Celebrate history, heritage and excellence as the Chesapeake Crossroads Heritage Area hosts its Nineteenth Annual Heritage Awards! These awards recognize individuals, organizations, programs and achievements that contribute to our community by interpreting, promoting, preserving, researching and/or supporting our historical legacy.

NEW THIS YEAR: This year we will be recycling and composting – making our event zero-waste! Many thanks to Annapolis Green for their guidance and support and to Annapolis Compost for handling the compost details!

The event will be held on Thursday, November 10th at 5 p.m., in the Blue Heron Room at Quiet Waters Park. Tickets are $10 per person at Eventbrite or at the door. Light refreshments will be served. Please join us as we gather again to reconnect and celebrate this year’s outstanding honorees!

1. HERITAGE TOURISM PRODUCT OF THE YEAR AWARD – EXHIBIT: Museum of Historic Annapolis Exhibition, “Annapolis: An American Story”

2. HERITAGE TOURISM PRODUCT OF THE YEAR AWARD – TOUR: USNA Visitor Center, Anchors Aweigh Music Tour

3. HERITAGE VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR AWARD -- Roy Benner, Goshen Farm Preservation Society

4. HERITAGE PARTNERSHIP AWARD - Elktonia – Carr’s Beach Land Conservation & Heritage Preservation Project 

Government Partners:

• City of Annapolis
• Anne Arundel County
• State of Maryland
• National Park Service, Chesapeake
• U.S. Senator Ben Cardin
• Maryland Senator Sarah Elfreth

Private Partners:

• Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation
• Chesapeake Conservancy
• The Conservation Fund
• Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture

5. HERITAGE SPONSOR OF THE YEAR - Annapolis Cars, Sponsor of Boatyard Beach Bash

6. OUTDOORS INITIATIVE AWARD – Chesapeake Children’s Museum

7. HERITAGE STEWARDSHIP AWARD -- Bob & Vera Wiest, AA County Cultural Resources

8. HERITAGE LEADERSHIP AWARD -- Robert C. Clark

If you would like to purchase a ticket in advance through Eventbrite, please use this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/chesapeake-crossroads-nineteenth-annual-heritage-awards-tickets-434087014947

We look forward to seeing you as we celebrate our Nineteenth Annual Heritage Awards on November 10!

Tuesday, November 8

3:00-4:00 pm

Hammond-Harwood House

19 Maryland Ave, Annapolis

A Curator’s Lecture on the Charles Willson Peale exhibition at the Hammond-Harwood House Museum

Have you ever wondered how an exhibition is developed? In this lecture, participants will get a behind the scenes look at the making of the exhibition Ambition: Charles Willson Peale in Annapolis. Rachel Lovett, former Hammond-Harwood House curator, will discuss the concept for the show, how the pieces were chosen, the loan process, and how the show was installed. Lovett will delve into her research on the Peale family and their contributions to early America. Additionally, the lecture will feature a section on the transformation of a period room into a gallery. The exhibition is now on view until December 31, 2022.

This lecture is free to attend. Register for The Making of an Exhibition.

Also at Hammond-Harwood House this week:

Saturday, November 12 - Collectors’ Day – How Appealing: Charles Willson Peale & Collecting

Thursday, November 10

1:00 pm

Organization: Maryland State Archives

People who saw Major General Johann de Kalb’s heroic actions at the battle of Camden, South Carolina on August 16, 1780, never forgot it. A soldier who fought there wrote fifty -three years later that de Kalb was “…perhaps the bravest man that ever lived.” De Kalb had fought fiercely on that fateful day, but he was finally felled by eleven wounds. His life ebbed slowly away, and he died three agonizing days after the battle.

Accolades began almost immediately. British officers attended his funeral in respect for an honored foe. American leaders spoke and wrote of their high regard. Congress authorized a memorial statue in Annapolis, the capital of Maryland, whose sons he had led in battle. Part of his legacy is this statue on the grounds of the Maryland State House. Join the Maryland State Archives to hear more about this important Maryland military history with author John Beakes. Free to attend. Find link information for Revolutionary War General Baron de Kalb.

Thursday, November 10

6:00-9:00 pm

Banneker-Douglass Museum

84 Franklin Street, Annapolis

You are invited to join the Banneker-Douglass Museum as they celebrate the museum’s newest exhibit, The Radical Voice of Blackness Speaks of Resistance and Joy. In collaboration with world renowned curator, Myrtis Bedolla, the Banneker-Douglass Museum will feature works by fifteen Black Maryland-based artists and portraits from BDM’s Fine Art collection. On this day attendees will enjoy art, music, light fare, the museum’s permanent exhibits and of course, each other!

RSVP for The Radical Voice of Blackness Speaks of Resistance and Joy.

Friday, November 11

6:30-8:30 pm

O’Brien’s Oyster Bar and Seafood Tavern

113 Main Street, Annapolis

Honor and celebrate Veteran’s Day with a patriotic musical tribute. Join Historic Annapolis for a return engagement of the musical group, Bedlam, at O’Brien’s Oyster Bar and Seafood Restaurant.

