Pittman and Friends Podcast
Welcome to Pittman and Friends, the curiously probing, sometimes awkward, but always revealing conversations between your host, Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman - that’s me - and whatever brave and willing public servant, community leader, or elected official I can find who has something to say that you should hear.
This podcast is provided as a public service of Anne Arundel County Government, so don’t expect me to get all partisan here. This is about the age-old art of government - of, by, and for the people.
Pittman and Friends Podcast
Jane Cox on Why Local History Matters and What Stories Come Next
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A historic house disappears and a neighborhood loses more than a structure, it loses an anchor. That’s where the conversation starts on the latest episode of Pittman and Friends podcast when County Executive Steuart Pittman sits down with the Executive Director of the Chesapeake Crossroads Heritage Area, Jane Cox. They discuss how “sense of place” is built and how quickly it can be erased when we stop paying attention to the stories under our feet.
Jane walks us through her path from doing archeological digs at London Town to leading cultural resources work in Anne Arundel County, then stepping into her new role at the Chesapeake Crossroads Heritage Area. We talk about what preservation looks like inside planning and zoning, why public outreach matters as much as policy, and how heritage tourism can drive economic development while protecting authentic places across Anne Arundel county.
From there, we dive into a hidden powerhouse story: the Steward Shipyard on the West River near Galesville, founded in 1751 and burned by the British in 1781. It’s a gateway into the Revolutionary era and the upcoming Annapolis 250, including the push to frame 250 not as a single weekend, but as a longer “Season of Freedom” starting around Juneteenth. We also wrestle with the question that always surfaces at anniversaries: whose history gets celebrated, and how do we tell the truth about slavery, loyalty, and legacy?
We close by discussing ideas for practical next steps: the need for a preservation master plan shaped by community input, do we create an advisory group that helps leaders make smarter calls, and keeping momentum on Crownsville with National Register designation and a museum vision that can handle difficult history with care. Subscribe, share, and leave a review, and then tell us: what place in Anne Arundel County holds your strongest sense of place?
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Welcome And Jane Cox’s Path
SPEAKER_02Welcome everybody back to Pittman and Friends Podcast, and I am here today with my friend. In fact, we've been friends before I was even in this job, my friend, Jane Cox, who is the executive director of Chesapeake Crossroads Heritage Area.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for having me. I'm looking forward to talking.
SPEAKER_02All right. Well, welcome. Good. This is going to be fun. This is going to be fun, guys. We're going to talk about history. We're going to talk about why it matters, what we got in Anne Rundle County, and Jane and her incredible career and all the stuff that she's done and wants to still do. We might have an agenda at the end of this one. Is that okay?
SPEAKER_00We've got a few things to talk about.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I saw I saw your notes. She gave me notes. Okay. So executive director of Chesapeake Crossroads Heritage Area. But first, what, a 28-year career at OPZ, about 30 years doing this work?
SPEAKER_00Correct. I started digging archaeology holes at London town when I was much, much younger, and my back was in better shape. So that's where I started my career with Anorondo County. And then 28 years coming up through Office of Planning and Zoning and the Cultural Resources Section.
SPEAKER_02Wow. So you're an actual archaeologist. You were trained, have a degree in that.
SPEAKER_00That's where I got started, and then preservation built out of that.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Okay. And you're a local girl, too, right? I am. Yep.
SPEAKER_00Born and raised, grew up in the Crofton-Davidville area, and I still live on the family farm.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Okay. Well, great. So let me just say that the Office of Plan and Zoning, your work there was to do within Planning and Zoning, cultural resources, which is what what what was the scope of that work?
SPEAKER_00So the scope was including policy work, uh development review was the primary reason. But when that program got started, uh Jim Leitheiser in the late 80s created the Historic Preservation Cultural Resources Program. And what was really great about I didn't know that. Yes, he was the champion of the Trevor Burrus.
