Oh, now that I think about it, I did go to a breakfast event at the JT Daugherty center yesterday (8/27). It was called “Breakfast with Founding Business Leaders in St. Mary’s County”, presented by our increasingly active SMC Department of Economic Development and the dynamic Bobby Schaller. Although ball capless, he started off the morning, and then handed off to Tom Daugherty, another local legend. What followed was a fascinating glimpse into the early days of Pax River (early 50’s) provided by 5 long time residents. There were stories of early marketing by catalog sales, development of technical things for the base, the start of "Rue’s Roost", how 10 oz. Bud’s came to be, with some great anecdotes on the characters that began our little town. All the business activity then was centered on Great Mills, not on 235 as we know it today. Loans for capitol were made on word of mouth and character without all the folderol we go through today.
At one point it was stated that “8 out of 10 businesses sold either liquor or women”. To put it in focus it was added that (the recently razed) Rosie’s would have been among the smaller of such establishments. If there is another edition it would be well worth your time to attend and listen to the roots.
So that was about all there was to do..
Oh, I forgot, last night we attended a little program at Sotterley Plantation as part of the Boeing Lecture Series entitled “The Underground Railroad and Quilts” purportedly about how quilts hung on fences contained a code that helped escaped slaves find their way to freedom along the Underground Railroad. Unfortunately Dr. Dobard’s presentation was a bit difficult to follow at times, but at least we got an idea, and there is a book that one could order. Nonetheless, it was a nice evening and a chance to get introduced to things that you might not otherwise even know about. It was well attended, and a lot more information was gleaned during the Q&A period. For your files, there are two more left in this year’s series, one on September 24th (“US China Relations in an Era of Change – Dr. David Michael Lampton”) and October 22nd (Vestiges of the War of 1812 Along the Patuxent – Dr. Ralph Eshelman). These are quality programs, you should attend. No fee, great venue, fascinating stuff.
And, that was about it....
No, wait! This morning I went down to St. Mary’s College to see the St. Mary’s Watershed Association “plant’ over 400,000 oyster spat in the river. The trailer arrived with over 9000 pounds of oysters neatly bagged.
Pop Quiz: guess which company provided a grant to fund the project? Sorry, old affinities die hard. Anyway, the little spat (less than an inch long) attach themselves to the old oystershells, with many on each shell:
Fortunately, eager labor arrived in the form of new students for the college going through orientation
The process involved taking the bags from the trailer
Into wheelbarrows
Onto a barge (directed by the oyster farmer who grew them)
Then transport and deliver them to their new home in the river just south of the boat houses.
Each (well, most) of the little oysters will grow up and begin their task of filtering 55 gallons per day, helping to purify the river. What a great project.
Just nothing to do…
and now it's almost time to
DFD
tomorrow we catch up on some local restaurant buzz....
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