The Star-Democrat from Easton, Maryland • Page 38

Pmg 8 July 28, 1988 Chaaapaalw Currants OrasapMka Currants July 25, 1988 Page 7 fered: a course preparatory for the U.S. Naval Academy, a classical course, and a course to prepare students for business. President of the Faculty was Dr. Edward M. Hardcastle, a former principal of Easton High school.

Other staff included Carroll Edgar of Easton, William Goldsborough, Charles Grant, an Englishman, and Arthur Mowbray, another Englishman. A retired naval officer, Lt. Nicholas J. Halpine, later came to the school as resident expert on naval matters. The Academy opened its doors for the first time in September 1897 with eight boys from Easton and the county and seven from out-of-state, with more Despite the loss, Clarissa Balch declared in the Gazette of July 5 that she would carry on her late husband's life's work.

Her brother-in-law, Army Major Lewis Balch became the new commandant. When Henry Balch died, however, so did much of the driving force behind the Academy. Indeed, on April 8, 1903 title to the property passed to the Safe Deposit and Trust Co. of Baltimore, acting as trustee for Clarissa Balch. The school closed its doors the same year, a premature end to the Maryland Nautical Academy.

The schooner Delta was sold to owners in Baltimore who installed an engine and put her in the freight carrying business. The grounds and buildings were bought by Mrs. Rosa McCay Lockwood in 1905. When she died in 1950, the large house fell vacant. In 1954 it was demolished.

Only present-day Villa Road marks the site of Maryland's own Nautical Academy. MARYLAND NAUTICAL ACADEMY Enston's Own Naval Kindergarten BY RICHARD DODDS ped in the now-ruined St. John's Chapel at Miles River Bridge, crossing the river in the academy's boats. One Sunday, however, a stone fell from the deteriorated roof, injuring Commandant Batch's sister, and prompting the Academy to build its own chapel. Social events were organized at the school and properly chaperoned young ladies from Easton were often invited.

An annual Christmas gathering was the occasion for an illustrated lecture followed by supper and dancing in the festively lighted and decorated ballroom. Undoubtedly the highlight of the season was the annual cruise in June of the schooner Delta. Under the command of a retired naval officer, cruises were made to Annapolis, Newport News and Norfolk to view the shipyards and naval base, and farther afield to Philadelphia, Brooklyn, and Newport, Rhode Island. During the cruise the courses of instruction were reduced one third "so that ample opportunity is given to personal inspection of the objects of interest at the various places visited." The Delta was accompanied by the chartered 76 foot steam yacht Otranto acting as tender. As 1901 became 1902 prospects for the Nautical Academy looked bright.

Enrollment was increasing and several new buildings erected. A new gymnasium and swimming pool were planned. Then tragedy struck when Balch died on February 19, 1902 of double pneumonia at the young age of 46. Tuition and board for the full year was $600; uniforms were extra. Cadets received five sets of uniforms, three of white duck and two of blue flannel.

Not supplied by the school but required to be brought from home were two pairs of strong black shoes, one pair of dancing shoes, and a napkin ring with name. Each cadet was supplied with an iron bed and ample bedding, a wash stand and bureau. Military discipline was enforced and cadets who misbehaved received demerits; one hundred demerits or more meant dismissal. Cadets were required to deposit any money at the academy bank on which they could draw checks not exceeding 50 cents a week. Starting with revielle at 7 a.m., cadets were kept fully occupied.

Classes were offered in mathematics, English, Latin, Greek, modern languages, history, chemistry, physics, drawing and business. All cadets were required to take infantry and cavalry drill, boatbuilding and nautical work. Under the supervision of Capt. George W. Jackson, the Boatbuilding Shop built a number of small boats that were all given the names of Greek letters.

The largest boat built by the cadets was the 69 foot two-masted schooner Delta which was launched in 1900. The 1902-03 catalog records the Theta, a 150 foot auxllliary barkentine, as being built by the school, however, no evidence has come to light indicating that she was ever completed. Athletics were strongly encouraged and included swimming, horseback riding and sailing. Fortunately the school had a reputation for good food to satisfy young appetites. Between meals, cadets were free to help themselves from two large containers of milk and water, set at the foot of the mansion's staircase, and from a table piled high with hard tack.