SPEAKER_02He went on and did a whole lot of Civil War battlefield things. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So Passion for History. And when he found out that Ane Rondo County didn't have a preservation program, but the city of Annapolis did, he came together in the late 80s. The program was started by uh Dr. Al Luckenbach and Donna Ware. And with that program in planning and zoning, it became a part of the development review process to make sure that historic sites, buildings, archaeological resources were protected or at least mitigated when development was proposed so that we weren't losing things without at least documenting it. So my role came in in that we were we do development review, but what was great about it was that it was making sure that people knew why this stuff mattered. It's one thing to say, I'm gonna save an historic building, but then nobody gets a benefit out of it. But historic preservation really is about you know making a sense of place and helping people understand why these things matter and why it builds a community and something for people to gather around. So part of our work there was a lot of public outreach.
SPEAKER_02Can I just say the sense of place thing? You you gave me some notes, and that just jumped out for me. That that is why I mean I think it's something that we all feel. Right. But when you say it, it's community and place is one of the things that's been sort of lacking. I hear it all the time. That, you know, uh you know, you move in move into a suburban community, there's no real town center. I some parts of our county have that. People are are yearning for that. Yeah. And what you do that, you know, identifying the history and the sense of place around the history is really.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And a continuity of like some some placeholders, something that people can rally around, that that is something you've seen forever. And you know, people miss it. When a historic house does get torn down, it's like it's there's a a vacant spot on the landscape. People miss it. It's it's an anchor, it's a community anchor for people.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And we'll get into, okay, whose history, what history is more important than other you know, and and how you make decisions about what history to tell. I know that has even become controversial in recent years and pretty fascinating. But okay, so you went from the sort of regulatory role and explaining the why and actually doing research and identifying sites in the county, right? Are there some of those that indeed.
SPEAKER_00So a lot of what we did was not only w when development would happen, an archaeological survey might discover an archaeological site, but then we also had a preservation arm and the archaeological lab that's at London Town. It's a public space. The volunteers can still go help do archaeology with the the county's team, and you can actually have that hands-on experience so that people can feel, you know, feel a deep, uh a personal connection with that history. And, you know, I think that it was planning, it was doing the archaeology research, but then also doing the public outreach and programs like River Days is coming up. I know we're gonna be there, the county cultural resources team will be there sharing this history with the public. Because it's when people understand why this stuff matters, that's when you get support for being able to save a building or to save an archaeological site.
SPEAKER_02Just as one as one example of that, and and an example of how we're still discovering things, you started to tell me about a shipbuilding operation. Tell us about that.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so one of the the this is one of the fun things about being able to transition into this new role with the Chesapeake Crossroads, because when I was well, I was I was much younger, 30 years ago, one of the first volunteer archaeology digs I went on was on the West River on Fords Creek, just up from Galesville. And I was working with a state archaeologist, which and they had discovered the Stephen Stewart shipyard.
SPEAKER_02This shipyard Stewart spelled A-R-D-S-C-E.
SPEAKER_00S-T-E-W-A-R-D. Okay, okay. So um he started this shipyard in 1751 and was building massive merchant vessels on the little Galesville Creeks in these shallow waters. And with uh it was an entire um an entire industrial complex. He had the shipbuilding, he had housing for all of the people that were working there, the tradesmen, the freedmen, the enslaved laborers that were all part of this massive system. Today it's partially a su a subdivision, but it's still preserved la parts of it are still preserved under an easement with the state. So thirty years. And that's why that's why the Chesapeake Crossroad needs to exist, because we've got to be able to tell these stories for these hidden stories. And it's not just about the guy that owned the shipyard and was the financier behind it, but all those lives, the people that actually were doing the caulking and putting the boats together and launching them, all that there's an entire network of an industry down there. After the Revolutionary War, now that shipyard was burnt by the British in 1781.
SPEAKER_01Oh wow.
SPEAKER_00They knew it was such a threat because he was building great ships. He was really starting the Maryland Navy. Stephen Stewart's shipyard was burnt in 1781.
SPEAKER_02That's the foun that one could argue that's the founding of the Navy. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_00He started yeah, and he had a really great reputation. Another fun thing, he was actually in business with Galloway, who owned Tulipill.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Galloway was a loyalist.
SPEAKER_00And Stewart was a patriot. So the two of them actually like they were in business together, but they were on opposite sides of the Revolutionary War.
