$257,000 Awarded to Preserve and Further African American History on the Chester River

Washington College’s Starr Center will safeguard Black history and improve climate resiliency at its circa-1746 headquarters.

Washington College’s Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience has been awarded $257,000 in grants to begin historic preservation and climate resiliency work on the c. 1746 riverfront Custom House Chestertown, MD. Originally a colonial private home and business, with powerful connections to African American history, the building is home to the Starr Center, which now, in its 25th year, provides a wealth of programs exploring American history in all its complexities. 

This project has been funded by two significant grants, both of which speak to recognition for the need for continued preservation, study, and sharing of African American history and its role in the story of our nation’s founding. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has awarded a $25,000 grant from the Bartus Trew Providence Preservation Fund, which encourages preservation of historic landmarks on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.  An African American Heritage Preservation Program grant of $232,000 - co-administered by the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture (MCAAHC) and the Maryland Historical Trust (MHT) - will remediate structural issues and water damage, as well as address the significant African American history of the Custom House. 

The Custom House has a dynamic and complicated past. The four-story building, overlooking the tidal waters of the Chester River, was the home of Thomas Ringgold, a Revolutionary-era leader of the local Sons of Liberty who was also—in cruel contrast—one of the Chesapeake region’s most active trans-Atlantic slave traders. The site was a place of suffering and survival: a portal through which Africans emerged into the New World from the horrors of the Middle Passage. In the building’s cellar is a vaulted chamber known in local tradition as ‘Ringgold’s dungeon,’ where those captive Africans may have been held awaiting sale. 

“While this historic resource evokes a dark time for humanity, it also reflects a portal through which reverberations of the African diaspora transformed the Chesapeake,” said the Starr Center’s Deputy Director and MCAAHC Commissioner Jaelon T. Moaney. “Within its doors, it now anchors descendant-led, intergenerational stewardship of living legacies that distinguish the Delmarva Peninsula.” 

The building also served as a warehouse and store with a room used by a royal customs officer. British redcoats were quartered there during the French and Indian War. In the 20th century, the Custom House was restored by Wilbur Ross Hubbard, a local preservationist and civic leader who bequeathed it to Washington College upon his death in 1993.  

The planned renovation projects involve repairing, stabilizing, and waterproofing the vaulted brick chamber, as well as addressing climate change mitigation strategies. Washington College has maintained the 8,000-square-foot Custom House for decades, but the Custom House’s brickwork has undergone damage from water infiltration due to extreme tides, flooding, and rainwater runoff. Washington College students and faculty will participate in an onsite archaeological dig as part of the larger project. 

“As a very rare surviving structure with direct links to the Atlantic slave trade and the Middle Passage, the Custom House has both regional and national significance,” said Adam Goodheart, the Starr Center’s Hodson Trust-Griswold Director. “We are grateful to the National Trust, the Maryland Historical Trust, and the Maryland Commission on African American History & Culture for helping us safeguard this landmark and begin making it more accessible to the public.” 

A central mission of the Starr Center has been to unearth, preserve, and share the region’s broader Black history with such initiatives as Chesapeake Heartland: An African American Humanities Project. The Center hosts public events that continue to expand community engagement and educate K-12 and college students with exhibitions, African American walking tours, and archival preservation. These grants will further that mission in a unique way, allowing for the prominently located House to tell its own story for generations to come.  

The Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture and the Maryland Historical Trust have awarded $5 million in grants to 31 organizations across the state of Maryland and African American communities with significant Black history. This program has been financed in part with State funds from the Maryland Historical Trust, an instrument of the State of Maryland. However, the project contents or opinions do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Maryland Historical Trust.

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- Dominique Ellis Falcon