The View from the Loggia
Peter LaPorte, Executive Director
Christmas is Coming - And a Brand New Year!
Tudor Hall is gloriously decorated thanks to Karen Wood and a suite of sweet volunteers. At our Open House on Saturday, people gathered in the parlor to sing carols around the Grand Piano. Christmas greetings were exchanged. Stockings were hung by the chimney with care and glasses raised to toast a prosperous and joy-filled 2025!
That marvelous old song, Auld Lang Syne, brought to mind most often as we approach a New Year, is - or should be - the anthem for people like us. People who cherish the past, its lessons, and the friendships it brings - friendships with ordinary people whom we may not have known but whose extraordinary deeds from the long, long ago reach out to touch us today.
“Auld Lang Syne” is Scottish literally meaning "old long since" but better rendered as long, long ago. The lyrics are about old friends having a drink and recalling the adventures they shared:
We two who've paddled in the stream
From morning sun 'til night
The seas between us roared and swelled
Since the days of auld lang syne!
In the years to come, let us drink a cup of kindness as we, together, continue to share our stories from long, long ago.
Merry Christmas!
YOU Did It!
What an extraordinary group of people you are! For the second year, our Annual Appeal has reached $40,000. Wow!
Never in the the history of the Historical Society have members shown such support as you have in 2023 and 2024 Annual Appeals.
The only words we can say - for now - are. . .WOW! and THANK YOU!
Historically Speaking Kicks-Off January 22nd
On Wednesday, January 22nd, at 4:30pm to 6:00pm, Georgetown University professor of history, Dr. Chandra Manning, will kick-off Historically Speaking for 2025. A prize-winning historian and author, the subject of her presentation is:
A Dangerous Time in a Perilous Place -
Uneasy Alliances in Civil War Era Southern Maryland
By the end of the Civil War, half-a-million formerly enslaved people had taken refuge with the Union Army and forged a wary alliance that won the war, ended slavery, and remade citizenship for all Americans. Yet this biracial alliance between formerly enslaved people and Union authorities was especially fraught with fear and violence in Maryland.
From kidnapping, to intimidation, to property destruction, to murder, this talk will explore threats that this uneasy alliance faced in southern Maryland, the strategies that Black Marylanders used to counter the threats, and the ways in which the story is and is not remembered today.
The event will take place at Daugherty-Palmer Commons at St. Mary's College of Maryland. Directions and registration (which is recommended) can be found at this link: Register Please join us for this revealing presentation!
It's Getting Warmer in Tudor Hall - But We're Still Closing
Among the many things Tudor Hall has long needed is better heating. The Winter cold is why we shut down each year from December into February. Really, we'd like to stay open year-round but, well, that's costly - and uncomfortable - in this drafty old building.
The good news is that help is near. Tudor Hall's heating system is being beefed up by the good folks from TN Bowes. This work will augment the furnace and heat lost through old pipes and radiators and is made possible through past donations earmarked for maintenance and preservation.
But improved heating is only part of the solution, of course. Cold air comes in through Tudor Hall's many nooks and crannies. Fixing those is a challenge. The Board is in search of reasonable and affordable solutions for this and other ailments afflicting this fine building.
Nevertheless, Tudor Hall will be closed from December 14th through Tuesday, February 18th, 2025. We'll read email regularly and pick up phone messages periodically.
Our thanks to all those who attended the reception for the "unveiling" of the St. Mary's Hotel Grand Piano. Some 50 - 60 people enjoyed conversation, food, drink, and, above all, seeing and hearing the 123-year-old instrument brought to life.
We continue to express our gratitude to the Leonardtown Arts & Entertainment Council for helping us get the piano tuned and cleaned and to The Rex for the good food. And of course, to the Abell family whose thoughtfulness in allowing us to preserve this wonderful legacy of long, long ago.
 Jenny (Abell) McCabe
(Photo: Courtesy Michael Reid, The Enterprise)
 Ellynne Davis, Piano - Lois Stephenson, Violin (Photo: Courtesy Michael Reid, The Enterprise)
Past issues of the Tudor Hall Times can be found on our website under Publications
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