Heritage Awards Recognize Our Heroes

It’s that time again!
Four Rivers has again announced that we are accepting nominations for our Sixth Annual Heritage Awards, which will be held in early November. The award categories this year include Heritage Tourism Product, New Initiatives, Heritage Partnership, Heritage Professional, Public/Private Initiatives, Legacy, and the most prestigious award, the Heritage Award. Nominations are due to the Heritage Area office by September 28, 2009. Nomination forms are available on our website.

In the four years that I have been a part of these award ceremonies, I can recall quite a few highlights and very special moments, and I’ll share some photos of past ceremonies here:

The late Marion Warren addressing the audience after receiving the Heritage Award in 2005.

Below left, John VanAlstine with Anna Milbradt and Cecilia Capuano, two junior docents from Captain Salem Avery Museum, after receiving the Legacy Award in 2005, and right, Pam Offer, the recipient of the Legacy Award in 2007.

 

 

The full list of past awardees is on the Four Rivers website.

The reason these awards are important is that they recognize our heritage heroes, those people (and sometimes institutions too) who have done so much to understand, preserve and share the legacies of our region’s past.

If you would like to nominate another of our area’s heroes for this year’s awards, please take the time to fill out the nomination form, send it in and/or call the office — 410-222-1805– so they can be considered by our committee for this significant community recognition. Thank you! — Carol Benson

Visiting Southern Maryland for War of 1812 Conference

Recently, Executive Director Carol Benson and Heritage Programs Coordinator Aleithea Williams visited Southern Maryland for the “Star-Spangled 200 Conference”, concerning the upcoming commemoration of the War of 1812. After spending the morning at the Calvert Marine Museum, and admiring the stingrays and otters, we spent a good part of the afternoon walking the beautiful grounds of Jefferson-Patterson Park and Museum in Saint Leonard, MD, or Jef-Pat (as the locals like to call it!). Near the end of the day, we visited Serenity Farms, which lives up to its name (check out the view in the photo below).

Looking out at St. Leonard Creek from Jef-Pat

View of the landscape from the top of the hill at Serenity Farms

Beautiful horses at Serenity Farms (the one on the right is pregnant!)

Attending this conference helped us understand that Maryland had a significant role in the events and outcomes of the War of 1812. For more information about Maryland’s role, and the upcoming commemorative events all over the state, visit www.warof1812.org. Also, be sure to check out, and check often, Four Rivers Heritage Area calendar for 1812 events in the near and distant future.

-Aleithea

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I’m a newbie at this but I learn as I go and I like to jump right in! I am amazed where social media are taking us these days!

Four Rivers is short for Four Rivers: The Heritage Area of Annapolis, London Town & South County, we are one of Maryland’s 11 certified heritage areas, and although we do a lot and work with a lot of organizations, we are just two staffers, myself (Carol Benson, Executive Director) and Aleithea (Heritage Programs Coordinator). The main thing we hear is that people haven’t heard about us, don’t know what we do, don’t know where we are, so we’re hoping that a blog, along with our active presence on Twitter, can help change all that! Over the next few months we’ll share success stories and upcoming opportunities, to try to get the word out there! Thanks for listening!  — Carol