(April 20, 2017) When the Calvin B. Taylor House Museum opens for the season on Saturday, May 27, it will do so with expanded hours and a new exhibit.
The exhibit, spearheaded by museum Board Member Patricia Dufendach, will highlight local involvement in World War I.
The new hours will be Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., through October. Previously, the museum was open from 1-4 p.m. Museum Curator Susan Taylor said she hoped the new hours would draw more morning visitors to the town.
The Taylor House and its staff of mostly volunteers are also gearing up for more than a dozen upcoming events.
Next Thursday, April 27, the Berlin Chamber of Commerce will host a Business After Hours at the museum from 5-7 p.m. The Worcester County Garden Club will have its annual plant auction on the lawn on May 6, and the museum will offer free tours from 1-3 p.m. on International Museum Day, May 18.
The first big event of the season is the second annual Afternoon on the Lawn gala on Sunday, June 4 from 3-6 p.m.
Tickets at $50 go on sale in May and include food from Berlin restaurants and shops in a cocktail party setting, and live ragtime music by Earl Beardsley.
Last year, the event drew about 100 people. Melissa Reid, museum board member, hopes to double that number this year.
“We got the idea from ‘Downton Abbey’ – tea parties on the lawn,” Reid said. “We’re fortunate enough to have such an amazing space right here in the middle of Berlin that we wanted to make one of our biggest fundraisers take advantage of this lawn.”
The museum previously held spring fundraisers at Harrison’s Harbor Watch in Ocean City, she said.
“Last year we felt like it was very successful, for a starting event. We had great feedback from the restaurants and the people that attended … so, we’re doing it again,” Reid said.
Along with raising funds to keep the lights on, Reid said the event would celebrate some of the people who helped found the Taylor House Museum.
The Calvin B. Taylor House was built in 1832 for Isaac Covington and his family, who lived there during the Civil War. Calvin B. Taylor, teacher, lawyer and founder of the Calvin B. Taylor Banking Company, lived in the home with his wife, Mattie, from 1890 until his death in 1932.
The Berlin Heritage Foundation bought the home and the lot from the town in 1982 and the museum held its first tour a year later. Community donations of more than $100,000 were raised to restore the home.
“We were really trying to figure out the best way to celebrate the people that came together to create this museum and we were struggling – in a good way – to make sure nobody was left out,” Reid said. “We had a list of original board members and we had a list of original directors, but we felt like it was missing the people that showed up to volunteer and clean up the lawn when the house was first cleaned out, or [the people who] came in and scraped wallpaper off the walls.”
Civic pride will be a theme of the event this year, Reid said, and museum helpers are in the process of putting together photos that show the transformation of the building into a historic gallery for the community.
“Without people just coming in and putting in sweat equity, this museum wouldn’t have happened,” Reid said. “It really wasn’t for financial gain – it wasn’t for anything other than making Berlin a wonderful place to be.
“The Atlantic Hotel [and the Taylor House Museum] were the beginning anchors of the renovation of Berlin and the rejuvenation of Berlin, and how we got to where we are now,” Reid continued. “Without local community people putting in their time to make it happen, it might not have happened.”
Additional events include the annual Concert on the Lawn Series, which runs from June through September.
The Missy Cassell Trio will perform on June 4, followed by the Chesapeake Brass Band on July 9, John O’Dell and Windy Ridge on Aug. 13 and The Rehoboth Concert Band on Sept. 10. Each concert runs from 3-6 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
The Taylor House will hold its biggest event of the year, the annual Berlin Peach Festival, on Aug. 5 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The festival draws several thousand people and includes local history and vendor booths, live and interactive entertainment, and all manner of peach sweets for sale, including the official dessert of Berlin, the peach dumpling.
December events at the museum include Wassail and Gingerbread Day on Dec. 2, Classical Christmas on Dec. 4, Candlelight Tours on Dec. 8 and guided tours on Dec. 9.
Taylor said the museum is asking for help in growing its collection of artifacts related to World War I.
“We’re looking for anything we can have from that time period, focused on local involvement, kind of like we did for the World War II exhibit years ago,” she said.
“The same will be true of the Afternoon on the Lawn event,” Reid said. “If anyone has photographs, before or after, of what the museum looked like we would greatly appreciate being able to borrow them.”
Additionally, the museum is looking for volunteers to add to its cast of roughly two-dozen helpers.
“We have two new docents so far, so we’re always up for more,” Taylor said. “They can contact the museum and I’ll give them a tour of the hour and an information packet and sign them up for dates.”
Reid, an art teacher at Buckingham Elementary School, said the museum was also working on an outreach program for local school students. Members of the museum board recently met with teachers at Buckingham, Berlin Intermediate School and Stephen Decatur Middle School to discuss new curriculum ideas related to local history.
“We’re also looking to develop some hands-on activities so that families visiting the museum would have things [to do]. Once they’ve toured upstairs and seen the history of Berlin, they could come [downstairs] and potentially do some things that would make some connections with what they saw upstairs,” Reid said. “That’s something we’re at the very beginning stages of.”
Taylor said a long-term goal of the museum is to raise funds for a historically accurate storage facility, on the grounds.
“What we want to ensure is that this cornerstone of Berlin continues forward,” Reid said. “So many people in this community have worked so hard to get this museum up and running.”
Many more continue to bring historical items to museum workers for display, from old letters to items from their homes, she said.
“We feel like this is an important piece of Berlin and we want to make sure we’re doing the best we can to ensure that it continues on as long as it can,” she said. “Any fundraiser we have, really, is just to keep this museum going.”
For more information on the museum or to inquire about volunteering, call 410-641-1019 or email taylorhousemuseum@verizon.net.
