douglass statue was proposed by the Talbot Historical Society in 2002. The County Council approved it in 2004, after some local opposition, with a majority of one vote. It did so on the condition that its height not exceed that of the Talbot Boys monument.<ref name="newyorker" />

=== Old Wye Church ===
[[File:OLD WYE CHURCH.jpg|thumb|Old Wye Episcopal Church]]A [[chapel of ease]] near the [[Wye River (Maryland)|Wye River]] was likely built soon after the creation of Saint Paul's Parish in Centreville by the [[Protestant Revolution (Maryland)|act of establishment of 1692]]. The present brick church of [[Georgian architecture|Georgian]] design was built between 1717 and 1721 by William Elbert.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kurtze |first=Peter |title=Old Wye Church |url=https://mht.maryland.gov/secure/Medusa/PDF/NR_PDFs/NR-813.pdf |access-date=January 10, 2022 |website=Maryland Historic Trust |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408020247/https://mht.maryland.gov/secure/Medusa/PDF/NR_PDFs/NR-813.pdf |archive-date=2023-04-08}}</ref> Altered in the mid-nineteenth century, the chapel was restored in Georgian Revival style in 1947-49 by the firm [[Perry Dean Rogers Architects|Perry, Shaw, and Hepburn]] (who also directed much of the early restoration of [[Colonial Williamsburg]]). The church is actively used today, one of two churches in Wye Parish. Old Wye Church (or Saint Luke's Church) is the oldest surviving brick church in Talbot County.