Photography by Ryan Hulvat
Things haven’t changed much over the years in the town of Centreville. The town’s convincing “love at first sight” appeal is strong enough to convince first-timers to move here, and true enough to make long-time residents believe that its quiet charm represents the way life should and can be. When originally settled, most of the residents of Queen Anne’s County lived along the shorelines of the Bay and its rivers. But as farming and tobacco became lucrative trades, more and more residents moved inland to till the county’s rich soils. It was in 1782 that the Maryland legislature voted to move the official county seat from Queenstown to a more centrally located position at the headwaters of the Corsica Creek. This new town was hence named Centreville, established in 1792.
Architectural Heritage
A very big part of Centreville’s personality is its attractive mix of architecture, from Federal to late Victorian. “Centreville has pretty much has retained the architecture of its heritage, principally from the steamboat era,” says Bill Groverman, an Annapolis resident and former properties and projects administrator for the Maryland Historic Trust. “It was a market town and a steamboat town, and it is unique that it has the only courthouse in Maryland that has been in continuous use since founded,” he continues. “Centreville has not grown out of being identified as a small community typical of the Shore.”
Groverman, now retired, is an aficionado of older homes and still works with restoration projects. He and his wife have restored twenty-three historic homes over the years. He owns several older properties in Centreville, including the Historic Captain’s Houses down on the Centreville Wharf. “About thirty years ago a couple from New York City were one of the first to recognize the value of Centreville’s waterfront area,” explains Groverman. “She was an artist and he a writer. They bought the four Captain’s Houses and stabilized and used them for personal purposes. My wife and I then bought them, nominated them to the National Historic Register, and then restored them under national register designation.”
Many renovation projects have been completed in recent years in Centreville, mostly by individual owners on Commerce Street, Liberty Street, and Chesterfield Avenue.
Most notable is the recent restoration by Mr. and Mrs. John Harper of their 1888 Victorian home, the Harper House, on Commerce Street. “They very carefully researched the original colors and did a magnificent job of having the house painted,” explains Groverman. The Harper House’s cross-gabled design, decorative moldings, and stained glass make it one of the most photographed homes in the county. Groverman explains that many of the Victorian homes on Chesterfield Avenue were owned by industrialists from Baltimore, who would send their families there for the summer to escape the heat of the city and enjoy the cooler breezes of the Eastern Shore.The Maryland Historic Trust recognized the architecture and significance of Centreville back in the 1960s. “The entire town was designated to be eligible to the national register of historic places,” Groverman says. Directly across the street from the Harper House is the Federal-period Tucker House. Built circa 1794 on the second lot deeded in Centreville, the Tucker House was donated to the Queen Anne’s County Historical Society in 1968 and serves as a museum and depository of the group’s historical records.
Near the town center is the picturesque and well-preserved Lawyer’s Row, a line of former banking and law offices fronting the courthouse green on the south, where one can imagine the days of country lawyers and bankers haggling over deals. The role of Centreville as the county seat and a center of banking and law are still intact today, with most of these buildings still occupied by attorneys and other professionals. Another attractive brick Federal home, also one of the oldest in town and built by James Croney in 1794, is the Rose Tree B&B, owned by Suzanne James. James, a retired teacher from Media, Pennsylvania, moved here with her husband eleven years ago and has operated this cozy inn for the last ten years. Decorated in antiques and incorporating attractive original artwork by the owner’s husband and son, a favorite of guests is the third floor attic room with its amazing views.
The large landscaped and private backyard abounds in nature and is where James serves breakfast to her guests on pleasant days. “Centreville has not changed much since we’ve been here,” she says. “One interesting thing about Centreville is there is an example of almost every style of architecture-Georgian, Colonial, Victorian. It’s really a neat town.”
How It Is . . .
Yet amid the historical aspects of the town is modern progress. One of the town’s new additions is Café on the Square, a restaurant owned and operated by Keith and Patty Moore, who moved to Centreville sixteen years ago from Annapolis, because they were looking for a more wholesome environment in which to raise their children. After years of operating their own order-processing business in Chestertown, they decided to try something new. “Patty always enjoyed cooking, and every now and then we would just periodically bounce the idea around about owning a restaurant,” says Keith. “Actually we were in downtown Centreville to see the attorney about our business. We went to the restaurant next door for a cup of coffee and found that it was for sale!”
After two months of painting, wallpapering, and refurbishing, the Moores reopened the restaurant last May as Café on the Square. Decorated in a classy pub theme with a constantly evolving array of local artwork on display, the café serves a mix of traditional American and international cuisine with a local twist. Says Patty, “People seemed to be pretty pleased with what we are doing, and we like the town-it’s just the right size. It’s still small enough to have the sense of a small town, but large enough to have amenities.”
