Tea at Trianon: Tilghman Island Country Store

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

Tuesday, May 28, 2024

Tilghman Island Country Store

(Courtesy of Tilghman Island Country Store Facebook Page)

5949 Tilghman Island Rd, Tilghman, MD

(410) 886-2777

The Tilghman Island Country Store is in itself worth a trip down the road to Tilghman Island, especially in the summer. I will sometimes get an ice cream cone and just sit on the porch of the store to be transported back to the simpler times of my childhood. Watermen drive by in pickup trucks and children whirl around on bikes as mothers come by for groceries and tourists stop by for wine.

As one of the few stores on the island it has just about everything, and unofficially serves as a visitors' center for vacationers hoping to escape the world for a few days. In addition to lots of ice cream there are homemade cookies, a deli, a cafe, fresh hot coffee, soups, crab cakes, cheeses, souvenirs as well as the usual grocery items.

Adding a touch of cosmopolitan glamor is the small but eclectic wine and liquor shop adjoining the deli, where there are always bargains as well as interesting finds, such as the Empress indigo gin I discovered last Friday. Friday nights Miss Patricia and Miss Mary host a wine-tasting party with hors d'oeuvres which is fun. Breakfast is served daily, beginning around dawn, and throughout the day people call in for carry-out sandwiches, subs, meatloaf, salads, crab cakes, soups, burgers and homemade pastries. Others enjoy eating outside on the picnic tables in the summer. In the back yard is Miss Patricia's garden, called "The Garden at Gibsontown," with flowers as well as the herbs and vegetables used in the various recipes. Daily specials are written in chalk outside but you can always call (410) 886-2777 or check online. Every meal I have ever had there has been delicious.