Chapter Six: Sotterley - This Place Matters Copyright, 2015, by Samuel C.P. Baldwin, Jr. Contents Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 5 Lest We Forget Slavery ............................................................................................................................. 7 More Thoughts on What Makes Sotterley Important ............................................................................ 25 The Garden Guild and Volunteers .......................................................................................................... 35 Joe Goldsmith ......................................................................................................................................... 44 The Need for Financial Support .............................................................................................................. 51 Photo Album ........................................................................................................................................... 72 Pictures 1. Sotterley’s National Historic Landmark marker. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley ..................................... 4 2. Mabel Ingalls (center) with descendants of the Platers (right) and the Barneses (left). Courtesy of Historic Sotterley .......................................................................................................................................... 5 3. Left to Right: Jan and Sandra van Heerden, John Hanson and Bonnie Briscoeat Sotterley....................6 4. The Sotterley slave cabin. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley ...................................................................... 10 5. Carolyn Laray and George Forrest. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley ..................................................... 12 6. Education programs at Sotterley Plantation. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley ........................................ 16 7. Gary Hodge and John Hanson Briscoe at Sotterley Plantation. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley ............. 18 8. David McCullough, eminent American historian and writer, at Sotterley Plantation. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley ........................................................................................................................................ 19 9. Nancy Easterling, Sotterley’s current executive director, introducing one of the speakers at Sotterley’s Middle Passage Marker Ceremony. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley............................................................ 20 10. Dr. Tuajuanda Jordan, president of St. Mary’s College of Maryland, at Sotterley’s Middle Passage Marker Ceremony. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley ...................................................................................... 23 11. From left to right: Donald Barber, former lieutenant governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Congressman Steny Hoyer, and former secretary to President Bill Clinton Betty Currie on the portico at Sotterley. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley .................................................................................................... 25 12. Pat and Frank Greenwell, in character as Governor and Mrs. George Plater III, in Sotterley’s garden. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley ..................................................................................................................... 26 13. Sotterley and its grounds during Winefest. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley ....................................... 27 14. A garden wedding at Sotterley plantation. Courtesy of Samuel C.P. Baldwin, Jr. ............................... 28 15. Joe and Darlene Goldsmith at the Sotterley farmers’ market. Courtesy of Joe Goldsmith................. 29 16. Two United States Senators at Sotterley; left, Senator Barbara Mikulski, and right, Senator Paul Sarbanes with wife Christine Dunbar. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley ........................................................ 30 1 17. Pat and Frank Greenwell at a historical exhibit in Sotterley. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley .............. 32 18. Children enjoy a tractor ride at Sotterley. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley ........................................... 33 19. State and local delegates at the 40th anniversary of Sotterley’s National Historic Landmark status. From left to right: Sandra van Heerden, Delegate John Bohanan, Agnes Kane Callum, County Commissioner Joe Anderson, State Senator Thomas Mac Middleton, County Commissioner Thomas Mattingly, County Commissioner Shelby Guazzo, County Commissioner Danny Raley, County Commissioner President Julie Randall, John Hanson Briscoe, and Michael Whitson. The far right officer’s name is unknown. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley ...................................................................................... 34 20. A junior docent volunteer at Sotterley. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley ............................................. 35 21. Sotterley’s main house, 1953. Photo taken for a National Geographic article. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley ...................................................................................................................................................... 36 22. A Garden Guild volunteer at work. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley ...................................................... 36 23. Sotterley’s larder, site of the first gift shop. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley ........................................ 37 24. Daphne McGuire, Garden Guild member. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley ........................................... 38 25. Garden Guild volunteers planting a new shrub. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley .................................. 39 26. A Garden Guild volunteer tending the Sotterley gardens. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley .................. 40 27. Maryland State Senator Michael Miller, current Senate Majority Leader, at Sotterley. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley ........................................................................................................................................ 40 28. Lizette Day, Garden Guild volunteer. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley .................................................. 41 29. Jim Franklin, left, and Bob Aldridge, right. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley .......................................... 43 30. Joe Goldsmith in Sotterley’s barn. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley ....................................................... 45 31. Outdoor construction at Sotterley. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley ..................................................... 46 32. Trees down at Sotterley after Hurricane Irene. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley. .................................. 47 33. Signage at the Sotterley Farmers’ Market. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley .......................................... 48 34. Joe Goldsmith and Bucky Readmond at the Sotterley Farmers’ Market. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley .................................................................................................................................................................... 49 35. The Sotterley grounds. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley ........................................................................ 50 36. The smokehouse under repair. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley ............................................................ 52 37. Sotterley mansion’s cupola undergoing restoration. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley .......................... 53 38. Repainting the drawing room. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley ............................................................. 54 39. The ice house undergoing restoration. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley .............................................. 54 40. The brick walls of the smokehouse being restored. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley ............................ 55 41. The portico undergoing restoration. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley ................................................... 57 42. The New Room gets a new look. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley ......................................................... 58 43. Sotterley volunteers in the kitchen. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley .................................................... 60 44. The field tents at Sotterley’s Riverside Winefest. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley ............................... 60 45. Quilters at the Sotterely Quilt Show, a former annual event at Sotterley Plantation. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley ........................................................................................................................................ 61 46. A scene from Sotterley’s Mother’s Day Tea, 1999. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley ............................. 62 47. Quilters at the Sotterley Quilt Show. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley ................................................... 63 48. Winefest volunteers in 2014. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley............................................................... 63 2 49. Former governor Parris Glendenning, center, with John Hanson Briscoe, right, and former comptroller Louis L. Goldstein, left. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley ........................................................... 64 50. Tyler Gearhart. Courtesy of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.................................... 65 51. Richard Moe, left, former director of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and Michael Whitson, former member of Sotterley’s board of trustees. Courtesy of Historic Sotterley .....................