Don't Forget

Spirits of Tudor Hall loves volunteers!

"Booth Lady" Dinah Faber Inducted As Archer Fellow by Historical Society of Harford County

Dinah Faber, Coordinator for Spirits of Tudor Hall, was inducted as an Archer Fellow by the Historical Society of Harford County, Maryland, at the society's annual meeting on September 24, 2009, in recognition of her volunteer work on behalf of Tudor Hall and the history of the Booth family. The above photo of Dinah with her certificate was taken at Tudor Hall on September 27, 2009.

Left click on the above image to read the certificate above.

Left click to read the citation that was read at the annual meeting of the historical society. The episode of Historic Harford featuring Tudor Hall and an interview with Dinah Faber is set to air on Harford Cable Network in November.

The Archer Fellow Award is named in honor of Dr. George W. Archer who was one of the founders of the Historical Society of Harford County and one of Harford County's earliest historians. Dr. Archer is one of Dinah Faber's personal heroes, so she feels especially pleased and honored to recieve this recognition in Dr. Archer's name.

According to the January 2007 edition of the Newsletter of the Historical Society of Harford County:

"The Archer Fellow Award was established to recognize those . . . who have demonstrated exceptional service toward the mission and goals of the Historical Society of Harford County, Inc.

"Criteria . . . include, but are not limited to, the time spent and the impact of their efforts to support the preservation of the history of Harford County. The award includes recognition at the Historical Society Annual Dinner, an indvidual plaque and lapel pin given to the honorees, their name engraved on a George W. Archer Plaque displayed at the Society Headquarters, and a copy of their citation included in the George W. Archer Fellows Record Book."

Robert Redford Making a Film About Mary Surratt

Variety magazine online reports that Robert Redford will be directing a film about accused conspirator Mary Surratt who was convicted of participating in the plot to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln. The film will star Robin Wright Penn as Mrs. Surratt and James McAvoy as her attorney.

For more details visit the link below:

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118008528.html?categoryId=13&cs=1&query=Conspirators

If the link doesn't work, try copying it and pasting it into your browser window and hitting go.

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Like Unwrapping a Birthday Present at Tudor Hall

Suspense builds as the old roofing along the north "flank" of Tudor Hall is removed. Explanation below.

All photos in this post were taken at Tudor Hall on Thursday morning, September 10, 2009. Left click on the photos for bigger, better views. All photos and text by Dinah Faber.

Dinah says: Please forgive me for slipping into the first person in this post. It seemed the most natural way to write this particular post.

One of the things I've been hoping to observe as the old roof comes off and the new roof goes up at Tudor Hall is where the original section of the roof ends along the "flanks" of the house and where the newer section, built in Ella Mahoney's time (1879-1948), begins. As you will see in the following photos, my wish was granted on Thursday morning, September 10th.

Tah dah! The oldest section of the roof is revealed to be clearly different from the newer section. Now the question is did the original house as built by the Booth family actually end where the original roofing ends. Or was the original roofing sawed off and shortened for some reason when the extension to the back portion of the house was added? If the roof reflects where the original house ended, then Tudor Hall was originally even smaller than we thought and the floor plan upstairs would have been different than we imagined as well. It also means that Tudor Hall as originally built more closely resembled architect William Ranlett's original design. More research will be needed to answer these questions.

Also be sure and notice that the roofing on the forklift at the right of the photo that came off the extension is quite rusted while the older roofing that came off the original section of the roof is still quite shiny. Obviously, the original roofing was a quality product!


This close up of the older section of the roof clearly shows traces of the pattern in the roofing that was removed. Almost all of the original wood of the roof itself has remained in good condition and is not being replaced as the new roof goes up.


The north flank of the house was exposed for an hour or less. The crew quickly covered it with sheeting. Will it be another 160 years before it sees daylight again? Only time will tell if the new roofing is as durable as the old.

Can You Spot the Hummingbird at Tudor Hall?

On Sunday, September 6, 2009, one or more hummingbirds were observed visiting the jewelweed seen in the photo above. Believe it or not, there is a hummingbird in the photo above. Can you spot it? You'll have to have a good eye for a "needle in the haystack."

How about in the close up above cropped from the first photo?

To see larger versions of any of the photos on the blog including the two above, please left click on the photo.