AROUND THE PARK AGAIN by Sharon Lee Tegler
Contrary to what you might expect, the sun never set on the Rising Sun Inn Tavern and Museum during the COVID pandemic. Volunteers from the Friends of Rising Sun Inn made the historic public house a beehive of activity, carrying on restoration projects they’d begun in early 2020. The Friends even managed to host a few events like the Inn’s autumn ghost walk and holiday candlelight tour by limiting visitors to small family groups and following COVID precautions.
A welcome back garden party that was held on June 19th for members of the Ann Arundel Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution was also the occasion for the unveiling of two new markers. The first – a National Park Service marker for the Washington Rochambeau National Historic Trail is located along the southbound lane of General’s Highway.
French Major General Comte Jean de Rochambeau’s troops traveled past the Inn in 1781 (following General George Washington) to Annapolis and sailed from there to Jamestown to assist in defeating the British at Yorktown.
The second marker – a gift from the Chapter – is a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Garden Marker to commemorate the centennial of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Set amidst a grove of ancient box woods, the marker is tended by garden volunteers including Friends members Kris Jenkins and Amy Espinoza,
A third marker, erected at an earlier date by the Maryland State Roads Commission but recently refurbished by volunteer Frank Rawlings, sits directly in front of the Crownsville property.
Much of the interior work accomplished by the Friends of Rising Sun Inn involved opening the upper level of the house and restoring it to what it would have been like when built in 1753 by tobacco grower Edward Baldwin for his wife and four children. According to Friends’ Board of Directors President Susan Giddings, renovations included redoing the railings for the steep wooden staircase, cleaning and painting the upstairs, and restoring a bedroom used for storage to its original purpose.
Once years worth of clutter was removed to convert the former storage room to an 18th century bedroom, there was ample space to bring things out of the Inn’s collections like the lady’s hat, gloves and fan seen on the table below.
Part of a second bedroom that is roped off (but can be viewed from the hall) was cleared to stage a charming vignette of a second story family room where afternoon tea is being served. The remaining half of the room had to be kept as a storage area.
The Friends group used the time they were officially closed very productively. After receiving permission from The Maryland Historical Trust for the ongoing repainting and renovation work, they decided to refresh all the rooms, including the second story open space pictured below, with a soft white paint with Governor’s gold trim and black baseboards. (Baseboards were painted black in Colonial times to hide boot scuffs).
Presented as a family dining area, as opposed to the first floor tavern where tradesmen and travelers would have dined, the vignette seen here represents a holiday meal. By portraying the meal as a special occasion, the Friends were able to display Creamware (that might have been used) from the museum collection.
Different parts of Rising Sun Inn and Tavern are staged to represent different periods of its history through several changes of ownership until 1916 when its last owner, Richard “Bo” Williams, gifted the Inn to 12 local women who formed the Ann Arundel DAR Chapter for the express purpose of preserving and maintaining it as a historical site or museum.
According to Susan Giddings, much of the first floor was given over to public spaces from the late 1700s through the early 1800s. Even after becoming a private residence, the house continued to be used as a community meeting place. Thus, a current work in progress is the restoration of the kitchen space believed to have been built in the early 1800s though cooking would still have been done in the basement fireplaces. The story of the project is fascinating.
“We chose to restore the kitchen to the early 1920’s. That’s when the women who formed the DAR Chapter incorporated (so they could own the property) and took out a loan for $5,000 to stabilize and restore the building and kitchen. That would be equivalent to $120,000 today,” Giddings said.. “The building subsequently became their chapter house. To pay off their loan, the women set up and operated a tea house from the 1920’s through the 1940’s as a means of fundraising. We want the kitchen to represent that time period.”
They began the restoration by stripping away the 1980’s era cabinets, stainless steel sinks and laminated counter tops. Taking the kitchen back in time proved more of a challenge.
“We were looking for a 1920’s styled sink and were initially expecting to have to by a reproduction. But Craigslist is wonderful. Listed there, we spotted a sink that was what we were looking for,” said Giddings. “We drove out to Hartford County where a young man had it for sale. He brought it in from out in a field and it was an authentic Standard Sanitary Baltimore Works sink. We know from the markings that it was manufactured between 1921 and 1929 which would have been when the women were doing their original kitchen restoration.
off the authentic 1920’s era sink she found on Craig’s List.
Now installed, the sink works well. The final bit of work on the kitchen cabinetry will soon be complete. Just around the corner from the kitchen, in the Inn’s meeting room, is a handsome built-in cabinet where the original china used in the tea house is on display.
An original yellow-bordered menu card propped in one corner notes that
luncheons, teas and dinners were offered and catering was available. Special family dinners were served on Thursdays, Sea Food Dinners on Fridays and Fried Chicken Dinners on Saturdays.
A quote at the top of the card advises “Stop Where Washington Did”.
Redoing the Inn’s first floor rooms will involve painting the foyer the same soft white with gold trim as the upstairs. However, changes to the tavern, with its fireplace and period tavern table and cabinetry, are still under discussion. An idea has been floated to add some more masculine touches since guests to the Inn would have largely been salesmen or tradesmen.
Renovations to the exterior of Rising Sun Inn were ongoing throughout 2020 and into 2021. The building received a long-awaited repainting. Fortunately, the Friends received a Preservation Grant from the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution to assist with the exterior restoration, specifically the early 19th century windows. The shutters were restored and repainted and the basement windows were repainted from white to green which is more appropriate to the era in which the Inn was built.
Works still in progress include garden projects, the most ambitious of which is creating a sand and burlap berm to channel water away from one of two 300-year-old boxwood hedges.. Another project undertaken by community volunteer Sharon Zolder involved improving the front garden by erecting a tee pee of branches for soil enriching vines of peas and beans to climb. A Colonial pollinator garden designed by Master Gardener Margaret Perry grew like wildfire this season and is now in its third blooming. Its combination of medicinal, kitchen and pollinator plants includes asters, fennel, butterfly weed and native crimson honeysuckle that will shortly be cut back.
One of the 300-year-old boxwood hedges. 
Soil enriching pea and bean vines were planted around the tee pee in the front garden.
With so much restoration work completed, the officers and members of Rising Sun Inn Tavern and Museum are proud to be showing off the house during upcoming events. Their newest “Make-your-Own” series event, “It’s Christmas in July at the Rising Sun Inn!”os being held July 24th. Two sessions are planned to make/take a beautiful beaded Christmas ornament. The first session is at 10 am and the second at noon. The cost (which includes instructions and material for one ornament) is $25.00. Advance registration is required at events@gmail.com. For information about Rising Sun Inn’s public tours, Tea & Tours visits, or upcoming events visit The Rising Sun Inn Crownsville, Maryland – Home .
The Talent Machine debuts Disney’s “Beauty & The Beast” this Friday
The Talent Machine Company‘s Youth Summer Production of Disney’s “Beauty And The Beast, the Broadway Musical” will take place at the Classic Theatre of Maryland at 1804 West Street on July 16th-18th and July 22nd – 25th Evening and matinee showtimes are schedule. For information and to purchase tickets online, visit www.talentmachine.com. More shows are to follow. We’ll keep you posted.
Operation Welcome Back….Pack in full swing
Walk the Walk Foundation is excited to announce that 200 back-to-school backpacks have already been sponsored by generous donors in response to their drive. The organization is partnering this year with Tyler Heights Elementary School to supply their students with the new backpacks containing school supplies, More sponsors are needed, however. Those interested in contributing to this important cause may do so by visiting Walk the Walk Foundation, Child Development, Outreach (wtwf.org).