Chesapeake Crossroads And Heritage Tourism
SPEAKER_02Huh. Interesting. Yeah. Wow. Wow. Okay. And we're gonna we're gonna learn all about that stuff because it's the 250th anniversary, right? And you're gonna make sure that history is told. Absolutely. But but let's jump back, let's jump forward, back, whatever we're doing. We'll go back and forth present past. Time is time is you know, just moving along. So you became the director of the Chesapeake Crossroads Heritage Area as opposed to working in the Office of Plan and Zoning, totally different operation. How long ago?
SPEAKER_00January 2025. So I've been there for a year and three months now. Okay. So I did a retirement from Ana Rondo County and then moved into that role. But the programs we uh uh the Chesapeake Crossroads is a partnership with Anaondo County, the City of Annapolis, Highland Beach, and the State of Maryland. So the Maryland Heritage Areas Program is a statewide program, one of only two states in the nation that has a heritage areas program. And the idea is that the heritage area does economic development through heritage tourism by saving these authentic places, giving historic pl giving people a place to go visit and to go learn about history, it's an economic development tool that also has the benefit of preserving the historic places. So I spent 28 years in the county system trying to do it from the development side, and now what I'm able to do is do it from an economic development and heritage tourism perspective.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
SPEAKER_00And so working with all the same people, so I feel it it's wonderful that I can still keep such a deep connection with the team at Planning and Zoning, with the City of Annapolis colleagues that I've built over the years. Right.
SPEAKER_02And it used to be called the Four Rivers Heritage Area, right? You changed it to Chesapeake Crossroads.
SPEAKER_00It's actually had three names. The first it's it founded in uh 2002. So we're coming up on our 25th anniversary next year. That it's been around since 2002. And with the um program, it started out as a very onerous name, the Annapolis London Town South County Heritage Area. So branding folks said, yeah, let's shorten that up. We went to Four Rivers Heritage Area because the heritage area was from Route 50 south to the southern end of Anaroldo County and Route 2, so we encompassed the the Herring Bay Southwest Road River. Okay. About four years ago, we have it did not include the it just up to Route 50. Okay. So it it included parts of the Severn River, but but basically chopped it off at the at Route 50. So a few years ago, we actually worked with when I was still with Planning and Zoning, we worked with the what was then the Four Rivers Heritage Area to expand it because we knew we were missing stories that were part of the North County. The African American communities and the descendant communities that are in North County are uh our friends on the Jug Bay, uh in the Jug Bay area, the Patuxent River stories. So we actually expanded, went through the state process to expand our certified heritage area, and we now have a much larger breach. We tell a lot more stories. It's not just about the rivers anymore. So we changed our name to the Chesapeake Crossroads Heritage Area.
SPEAKER_02And it's pretty much Anne Arundel County.
SPEAKER_00It is, yes. And we're actually going to expand a little bit more because there's a lot of stories we still can capture.
Maryland Day Grows Into A Week
SPEAKER_02Okay. Okay. Well, great. That's that's exciting stuff. So what are you working on? It's a heritage area. So not the new gig.
SPEAKER_00We have just wrapped up uh what has really become one of our signature events, the Maryland Day celebrations. For 18 years, we've been celebrating Maryland Day. And the idea with Maryland Day is that we use that date, March 25th, as a way to celebrate and promote local historic sites and encourage them to sort of kick off their spring season, their opening their doors. Well, we we were finding that there was so much going on in that one day. It then expanded to a weekend. And one of the first things that I did when I came in as executive director last year, we crammed all this stuff into two and a half days. And so this year, in my first full year, we expanded it to an entire week. So it was an entire week of celebrations, and it went amazingly well. So we're recovering from that, but also looking forward to next year when we we're going to be doing the same. We had 67 registered partners, historic sites, nonprofits that offer programs and events, natural history, recreational activities, and we had 127 unique activities or events that people could sign up for. So stay keep keep in touch for next year.
SPEAKER_02This is for the whole state or for your area? For just Annerdo County. Just your area.
SPEAKER_00So with that program, um we're going to keep it for an entire entire week next year because we have way more history than we can fit into one day.
Planning The 250 Season Of Freedom
SPEAKER_02So you used a word when we were talking earlier that threw me for a loop and I was trying to figure it out. Now I see it in writing. It's really long. It is semi-quincentennial.
SPEAKER_00Well done.
