Talbot County is the site of several of the oldest and most historic towns on the Eastern Shore and all of Maryland. The evolution of these towns over the past 350 years reflects patterns of development that characterized the region over this period of time.
This course will focus on Talbot County’s five towns — Oxford, St. Michaels, Easton, Trappe, and Unionville — and highlight their importance in understanding the manner in which our region has grown and continues to evolve.
Over the course of three weeks, we will focus on the following towns:
Session 1: Oxford & St. Michaels – Two working-class watermen’s towns that ultimately evolve along very different pathways.
Session 2: Easton & Trappe – Two virtually landlocked towns whose patterns of development reflect the importance of political and economic choices.
Session 3: Unionville – An all-Black town whose growth and decline epitomizes the dynamics of race over the past 150 years.
What to Expect: Participants in the course will come to understand that the evolution of the five towns under discussion, and by extension Talbot County as a whole, is the result of conscious decisions made by residents. Strikingly different choices were made in each of the five towns under discussion, and when combined with geographic influences, resulted in divergent patterns of development. Put simply, choices matter, as each of these five towns continue to illustrate today.
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