Easton Historic District (Easton, Maryland)

The Easton Historic District is a historic district that covers most of the core of the town of Easton, Maryland. The town is the county seat of Talbot County. The state of Maryland is nearly split by the Chesapeake Bay, and Easton is located on the east side of the bay that is known as Maryland's Eastern Shore. Although the town is part of the east coast of the United States, the region's history goes back to a time when Maryland was a colonial province of England.

The Easton Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. It contains approximately 900 buildings mostly built in the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries. Many of these buildings are residential, but the original business district, located on the west side, is also included. A notable exception to the continuity of the historic district and the construction dates is the original Quaker Third Haven Meeting House, which was constructed in the 1680s southeast of the main portion of the district.

Beginning
Talbot County, as part of the Province of Maryland, began being settled during the mid-1600s with land grants from Lord Baltimore (Cecilius Calvert). Early settlers established tobacco plantations along rivers such as the Choptank, Tred Avon, St. Michaels (now Miles), and Wye rivers. Some of the larger 17th and 18th century plantations within the county were owned by the Goldsborough, Lloyd (Wye Plantation), and Hollyday (Ratcliffe Manor) families. Other early settlers included members of the Society of Friends, also known as Quakers. Politics and society for the next two centuries were strongly influenced by members of the Goldsborough, Hollyday, Kerr, Lloyd, and Tilghman families. In 1706, a portion of Talbot County was broken off to help form Queen Anne's county. This made the county seat in York close to the county border, which was inconvenient for the population in now-smaller Talbot County. Court was held in private residences located in Oxford, which was closer to the population—but a courthouse was never built. Instead, construction of a courthouse began in 1710 near what was known then as "Pitt's Bridge". At the time, the only other nearby building of importance was the Quaker Third Haven Meeting House, which was built in 1682. The village around the courthouse became known as Talbot Courthouse. After the American Revolution, the village became more important as the state of Maryland chose to establish administrative offices for the Eastern Shore at Talbot Courthouse. The town became, in effect, the "capital" of Maryland's Eastern Shore. Its nearest waterfront (Tred Avon River) was about 1 mi away, and eventually became known as Easton Point.

In 1788, the Maryland General Assembly gave Talbot Courthouse a name: Easton. The town prospered, and the Maryland Eastern Shore's first newspaper was established in 1790. The original courthouse became too small for state offices and local, state, and federal courts, so a new courthouse was constructed. The new courthouse was completed in 1794. Growth continued as the Eastern Shore's first bank was established in 1805 in Easton. During the War of 1812, Fort Stoakes was constructed on a plantation overlooking the Tred Avon River for protection from an attack by the British, and the local bank moved currency to a more secure place in Pennsylvania. In 1817, the Eastern Shore's first steamboat line to Baltimore was established at Easton Point. As more farmland was developed on the west side of the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland's Eastern Shore declined in prosperity—and the American Civil War accelerated this decline. In 1869, a railroad line from Delaware connected Easton with major population centers in the eastern United States. This brought prosperity back to the town that continued until the Great Depression of the 1930s. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge connected Annapolis with Maryland's Eastern Shore in 1952.

Easton today
Traveling by automobile from major Maryland cities such as Annapolis or Baltimore, the most direct route to Easton involves crossing the bay using the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and traveling east and south on U.S. Route 50. The town is small to medium-sized, with a population of about 17,000 using the 2020 United States census. Its original street plan was created in 1785, and Colonel Jeremiah Banning named the main street that runs through the business district (and past the courthouse) after George Washington. The town has grown from Banning's time, and annexations include land along the Tred Avon River. Easton remains the county seat of Talbot County, and its courthouse was enlarged in 1958 by adding two wings. Despite the town's early existence, most of the buildings in the Easton Historic District were constructed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The district contains about 9,000 buildings located in residential areas and the central business district. The Easton Historic District was nominated for the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. It is significant for its collection of buildings from the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries.