SPEAKER_02Most people can't say that the first time. I can say 250th anniversary. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_00And that's why we've gone with let's just say 250th.
SPEAKER_02250. Okay.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So the the 250th, I mean, obviously that is.
SPEAKER_02Quincentennial would be 500 years, semi is half of 500 years. Semi-quincentennial. Yeah, you've got to do math. Okay.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. But but then that's why everybody's leaving that out. Okay. So with Ana Rondo County, and we actually have some really great partners for the Heritage Area because we're part of the City of Annapolis and Ana Rondo County. Um we've been working really closely with the Annapolis 250 Commission, which was created by the City of Annapolis two years ago. Right. So with that, they're they're going to be doing a lot of the you know, sort of expected things that you might see around the Fourth of July. Parades, and there's going to be some great events. We're going to be able to watch Hamilton, the movie, on the grounds of St. John's outside on um uh at on an outside theater on July 3rd, so that'll be a really fun one. Um Let's write that down. Yes, uh not to be missed. But but you know what one of the things that working with our friends with Visit Annapolis, um, because we are a heritage tourism organization, we're trying to develop, you know, how how do we bring people in to leave their money with Anarondo County, right?
SPEAKER_02With that, we want to really say visit Annapolis, I know you mean Visit Annapolis and Anorondo County.
SPEAKER_00V-A-A-A-C. Yes.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's it's a countywide organization, but the focus is Annapolis, because it's it's really what people think of.
SPEAKER_00Well, and what I'm working with them on is making sure they can help us promote all the things that are out in the county beyond the city, yeah.
SPEAKER_02The city is now they're really trying to do more of that.
SPEAKER_00They're great partners in that. Yeah. So what what we've been looking at and talking with them about is not just looking at July 4th, because you know, independence, the whole Revolutionary War, it didn't happen in a year. It took eight years from when they finally signed the Declaration of Independence until we were actually an independent country in 1783. So, you know, what what we're trying to do is talk about not just the July 4th thing, but include all the stories and and the all the activities that built up to it and came after. So we're calling it the season of freedom. And a lot of events will be kicking off starting Juneteenth, and we're gonna have the sort of intensity of, you know, a month and a m a month or so of really, you know, highlighting. But then keep ears out for all the things that are gonna be happening through the end of the year and over the next couple of years where we celebrate some of those, you know, commemorative events like the burning of the Stephen Stewart shipyard that ha didn't happen until 1781, well into the war. So it'll be a season of freedom and it'll keep going for quite some time.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. So I've heard stories about the uh the planning for the the 250th. And you know, when you tell history, you can choose how to tell it, you can choose what to focus on. I know that there's a national component to it, and then there's a state component, and there's local. One of the things that I really loved was when I heard the term be revolutionary, which I think came out of our local group.
Whose History Gets Celebrated
SPEAKER_00Indeed. Working with Visit Annapolis and Anarondo County, we are promoting a it's a campaign that basically looks at not just what a revolutionary colonial era story is, but looking at every single one of our sites and asking what's revolutionary, what's special about your site in the modern day? So it's bringing us not just from that that Revolutionary War period around 1776, but up into the present. So you're gonna start seeing those banners and it's actually been gamified so you can log your location and win prizes. So check out the um visit Annapolis and Ann Rendle County website.
SPEAKER_02Well that yeah, that is that is that also gets me the question of whose celebration and what does it mean for who you are? If you're Native American, if you're African American, and all of your ancestors who lived here were enslaved at the time or most. Right. If you are like me, a descendant of an enslaver, of people who were enslavers and in fact were local, and in fact, descendant, in my case, of a family that was also divided. The original Stuart, my name was the last name back, you know, eight gen eight generations ago, had come over from Scotland and and he left because he was a loyalist. He left his wife, he left his kids, one of his eldest son went with him. I think they went back to Scotland to claim some land that was in their family. And he died over there and never came back, and they never saw him again. But they were, you know, they were right, at least some the rest of his sons were on the other side of it. I mean, I'm dying to learn more because I I feel like we all want to be connected to good people. And I remember reading stories from that had been collected in my family, where, you know, I felt myself sort of trying to root for, like, give me something good, give me something to hang my hat on. There was one where it was close to the Civil War, and Richard Sprague Stewart, which was descended from the original one who left, had written that slavery was bad. And I got all excited, and I continued to read, and then he came to the conclusion that it was bad for the economy because it made white people lazy because they didn't have to do the work, and that the solution was that the African American people should get sent back to, the slaves should get sent back to Africa. And so he was as racist as anybody you could find at the time, but he's just come to this separate conclusion. And and it's like, okay, well, and then a big loss, like, oh, he wasn't a good guy after all. Right. So we're all we're all trying to find those stories that make us feel good. Yeah. And I know that those who are trying to rewrite history and kind of whitewash it are trying to make themselves look good and erase the part that makes them look bad, which is in the founding of our country, it really is all about slavery.