Visit the museum on 208 North Main Street in Berlin, or on the web at www.taylorhousemuseum.org.
The exhibit, spearheaded by museum Board Member Patricia Dufendach, will highlight local involvement in World War I.
The new hours will be Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., through October. Previously, the museum was open from 1-4 p.m. Museum Curator Susan Taylor said she hoped the new hours would draw more morning visitors to the town.
The Taylor House and its staff of mostly volunteers are also gearing up for more than a dozen upcoming events.
Next Thursday, April 27, the Berlin Chamber of Commerce will host a Business After Hours at the museum from 5-7 p.m. The Worcester County Garden Club will have its annual plant auction on the lawn on May 6, and the museum will offer free tours from 1-3 p.m. on International Museum Day, May 18.
The first big event of the season is the second annual Afternoon on the Lawn gala on Sunday, June 4 from 3-6 p.m.
Tickets at $50 go on sale in May and include food from Berlin restaurants and shops in a cocktail party setting, and live ragtime music by Earl Beardsley.
Last year, the event drew about 100 people. Melissa Reid, museum board member, hopes to double that number this year.
“We got the idea from ‘Downton Abbey’ – tea parties on the lawn,” Reid said. “We’re fortunate enough to have such an amazing space right here in the middle of Berlin that we wanted to make one of our biggest fundraisers take advantage of this lawn.”
The museum previously held spring fundraisers at Harrison’s Harbor Watch in Ocean City, she said.
“Last year we felt like it was very successful, for a starting event. We had great feedback from the restaurants and the people that attended … so, we’re doing it again,” Reid said.
Along with raising funds to keep the lights on, Reid said the event would celebrate some of the people who helped found the Taylor House Museum.
The Calvin B. Taylor House was built in 1832 for Isaac Covington and his family, who lived there during the Civil War. Calvin B. Taylor, teacher, lawyer and founder of the Calvin B. Taylor Banking Company, lived in the home with his wife, Mattie, from 1890 until his death in 1932.
The Berlin Heritage Foundation bought the home and the lot from the town in 1982 and the museum held its first tour a year later. Community donations of more than $100,000 were raised to restore the home.
“We were really trying to figure out the best way to celebrate the people that came together to create this museum and we were struggling – in a good way – to make sure nobody was left out,” Reid said. “We had a list of original board members and we had a list of original directors, but we felt like it was missing the people that showed up to volunteer and clean up the lawn when the house was first cleaned out, or [the people who] came in and scraped wallpaper off the walls.”
Civic pride will be a theme of the event this year, Reid said, and museum helpers are in the process of putting together photos that show the transformation of the building into a historic gallery for the community.
“Without people just coming in and putting in sweat equity, this museum wouldn’t have happened,” Reid said. “It really wasn’t for financial gain – it wasn’t for anything other than making Berlin a wonderful place to be.
“The Atlantic Hotel [and the Taylor House Museum] were the beginning anchors of the renovation of Berlin and the rejuvenation of Berlin, and how we got to where we are now,” Reid continued. “Without local community people putting in their time to make it happen, it might not have happened.”
Additional events include the annual Concert on the Lawn Series, which runs from June through September.
The Missy Cassell Trio will perform on June 4, followed by the Chesapeake Brass Band on July 9, John O’Dell and Windy Ridge on Aug. 13 and The Rehoboth Concert Band on Sept. 10. Each concert runs from 3-6 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
The Taylor House will hold its biggest event of the year, the annual Berlin Peach Festival, on Aug. 5 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The festival draws several thousand people and includes local history and vendor booths, live and interactive entertainment, and all manner of peach sweets for sale, including the official dessert of Berlin, the peach dumpling.
December events at the museum include Wassail and Gingerbread Day on Dec. 2, Classical Christmas on Dec. 4, Candlelight Tours on Dec. 8 and guided tours on Dec. 9.
Taylor said the museum is asking for help in growing its collection of artifacts related to World War I.
“We’re looking for anything we can have from that time period, focused on local involvement, kind of like we did for the World War II exhibit years ago,” she said.
“The same will be true of the Afternoon on the Lawn event,” Reid said. “If anyone has photographs, before or after, of what the museum looked like we would greatly appreciate being able to borrow them.”
Additionally, the museum is looking for volunteers to add to its cast of roughly two-dozen helpers.
“We have two new docents so far, so we’re always up for more,” Taylor said. “They can contact the museum and I’ll give them a tour of the hour and an information packet and sign them up for dates.”
Reid, an art teacher at Buckingham Elementary School, said the museum was also working on an outreach program for local school students. Members of the museum board recently met with teachers at Buckingham, Berlin Intermediate School and Stephen Decatur Middle School to discuss new curriculum ideas related to local history.
“We’re also looking to develop some hands-on activities so that families visiting the museum would have things [to do]. Once they’ve toured upstairs and seen the history of Berlin, they could come [downstairs] and potentially do some things that would make some connections with what they saw upstairs,” Reid said. “That’s something we’re at the very beginning stages of.”
Taylor said a long-term goal of the museum is to raise funds for a historically accurate storage facility, on the grounds.
“What we want to ensure is that this cornerstone of Berlin continues forward,” Reid said. “So many people in this community have worked so hard to get this museum up and running.”
Many more continue to bring historical items to museum workers for display, from old letters to items from their homes, she said.
“We feel like this is an important piece of Berlin and we want to make sure we’re doing the best we can to ensure that it continues on as long as it can,” she said. “Any fundraiser we have, really, is just to keep this museum going.”
For more information on the museum or to inquire about volunteering, call 410-641-1019 or email taylorhousemuseum@verizon.net.
Visit the museum on 208 North Main Street in Berlin, or on the web at www.taylorhousemuseum.org.