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TALBOT COUNTY COURTHOUSE

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1794; 1898, 1958 additions. 11 N. Washington St.
  • (Lisa Pfueller Davidson and Catherine C. Lavoie)

The courthouse sits on a small landscaped square at the center of Easton, which was also the site of the first c. 1710 courthouse. That structure was replaced in 1794 with a five-bay, Georgian building. Expansion and renovation in 1898 added bays to either end, changed the entrance pavilion and windows, and added the current hipped roof and cupola. Additional changes over the years have expanded and altered the courthouse, particularly the 1958 additions to the rear and sides. Indicative of Maryland’s split loyalties during the Civil War and ongoing racial divisions, a monument of a Confederate soldier was erected on the courthouse grounds in 1916; the county council approved a resolution in September 2021 to move the Talbot Boys statue from public land to a privately owned park in Virginia. A statue of famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass, born and enslaved in Talbot County, has stood prominently in front of the courthouse since 2011.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Lisa Pfueller Davidson and Catherine C. Lavoie
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Data

Timeline

  • 1794

    Built
  • 1898

    Addition
  • 1958

    Addition
  • 1916

    Confederate monument erected
  • 2011

    Frederick Douglass statue erected
  • 2021

    Confederate monument relocated

What's Nearby

Citation

Lisa Pfueller Davidson and Catherine C. Lavoie, "TALBOT COUNTY COURTHOUSE", [Easton, Maryland], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MD-01-ES44.

Print Source

Buildings of Maryland, Lisa Pfueller Davidson and Catherine C. Lavoie. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2022, 111-111.

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