Contributing structures
In the original 1980 nomination form, the Easton Historic District consisted of approximately 900 buildings and structures within approximately 232 acres. Twenty-three were contributing, two non–contributing, and numerous others had not yet been evaluated. The sortable table below contains the original contributing structures that are part of the historic district. If the year built is a range of years, the middle of the range is used.

Other structures within the historic district

 * Bishop's House was built around 1880 by Philip Francis Thomas, former governor of Maryland and former Secretary of the Treasury under President James Buchanan. The house was built after Thomas' retirement. After his death in 1890, his widow sold the house to the Diocese of Easton, and it was used as the home of the Bishop of Easton until 1956. The tall structure with gabled pavilions on the major facades is located at the corner of Aurora and Goldsborough streets. Although it has facades on both streets, the house's address is 214 Goldsborough Street, and it contributes to the Historic District.
 * Bullitt/Chamberlain House, one of Easton's most elegant buildings, is located at 102 East Dover Street (corner of Dover and Harrison, sometimes list as 100 East Dover). Lawyer Thomas James Bullitt built this brick house in 1801. Granddaughter Elizabeth Chamberlaine and descendants owned the property into the 20th century. House is a contributing Federal architecture property to the Historic District. It is currently the headquarters of the Mid-Shore Community Foundation.
 * Foxley Hall is located at 24 North Aurora Street (corner of Aurora and Goldsborough, across Aurora Street from the Bishop's House). It has a Flemish Bond brick facade built in the 1790s. The name "Foxley" is in honor of Mary Foxley Tilghman, daughter of Colonel Oswald Tilghman. The building has had numerous additions, and the interior was altered in the late 19th century. In 1816, the property was sold to John Leeds Kerr, whose daughter married General Tench Tilghman, grandson of the Tench Tilghman that was an aide-de-camp to George Washington in the American Revolution. This began a multi-generation ownership by the Tilghman family. Foxley Hall is a contributing property to the Historic District, and is a well–preserved example of the town's early architecture.
 * James Neall House is located at 27 South Washington Street, and is owned by the Talbot County Historical Society. Quakers James and Rachael Cox Neall constructed the house around 1805. The Federal-style brick townhouse is three-and-a-half stories high and has a two-story rear addition. The Historical Society has furnished the kitchen and major rooms in this three-story museum brick home. The house is a contributing property to the Easton Historic District.
 * Tidewater Inn is located at the corner of Dover and Harrison streets. Constructed in the late 1940s, it is outside of the Historic District's period of significance, but it is still considered a contributing property. The four-story structure houses a hotel and restaurant. It is architecturally significant for its Colonial Revival architecture, and it is historically significant for its contribution to the mid-20th century development of Easton and Talbot County. By itself it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.
 * Victorian Store is located at 25 South Washington Street, and is the home of the Talbot County Historical Society. Constructed circa 1880, the Historical Society maintains a museum and small library in the building.

Historic District Borders
The Easton Historic District includes the core of the town that began with a courthouse in the 18th century. Many of the buildings are residential, but the original business district is also included. The business district is located on the northern part of the west side of the district near the courthouse along Washington Street. Additional businesses are on Goldsborough and Dover streets close to Washington Street. Most of the town's buildings in the historic section are brick structures from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Less than a dozen buildings are from the 18th century, and about 50 date from the early 19th century.

The Talbot County Courthouse, with an address of 11 North Washington Street, occupies most of a block surrounded by Washington, Dover, West, and Federal streets. Three churches are original contributing properties to the district. Trinity Cathedral is located on Goldsborough Street and Locust Lane, east of Aurora Street. The Bishop's House and Foxley Hall are about a block away. Christ Church is in the west central portion of the district at South Street and South Harrison Street. The Christ Church Rectory is next door, and the Armory Building is across the street. The Ashbury Methodist Episcopal Church is in the east central portion of the district, about one block south of Dover Street on South Higgins Street. At the extreme southwestern portion of the historic district is a non-contiguous section near Border Lane, and this is the location of the two Third Haven Meeting House buildings.