Among the varied musical styles and settings will be upbeat songs to lift morale, ballads commemorating heroes and battles, and songs to memorialize the fallen young soldiers. For example, the ballad, “The Death of General Wolf”, chronicles the historic battle of Quebec that was fought between the French and British armies on the Plains of Abraham outside the city walls. You will also hear marching tunes like “Yankee Doodle” and “The British Grenadiers” and recruiting songs like “Over The Hills And Far Away”, that stir the soul of the listener, as much now as in former times when they called young men to war. General George Washington will be remembered in two very different songs – a tavern song called “A Toast to General Washington”, and a hauntingly beautiful ode called “Lady Washington”, which tells of Martha’s search for her husband in the confusion and chaos at the end of a battle.

Cost: $30 per person, General Admission; $25 per person for Veterans, HA Members and HA Docents. Optional dinner add-on available for $30 per person; cash bar will be available. Ages 21 and up only. Register for An Evening of Revolutionary Music with Bedlam: A Musical Program Honoring Veterans.

Other Historic Annapolis events this week:

• Tuesday, November 8 - Virtual Lecture – Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped Into Slavery and Their Astonishing Journey Home
• Saturday, November 12 - His Majesty’s Marines at Hogshead: Shore Leave 1772
• Sunday, November 13 - Hands-On History Day

Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman and City of Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley recently announced the designation of the City of Annapolis as a Middle Passage “Site of Memory” during a remembrance and celebration ceremony. The designation was endorsed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Middle Passage Ceremonies, and Port Markers Project.

The Annapolis Port Marker Committee spearheaded the project with guidance from the Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Marker’s Project Founder Ann Chinn. The purpose of the designation is to educate residents and visitors about Annapolis’ connection and relevance to national and global history.

The Port Marker Celebration engaged community members, schools, businesses, and local leaders in an effort to acknowledge and honor the vital role that Africans and their descendants played in developing local areas and nations. During the remembrance ceremony, held in concurrence with Maryland’s Emancipation Day, committee members and community leaders performed bold reenactments of historical figures, shared the history of Annapolis’ role in the transatlantic human trade and unveiled a mock up of the Port Marker to be installed at City Dock. 

For more information on the Annapolis Port Marker project, visit www.aacounty.org/portmarker.

MSAC is accepting nominations for 2023 Maryland Heritage Awards. Nominate individuals, places, and traditions that have demonstrated outstanding achievement in traditional arts and culture. Awards are $10,000 each. Nominations are due Tuesday, November 15, at 5 p.m. Begin a nomination using MSAC’s application system, SmartSimple.

Maryland Traditions, the traditional arts program of MSAC, has given Heritage Awards annually since 2007. Awards are given based on a nominee’s sustained commitment to a particular traditional practice, current importance to communities in which that traditional practice is important, and past contributions to that traditional practice. Each year, winners are chosen in the categories of Person or People, Place, and Tradition.

For questions, contact Folklife Specialist Ryan Koons at ryan.koons@maryland.gov or Senior Program Director Chad Buterbaugh at chad.buterbaugh@maryland.gov.

The Thomas V. “Mike” Miller Jr. History Fund provides support for projects at museums, historical societies, libraries, and other repositories throughout the state of Maryland. The goal is to build the long-term resiliency and efficacy of Maryland’s historical collections stewards. The Miller History Fund is made possible by an annually recurring allocation from the state’s Preservation of Cultural Arts Fund. This fund was proposed by late Senate President Emeritus Thomas V. “Mike” Miller in the 2018 legislative session and enacted into law. The Maryland Center for History and Culture named the fund—formerly known as the Pathways Grant Program—in Senator Miller’s honor in 2021.

The Letter of Intent (LOI) deadline for the Miller History Fund on November 11th is fast approaching.

The NPS Chesapeake Office is proud to share that the grant application is now open for Chesapeake Gateways and Watertrails Network grants!

For more details and a link to the application, go to: Chesapeake Gateways Network Grants - Chesapeake Bay (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov). The application will be open until January 30, 2023.

UPCOMING WEBINARS

NPS Chesapeake will be conducting a more in-depth walkthrough of the application (Overview) and a webinar on how to submit a proposal (Workshop). Each will be repeated. Please register for the one you’d like to attend. You are welcome to attend both, but you must register separately to get the login information for each. (Please share the registration links with others but not the meeting link you will receive when you register.)

Chesapeake Gateways Network Grants Writing Workshop

(Register here.) Tuesday, November 15^th, 4:00 – 5:30pm OR

(Register here.) Thursday, November 17^th, 4:00 – 5:30pm

If you have any questions about the grant opportunity, please forward them to: Chesapeake_grants@nps.gov.

Chesapeake Crossroads Heritage Area | 410-222-1805 | heritage_area@aacounty.org | chesapeakecrossroads.org