The town’s Corsica Bookshop is much more than a normal bookshop, with a fascinating selection of books and magazines as well as a kids corner, gourmet pantry gifts, jewelry gifts for teens, soaps and bath gifts, and baby gifts. “We just try to stock what the customers ask for,” says manager Dee Walls. “We see Centreville growing, and so we’re in our own growth spurt to keep up.” Dee Walls speaks enthusiastically and with typical Centreville hospitality. “We are now taking over the upstairs and remodeling it,” she explains. “When that is finished around the first of the year, it will give us room to add the coffee bar downstairs called Books, Beans, and Beyond which will also have a sidewalk café. We think will be a big hit,” she says. “We see the potential in Centreville, and we’re trying to give people the type of amenities they want."Tucked away on Commerce Street is one of Centreville’s hidden treasures, Gary Young Antiques, specializing in eighteenth-century English and Irish antiques.
Although unobtrusive, the shop is actually well known up and down the East Coast for its quality furnishings. “We work with private collectors as well as house restorations and museums,” says owner Gary Young. Young and his wife moved to Centreville nineteen years ago from Kansas City, Missouri, to have a more central location to his East Coast clientele. “We do the eight major antique shows on the East Coast,” says Young. “The Eastern Shore is a destination visit for most of our clientele so this was a natural area to locate in. We love it here and have made it our home."Gary Young shops for his inventory abroad two to three times each year. The shop is filled with exquisite handmade pieces from the eighteenth century. Highly noticeable is a very fine rosewood library table with extensive brass inlay, signed by the English maker Samuel Jamar. Gary Young Antiques, open by appointment and by chance, is also well known for its metamorphic, or multifunctional furniture, such as chairs that unfold to become stepladders. The cultural core of Centreville is the Queen Anne’s County Arts Council. Located in a red brick 1887 structure, the council is thriving with variety. “We’re a presenting and granting institution; 20 percent goes to schools but the bulk of what we do is offering classes and events,” explains dynamic executive director Darcey Schoeninger, always accompanied by her dog Poochini, who actually sings opera. The council offers classes in ballet, photography, calligraphy, crafting, furniture painting, and yoga. It sponsors musical and theatrical performances county-wide through its Thursdays in the Park series, featuring art shows, writing classes, and and annual poetry contest. Schoeninger also speaks about beginning to see part of the growth of Centreville. “It certainly helps the Arts Council resources when new people come in,” she says. “Our membership is growing and we have some extraordinarily talented people supporting our efforts and teaching classes.”
Admits Schoeninger, a relative newcomer to Centreville, “This is the smallest town I’ve ever lived in. I moved from New York City, to Seattle, then here to Centreville, so it’s quite a change! But I really love living here. I get to walk to work and I can’t make it here
without seeing someone I know. That’s very comforting me.”
. . . and How It Used to Be
Dan Tabler, a longtime resident and columnist for the local newspaper, the Queen Anne’s County Record-Observer, remembers how Centreville used to be. Tabler moved here in 1933 at the age of nine from Parkersburg, West Virginia, when his father came to reopen the Centreville National Bank. “Back then Centreville was a little farming town,” he recalls with a laugh. “Saturdays were the days everyone came uptown and socialized. The streets used to get very crowded.” He explains that in those days the population of the town was about 1,800. Now it’s about 2,800. “So really we haven’t changed much,” he says. “In those days everything revolved around the town center and the schools. Public sales were held right there at the front of the courthouse on the courthouse steps.” Tabler also tells how there was once a big rivalry between the towns on the Eastern Shore such as Sudlersville, Ridgely, Denton, and Queenstown. “Whenever the schools would play each other, it was a very big deal,” he explains. “Back then baseball and soccer were the big sports.”
Dan is a fixture in Centreville, having been editor of the Record-Observer off and on for the last fifty years. “Some of my best memories are of the ballpark here on Belvedere Avenue where the old Eastern Shore Class D professional baseball league played,” he says. “Jimmy Foxx (Hall of Fame player from Sudlersville, Md.) and Harry Hughes (former governor of Maryland) both played in that league.”
On the Waterfront
Since Centreville is located just 17 miles from the Bay Bridge, the town is finally starting to grow and is rapidly being discovered as a great place to live within commuting distance to Annapolis, Baltimore, and Washington. Three new residential subdivisions are being built on the outskirts of town, and two new shopping plazas are under way. However, as it has always been, the heart and soul of Centreville stays firmly and traditionally tucked into the deep historic roots found throughout the residential areas and the along wharf area.
The main route to Centreville’s wharf is along Chesterfield Avenue, a beautiful street lined with Victorian homes. The town’s original wharf is only a short, 1-mile ride down to the landing on the Corsica Creek and Corsica River, which leads out to the Chester River and then to the Chesapeake Bay.
In the late nineteenth century a local merchant and entrepreneur, schooner Captain John H. Ozmon, built a bustling maritime trade shipping grains, lumber, and other goods between Centreville and the larger cities like Baltimore and Norfolk. Facing the water on Front Street he built a waterfront store, a wharf lodge for himself, and the four unique Captain’s Houses that were to be used as dwelling places for the skippers and crews of his sailing vessels. The houses are smallish in size, but built sturdily of brick all in a row with matching porches. These unique homes perched on the hill overlooking the wharf give Centreville a sense of a peaceful permanence as it awaits the next chapter of its history.
