Grape sighting in Church Hill!
I was driving back to Chestertown from the Bay Bridge, and I noticed a new sign bearing the image of some slickly painted waterfowl and advertising one “Cassinelli Winery and Vineyards.” I did a doubletake and saw that the subtly undulating hills were dotted with carefully measured posts: grape trellises! I flashed back to Sonoma Valley, a place I’d visited a couple times back when I was living in California and attending San Francisco State University. I’ve passed by Cassinelli a couple times now, and this new winery in Church Hill looks to be a continuig work in progress, with more posts going up.
African-American Veterans of the Civil War in Kent County, MD
An article I wrote for this month’s Chesapeake Times about one of the many amazing historic buildings on fabulous Water Street in Chestertown is available.
…In the end it was illness and not violence that killed a quarter of Kent County’s four hundred-plus black troops. The survivors returned with varying levels of medical disability, but that didn’t stop them from setting up a place where veterans could meet and enrich each others’ lives…”
Read the rest by clicking here and scrolling down to page 22.
Got grass?
“Grasslands are one of the most familiar forms of natural landscape in the world. From prairies to savannas, from Australia to the Himalayas, native grasslands have long been ubiquitous. Green, vast, open, generally flat, home to few or no trees — they are both beautiful and increasingly vulnerable. Grasslands on the Eastern Shore have been losing ground to outside forces that gobble up space, such as human encroachment and alien flora invasions, for more than a century.”
http://www.chesterriverassociation.org/publications/2008_Currents.pdf(scroll down to p.3)
www.chesterriverassociation.org/publications/2008_Currents.pdf
Saint Fiacre in Chesapeake Times
Hello, hello. This month sees an article in the Chesapeake Times about the Catholic patron saint of gardening, who has a local following. Scroll down to page 20
New News, and More New News
First, the very awesome Friends of the Library has a very awesome new web presence: http://kentfriends.wordpress.com/
Second, bless the Kent News’s heart: they have gotten a much hipper web page. (It used to be a mailing address, and that’s it, if I remember correctly.) Granted, the web address that pops up on Google isn’t um memorable, but it’s an improvement:https://secure.townnews.com/shared-content/subscription/authenticate/index.php?mode=start&domain=thekentcountynews.com&usereg=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thekentcountynews.com%2F%2Farticles%2F2008%2F05%2F22%2Fbusiness%2Fdoc4834d996986af642441533.txt&discover=0&amex=0
TOP 10 REASONS TO GRACE FIRST FRIDAY WITH YOUR PRESENCE
Hmmm, what are you going to do this weekend? Perhaps you can be persuaded to attend first Friday here in Chestertown?
- The opportunity to view art, eat cheese, and drink wine for free.
- You may despise Chesapeake cliches in painting and photograph, but there’s always Massoni’s (my fav) and other fine hits mingled in with the misses.
- And after a few glasses of wine, it’s all good.
- You’ll have plenty of company if you decide to break the open container law during your stroll.
- This event that happens for only 4 hours every month.
- If the weather is nice, there’s great seating outside Play It Again Sam after the galleries close.
- It’s a casual way to spend your Friday without driving far.
- You may find a conversation piece for your empty dorm wall.
- If you want a thought (or gossip) provoking evening with friends, this is the way to do it.
- Chill environment, good vibe.
KITTY KNIGHT HOUSE
DESPERATE DINERS Cool name, interesting historical background…the Kitty Knight House is now even better–the same folks who run the Granary have just opened a restaurant there. Now I love the Granary’s food, and the atmosphere is improved since the smoking ban, but it’s loud. Especially when Wash Coll’s in session. The noise comes from the table where I’m seated as often as not, but still. This new place looks classier and quieter, which I like. But what that ambience will do to the prices, that’s to be seen…
In the Day Late Department….
I just discovered the Chestertown web site, which is probably old hat to most people here. It’s excellent!
