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On New Shores: A History of Jewish Lives in Kent County is a ground-breaking new exhibit that highlights a heretofore hidden part of Kent County history through the lives of Jewish families who came to the region in the early 1900s. Drawing on first-person narratives and primary-source research, the exhibit explores why these families came to Kent County, their contributions to local communities, how they sustained their cultural and religious traditions, what it meant to grow up Jewish in an isolated rural setting that was sometimes hostile and sometimes warm, and how later generations carried these experiences into the wider world.
A full weekend of events related to the exhibit will begin on October 3 with an opening reception at the Bordley History Center. On October 4, pianist Susan Hollins, who grew up in Millington and whose family is featured in the exhibit, will present a concert entitled Jewish Composers of the Immigration Era, with guest artist Nevin Dawson. To close out the weekend on October 5, Finding Community, a panel discussion with Executive Director of the Jewish Museum of Maryland Sol Davis, former Chestertonian and one of the founders of the Chestertown Havurah Margie Elsberg, and descendents of the families featured in the exhibit will delve into the questions addressed in the exhibit, and what it means to find community whoever we are, wherever we find ourselves.
Opening Reception: October 3, 5 – 7 p.m.
Bordley History Center, 301 High Street, Chestertown
Concert and talk with pianist Susan Hollins and guest artist Nevin Dawson
Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 101 N. Cross Street, Chestertown
Panel discussion
Kent Cultural Alliance, 101 Spring Street, Chestertown
All events are free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served courtesy of the Chestertown Havurah.
I felt a part of the town and at the same time separated.
My grandmother kept kosher – she made Friday night dinner, baked “Bubba’s buns” and Mandelbrot and hamantaschen. The family would trek into Baltimore every Wednesday (this is way before the Bay Bridge was built) to shop on Lombard Street – bringing back smoked fish, delicatessen, rye bread, pumpernickel, bagels. My grandmother used to say that before the weekly trips to Baltimore started she would kosher her own meat and chickens.
Without a Jewish community close by, there was no available religious training. Whatever I knew about my religion and culture, it was from my family in Millington and all the extended family in Baltimore. My mother sent us to a Jewish camp in western Maryland each summer, beginning at age 5. The goal was knowing that other Jewish kids existed.
