Tea at Trianon: Tilghman Island

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, June 11, 2021

Tilghman Island

Definitely worth the trip. From Chesapeake Living:

The museum houses artifacts donated by people who live on the island or visit. They’ve moved into a restored “W” house, one of 12 built on the island around the turn of the century. They’re unique to the island, according to locals. Only five are left on the island.

It’s also a popular cycling route from St. Michaels to the island and back, about 15 miles one way if you go to the end of the island. The highway is a bike route and has wide shoulders up to the island; traffic is relatively light.

Dogwood Harbor (21308 Phillips Road) about mid-island still has rows of watermen’s boats. These are working boats and may be one of the largest collection in one spot on the Chesapeake Bay. (Read more.)

More HERE.