The sending of boxes of food from home was discouraged. The boys attended church in Easton on Sunday morning and the academy chapel in the afternoon. In the early years both staff and students worship- Maryland and served as a trustee of the Maryland Military and Naval Academy during its short existence. When the school collapsed in 1887, he acquired the property including such diverse items as "desks queensware washbowls, philosophical apparatus and scientific apparatus and instruments, muskets, one organ together with the buildings." Undoubtedly, many of these items were used to good effect by the Maryland Nautical Academy when it opened in 1897 for Oswald Tilghman was one of the directors of the new school. Tilghman's name provides a common thread running through all three successive yet independent attempts to root a nautical academy in Talbot County.

Other backers of the school were Henry Hollyday Henry Herbert Balch, William Goldsborough and Alfred Lee Sharp. Mary E. Fleming of Washington, DC, bought the mansion for $12,000 in 1894 as a home for her daugh ter Clarissa Tilghman Fleming Balch, the wife of Henry Herbert Balch, a captain in the New York National Guard. Capt. Balch was to become the first commandant of the Academy.

(His uncle, Admiral George B. Balch, was a former Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy Naturally, comparisons were made between the new school and the Naval Academy at Annapolis. The Easton Gazette, in an April 10, 1897 editorial, wrote, "Without a word of disparagement of the other shore, it is safe to say that this one, of which Easton and its environs are the centre, is in every way more desirable, for there are no large cities within easy ride to tempt the cadets with manifold and hurtful attractions." The Academy accepted boys between the ages of 10 and 17 "to develop the mental and manly qualities of the cadets in the broadest manner possible, and to instill in them the principles of morality and truth." Two, later three, courses of instruction were of Flag of the Maryland Nautical Academy 1901. enroute. Among the five from Easton was Harrison Tilghman, later a colonel in the Army, and the son of Oswald Tilghman, thus perpetuating a "family tradition.

Those cadets arriving by train were met at Easton station by a "stylish four-in-hand stage" for the three mile trip to the Academy. tZrl kit Sfc. "mmm0 Jills' few' I 1 i i i Tne Cadets build Gamma, a 30 toot, 10 oar boat in front of the Boatbuilding Shop. The Dress Uniform, worn by a Cadet from Helena, Montana. This snapshot rom the Academy's catalog is captioned "Sailing Before the Wind." JJuried in the Incorporation Records at the Court House in Easton is an entry, certifying the incorporation of the Maryland Nautical Academy of Talbot County on May 19, 1897.

Its ambitious purpose, according to the document, was to promote the "scientific, literary, moral, physical, military, nautical, and manual training of youths." The proposed school would provide for "the instruction of youths in naval, steam, and mechanical engineering, and in marine engineering and architecture, navigation, seamanship, as well as in all matters pertaining to the proper construction, equipment, and sailing of vessels." Principal office of the corporation was listed as Easton with a capital stock of $5,000. The venture was by no means the first attempt at establishing a nautical academy in water-bound Talbot County. The Maryland Military Academy sprang up in Oxford in 1849, only to be destroyed by fire in 1855. Oxford was also the site of the Maryland Military and Naval Academy, founded in 1885, and whose brief existence ended in 1887 when the school closed through staff mismanagement. But the dream did not die, as evidenced by the creation 10 years later of the.

Maryland Nautical Academy. Much of the credit goes to Oswald Tilghman (1841-1932) of Foxley Hall, Easton, author of the two-volume History of Talbot County, Maryland. '1 Oswald's father, General Tench Tilghman (1810-1874), enrolled him as a cadet in the first academy at Oxford. After service with the Confederate Texas Rangers during the Civil War, Oswald returned to llj'J-mmiJ Maryland Nautical Academy's schooner Delta at anchor in the Miles River in 1900. ri The site chosen for property at the Creek, was first Friends (Quakers).

Maryland's "lottery building known as crystal chandelier. When his lottery times and sold the owners until acquired It was during this used as a hideout by City's corrupt Tammany of a nationwide the school had an interesting history in Its own right. The confluence of the Miles River, Goldsborough Creek, and Glebe associated with Wenlock Christian, a leader of the Society of In 1853 the grounds were purchased by Richard France, king." It was he who built the large Italianate-style frame "The Villa," with its magnificent ballroom, and enormous activities were banned by the state, France fell on hard property in 1862. It then went through a succession of by Simeon Brady, a wealthy New Yorker, in 1875. time that the story arose, oft-repeated, that the house was William Marcy (Boss) Tweed, former head of New York Hall political organization.

Tweed became the object manhunt in 1876 with a $10,000 reward for his capture. Stories circulated of a mysterious stranger hiding in the mansion's tower and of the late night comings and goings of an unknown yacht. Brady's reclusive lifestyle only heightened the speculation. No evidence has come to light to substantiate the tale, however..