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LIFE BEYOND GEDDES HOUSE |
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THE HOUSE THE OCCUPANTS THE TIMES CHESTERTOWN 18TH CENTURY ARTS Site Search powered by FreeFind Floor Plan
Living Room
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The William Geddes House (also known as Tunstall Cottage) is built
on land bought from the Beckford Plantation in 1733 to establish Princess Anne Town in Somerset County on Maryland’s Lower Eastern Shore. Located near the Chesapeake Bay at the head waters of the
Manokin River, the town was planned as a commercial and political center. Several
notables, including Samuel Chase (signer of the
Declaration of Independence), have called the town home. This Georgian-style dwelling is the oldest in town. In the 1940s and 1950s, it was restored lovingly
by antiquarians Maude and John Jeffries, who also were unstrumental in saving
the c.1802 Teackle Mansion and founding Olde Princess Anne Days. In the 1980s,
the Geddes House was featured in Early
American Life and Colonial
Homes magazines. Its traditional floor plan, with formal rooms on either side of a
balustered staircase, is supplemented with a third main room with walk-in
fireplace added later in the eighteenth century. High ceilings—needed in the
steamy Tidewater region—and original carved paneling distinguish this modest
yet elegant gentry home. Old magnolias and boxwood gardens grace its setting. Captain
Wm Geddes, Esq., a successful seaman, merchant, landowner, and
office holder, owned the property in the 1750s and 1760s. His wife Mary Handy
was from a prominent maritime family. The couple had several children during
this time, but sadly, all died in infancy. Mary herself died at 26 years. From
1766 to 1776, Geddes served as Custom Collector for the Royal Port of Chester (established 1700) in Kent
County on the Upper Eastern Shore. There he married Mary Wilmer, who
was from a prominent family of landowners and political leaders. There he
also bought the property now known as the Geddes-Piper House, which is near the waterfront and
restored Custom House and is now a museum. In
1774, local tax rebels boarded a ship owned by Geddes that was anchored in
port and tossed its small cargo of tea into the Chester River to protest
English treatment of the colonies. Since 1974, the Chestertown Tea Party has been reenacted exuberantly in
the harbor each May, with the schooner Sultana playing the part of the raided brigantine Geddes. Following the American Revolution, Geddes
again moved on to become an influential landowner in New Castle,
Delaware (established 1651). His legacy continues to shape Delmarva’s cultural heritage. Ó 2002 L. Kemp – All Rights Reserved |
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