SPEAKER_00Trevor Burrus, Jr.: Yeah, and and and I think that when you do, you know, looking at history through a modern lens versus looking at the perspective, they probably thought that they were on the right side of history when that when a loyalist, you know, they they thought they were probably what are the odds that the American independence works? Trevor Burrus, Jr. Right. Trevor Burrus, Jr.: The audacity that they thought it was gonna they were gonna pull it off, and they did by all the you know shifts of what happened over those years. But but the idea that they might they've probably thought that they were in the right, and it makes you that's the value of learning history and thinking about it critically, is that look at your own perspectives now. Am I well let's look at this long term. Am I gonna be on the right or the wrong side of history? Yeah. And thinking of it in those terms.
SPEAKER_02Trevor Burrus, Jr. And it's a story that makes us believe that big things are possible.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_02You know, we engage some people just turn away from politics because they just think progress is impossible. You know, it'll never happen. But then we look back and we see how quickly things can change. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And the truly optimistic dreamers, those people are the ones that made what we have today. You know, the um Annapolis 250 Commission has just launched a really interesting project that sort of almost brings it into the modern day. You know, I imagine everybody rem Do you remember what you were doing in 1976 at the bicentennial?
SPEAKER_02I don't remember what I was doing, but I remember I remember it. I remember the bicentennial being a big deal.
SPEAKER_00And so I found some ridiculous pictures of me in a starred bonnet, and I was in the you know, Fourth of July parade in Crofton actually, and I've got some video of me on my pony in a cube-like uh um bicentennial outfit from 1776. I will say that I've been in a few events, I've talked to people, and I I'll ask the crowd, well, you know, do you remember what you felt in 1776 and I in in uh 1976? And I get these blank looks from a lot of the kids, and they're like, I wasn't alive. And I was like, oh yeah, that's right. Okay. Um but with that, the Annapolis 250, which is uh being supported by the Maryland 250 Commission, the statewide commission, they are launching a really neat neat project. It's called 250 Voices. What they're gonna be doing over the next several months and into the the end of the year is going out in the community and asking people, what does life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness mean to you today?
SPEAKER_02Huh.
SPEAKER_00Huh. Have you ha I mean that's that's so and then they give you 30 seconds to you know put put a little clip together. But it really makes you dig deep into what is it that this means today, not just historically. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. What were um what was the vision then, too. That's exciting, because it's bringing it to life and thinking about the future.
SPEAKER_00And it's almost like a time capsule of an audio-video time capsule. You think about the time capsule that you might have in, you know, that that you would go dig up fifty years later. This is going to be an audiovisual time capsule. What what did my parents or grandparents think about this at the of the time? Yeah. It's a really neat project. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I I won't try to answer that question, especially when I think about liberty. It is you know, if you'd asked me five years ago, I probably would have had a different answer. Because I feel like there's federal overreach at this moment and that there's threats to our liberty coming from there. But five years ago, I probably would have said, oh, it's about economic security and things that allow people to have a quality of life. You know, we've got now to And I'd still say that, both of those things. Other people might say it's completely, completely different. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_00And having a time capsule of what different parts of the population, how they answer that question, is going to be really compelling. Because uh the how somebody, you know, from from Freetown or from Pumphrey or from Odenton might answer that question is going to be completely different from what somebody in Bay Ridge or South County might answer. So looking at that, I mean it's it's an anthropological study in the wait. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
A Preservation Master Plan With Input
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Let's jump to the future a little bit. We've got a few more minutes. And some of the things well let's start with some of the things that you think Anna Rundle County could or should do to do a better job recognizing history and even like the old from your old job, making decisions about what should be preserved and what shouldn't.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I know you're going to say master plan.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that is something that that I'd been thinking about for a few years. You know, some of the things that I felt were sort of like uh left when I'm when I did make the decision to change positions. You know, the idea of having community input onto what matters, what what we want to save. And and that changes. What is important to somebody 50 years ago and what they thought was important to save were the big brick mansions in Annapolis. But what is important to save now needs to be more representative of all the stories. And that means a very different approach to preservation. So the idea of doing that community work of bringing people together. To talk about what matters, what should the government help save is a really important step. And having that master plan would give the planners that have to make those calls on a daily basis a better grounding. I think it would really help help them. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_02So you're not afraid to engage the community in these conversations. You would love to do that.
