AROUND THE PARK AGAIN by Sharon Lee Tegler
Brought to you by Jing Ying Institute of Kung Fu & Tai Chi
and Lean On Dee Senior Home Care Services
Known today as the owner of The Reynolds Tavern, along with husband Dave, Diane Rey has reenacted the role of Annapolis’ favorite founding mother, Anne Catharine Green since 2011. Acclaimed for her portrayal of Green, she’s devoting considerable time to helping Historic Annapolis commemorate the dynamic 18th century woman with tours on March 29th.
Following the death of her husband, printer Jonas Green in 1767, Anne Catharine was named Printer to the Province of Maryland and became the publisher of The Maryland Gazette, the only newspaper in colonial Maryland.
Two-hundred and fifty years have come and gone since Green passed away, an anniversary Rey and her colleagues are keen to highlight.
“We couldn’t let this milestone event go by without a proper sendoff for Mrs. Green,” Rey said. “So, the idea for a celebration began with some of the Historic Annapolis staff and reenactors wondering ‘How could we mark this occasion?’ Their combined ideas grew into the Life and Legacy of Anne Catharine Hoof Green Tour.”
Sharing tea and scones in the south dining room of the Reynolds Tavern, Rey showed us a copy of a flyer for the event, adding that there will actually be two tour outings – one at 11 am and one at 2 pm on Saturday, March 29th – a week after Anne’s death on March 23, 1775.
The tour starts on Statehouse Hill where reenactor Marcos Salaverria from will talk about Anne’s work printing the laws coming out of the General Assembly and her public role as Printer to the Province. It was a position of particular importance, designating Green as printer of the province’s paper currency. Salaverria will point out the Treasury Building where the money she printed was stored. Built in 1730, it is Maryland’s oldest public building. (It’s currently shrouded for renovations.)
The tour then moves on for a second stop – Anne Catharine Green’s home on Charles Street which she moved into in 1738 after her marriage to Jonas. It is now a private residence. The owners have generously opened the home for the tour so it can highlight her life. But because it marks her death as well, reenactors including Ben Bartgis, Phil Hosea and Vicki Embrey will be sharing 18th Century mourning rituals and funerary customs which took place in the home. Reenactor Pat Turlington, who portrays midwife Charlotte Small, will talk about those customs. (In the 18th Century, midwives not only brought life into the world but also cared for the bodies of those who passed away.)
Tour visitors will get a sense of how the family would have responded to the death and what the house would have looked like. The mirrors will be draped with black cloth. In the parlor the visitors will see reenactors wearing mourning gowns and other attire appropriate for an 18th century wake. The tour will next exit into the dining room where guests will see the kinds of food and drink the family was expected to provide for mourners.
It was so expensive to provide the alcohol and fancy foods customary for such an occasion Rey noted, that 18th Century wake attendees were often given tickets in order to limit the number of people attending.
In the dining room, visitors will also see examples of little remembrances for guests called “memento moir” – a mourning fan for example, a pair of gloves or mourning jewelry – an example of which Rey showed us from her own collection.
Though not appearing in costume because Mrs. Green is “recently deceased”, Diane Rey will be on hand as herself to explain what life was like for Anne Catharine during the 22-year-long period between her marriage to Jonas and taking over the business after he died. She gave birth to and raised 14 children, maintained her home and printing office therein and helped her husband run the enterprise. Rey will show off some original pieces Anne printed.
The third spot on the tour is St. Anne’s Church on Church Circle where Anne and all of the Greens were interred. Reenactors will explain some of the burial customs of the times and, likely, a discussion will follow as to whether Anne’s body still lies there. The churchyard was much larger in the 18th Century but, as time moved on, some of the graves became buried beneath the Annapolis streets while others were moved to a cemetery on College Creek.
The final part of the tour will take place in Reynold’s Tavern’s 1747 Pub where participants will raise a glass of Printer’s Punch toasting Anne Catharine Green’s influential and accomplished life.
For Rey, the commemoration and tour mark the end of her 13-year stint reenacting Green’s powerful contribution to Maryland history. In fact, she is currently searching for a slightly younger reenactor to replace her as Anne Catharine Green 3.0. Diane started portraying Mrs. Green when she was 49, the same age Green was when she sat for a portrait by Charles Wilson Peale. She feels it would be nice to find someone that could cover a slightly earlier time in Green’s life.
Rey has a passion for history. She not only owns historic Reynolds Tavern but owns a 100-year-old home in Rehoboth and a 150-year-old townhouse in Annapolis as well, all of which she has spent many hours researching.
Reenacting historic figures since moving to Annapolis while in her early twenties, she has appeared routinely as Mrs. Green in town and at 164 events outside the city. Rey was so devoted to learning everything she could about Green, that she has traveled twice a year to Williamsburg to work with the master printers.
She even created a small replica printers’ tray with plastic letters representing type when explaining the printing process to children. Each square is marked with a letter and the kids must place the proper plastic letters in the proper tray.
She carries a handbasket holding props she’s collected and uses when doing a reenactment, some of which are authentic pieces. They include some wooden toys, some type, a spoon made from a cow’s horn, one of the animal skins used to pay for printing and some tobacco which was also used as payment.
The basket also holds the mob cap, fan, portable pockets that tie around the waist and the ink-stained printers’ apron Rey is wearing in the opening photo as well as the photo from Williamsburg.
Rey’s last appearance as Anne Catherine Green will be prior to the commemorative anniversary tours and will take place on Maryland Day (March 22nd) from 11 am to 3 pm at Hogshead at 43 Pinkney Street in Annapolis. This will probably not be the last time she will appear in 18th Century costume.
“After 13 years, I felt it was time to hang up Mrs. Green’s straw hat up in the ‘reenacting year of 1775’,” she said. “But there are countless possibilities for other historic characters.”
The Around The Park Again column is brought to you this week by Jing Ying Institute of Kung Fu and Tai Chi at 1195 Baltimore Annapolis Blvd. – For over two decades providing martial arts training that improves cardio-vascular health, strength and flexibility while reducing stress. Jing Ying is again bringing Tai Chi to the Severna Park Community Center.)
and by Lean On Dee Senior Home Care Services at 815 Ritchie Hwy., Suite 206 – When you need someone to lean on, Lean On Dee. Their experienced team of personal care management specialists and friendly companions provide high quality consistent care.