SPEAKER_00And I think the community wants to share what they think is important and get it on the record.
SPEAKER_02Uh-huh. Yep. Yep. Good. And then you'd also talked about an advisory committee as part of the center. So the same idea?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So you know, the city of Annapolis actually has two commissions or committees that help guide, you know, advise leadership, take community input. They have, of course, the Historic Preservation Commission, which is only within the City of Annapolis Historic District, and they do have a regulatory component, but they also have a heritage commission. And the idea of having an advisory group that could speak to what are the values, what are the historic what's historically important, and having a group of experts from the community that can speak to those things and in a way help advocate, help advise, give best practices. That's a kind of committee that could be advisory in nature, but really, you know, give some support when there is a tough preservation call that something might be threatened.
SPEAKER_02And I'm going to be totally honest with you and whoever's listening. You may not like what I say. Some people won't. I heard about the idea of a historic commission in for Anne-Rundel County. And I immediately thought, oh my God, we now have professionals that are making these regulatory decisions. Now we're going to bring in whoever the politicians say they want to have be the citizens who sit on this thing, who aren't may or may not be trained in historic preservation or anything else. They have their own personal biases about what should be preserved and what shouldn't. The regulations on land use are so complicated and cumbersome already. Do we really want to put that layer in there and turn it over to a randomly chosen group of residents? And I was I was nervous about it. But now you're talking about an advisory group, and you're talking about community engagement, which that is the core of why I ran. And it is also what builds support and understanding and a sense of place.
SPEAKER_00So I was on the Historic Preservation Commission in Annapolis for eight years, very early in my career, and I saw both the benefits and the pitfalls. And having that as, in a per personal opinion, having that as a a group that actually can make the final yay or nay call is a political landmine because you do have those agendas that come in, people get appointed, people get thrown off if it's a political appointment. But if it's advisory, it's sort of, you know, the pulse of the community. It's people that that care about history that will weigh in. It's not obligatory, but it certainly would just give a deeper connection to make sure that the things that do matter, when we start saving, try, you know, talking about trying to save an historic house that might lot not look like a grand, um, you know, a grand building. It might have all this architectural character, but it's about the stories of the people that live there and what that place represents. So, you know, being able to represent all those stories and having making sure that you've got all the voices speaking to it in an advisory role, it's, you know, I think it goes more positive.
Crownsville Museum Vision And Next Steps
SPEAKER_02Let's follow up on this conversation. And anybody who's listening that's interested, feel free to contact us as well about pros or cons of doing an advisory committee, commission. I mean, maybe we take an initial step. I'm on my way out, obviously, and and the next administration is going to have to make some decisions, but we may be able to lay the groundwork to guide them. There's a specific opportunity that we talked about earlier that is not new to anybody who's listened to this podcast because we talked about Crownsville a lot. And I will say that as part of the master plan for Crownsville, there's a vision to do a museum that would tell the history of what happened at Crownsville, and it would also tell a story about how in this country we've dealt with and called mental health illness different things. Lots of different things, some of the things we don't even say anymore, and the evolution of that. So you uh and I will also say that while the work was done to designate Crownsville to get it on the National Register of Historic Places, we didn't actually put the application in to do that. We've made a decision to move forward on that. In fact, there's money in our budget to actually make sure that the work gets done. And I will credit Janice Hayes Williams to part of the pressure for that. She's been talking about that nonstop. She's always like, okay, what's the next thing? What's the next thing? Now we've got the memorial at, you know, at the at the cemetery. I I now believe that this national designation would elevate Crownsville even further and create opportunity. Do you think it's a good idea? And how do we proceed with a museum at Crownsville?
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. So having that designation, while in large part national being listed in the National Register of Historic Places is honorific, it puts it at a level where you're also going to be eligible for more uh funding from someday federal sources, from other um other supports. So having that as an honorific is uh incredibly important. And it just makes sure that it's elevated to pe so that people beyond just our local community recognize what in a significant place that is. So in terms of implementing that next aspect of the master plan, I think that there's some there's some great work going on right now with the just collecting the stories, doing the oral histories, trying to put put all that that information in place. But the next step is really that work of developing an interpretive plan, planning how that museum and getting the funding sources, finding grants to try to start bringing that group together. And my my hope is that at some point we could have essentially a museum advisory group. Again, a group of professionals that know where the money is, know what the story should be, working with the stakeholders, keeping all those community members that care and love and have stories to tell about that place engaged in the process, but but really having somebody to keep the drive going. Because my concern is that, well, you know, it was exciting, it all the the acquisition happened, and and there's things happening behind the scenes that that we need to keep the pedal down to make sure that that there's somebody that continues to care about that. And I will say that as the heritage tourism and economic development uh program for Ann Rondo County, this is international. It is going to be transformative and it is going to be some difficult stories, but there are a lot of models for how other historic places have dealt with difficult stories and done it sensitively and made it a place where people can come to both learn and then that that mission of the healing is also going to be built into the museum. So I think there's some exciting opportunities there and hope to be around long enough to keep involved with it.
SPEAKER_02I'm inspired. I'm inspired. I mean, because we've done the plan, we've got some things started, we've got funding for some things, the Meyer building for housing, we we're moving forward on trails, we're moving forward on some of the recreation pieces. But I think you're right that this is the heart of it, and and we have to do some things to take the next steps while we can't. I mean, I think part of my goal here has been before I leave to make sure that whoever comes after also kind of recognizes the the importance of Crownsville the way you're describing it. And the communities do. Every town hall we did about Crownsville, it was electric. The common the you know the sacred nature of what happened there and the place and and the conversations. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_00And for such a difficult story, I I would also feel when you came away from those town halls, you you just felt inspired to do the right thing next. Yeah.
Declaration Reading Challenge And Closing
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Focus on the on the museum. I love that. Okay. Good. Well, this has been fun. Okay. Is there anything about Mess? Go ahead.
SPEAKER_00Um yeah. So there's one other I have a challenge for Anne Rondo County.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00Have you ever read the entire Declaration of Independence?
SPEAKER_02Oh boy, that's a good question. Not in a long time. I probably have because I had to.
SPEAKER_00Way back in the day. So here is the Chesapeake Crossroads 250 Challenge. Okay. Nationwide, there is a movement to read the Declaration of Independence at the same time across the entire country. It will be on July 8th at 6 p.m. 6 p.m. And everybody across the country, this is started by somebody in Alaska, and they have brought together groups that so everybody is going to simultaneously read it at the same time. And I want to see if we can get 25 local sites, schools, parks, libraries, churches, community members, bars, your backyard barbecue. So July 8th is actually when it first started getting out to the public. We signed it on July 4th, but it really didn't get out to the colonies until July 8th. So this is the challenge, and I want to try to get at least 25, maybe 250 groups of people to read it aloud on July 8th at 6 p.m.
SPEAKER_02Let's get on it. Let's work on that. All right, everybody. And if you want to host an event, let us know, right?
SPEAKER_00ChesapeakeCrossroads.org. Get in touch with us. Check our email or our website out and uh love to hear from you.
SPEAKER_02ChesapeakeCrossroads.org. All right. Well, this has been awesome. I'm so glad that we sat down and did this. Finally, after seven and a half years, I feel like we should have been talking more during that time, but let's get some more done. So thank you. You get the final word.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Well, this has been fun. Thank you so much. You're listening to the Pittman and Friends podcast. If you like what you hear, please hit the subscribe button and share with a friend and join us for the next episode.
