Meeting the knitting ladies of the 1st Episcopalian Church in America Touring Chestertown and going over to the dark side on a motor boat!

June 29-July 12

We were both quite sad to leave Whorton as it is such a beautiful place. On the first night at the marina Jack drove us into Chestertown to watch the Euro Finals. He pointed out the Episcopalian church as one of the oldest in USA and said that we should explore the town tomorrow. Later Pat and I went walking up a beautiful dark road with lots of fairies dancing about who looked like they were fireflies. Pat wanted to know why we were walking in the dark and I explained that there were loads of deer here. ‘But’ says Mr Grumpy “its too dark to see anything’. and there we were amidst all these beautiful lights and lovely sunset.

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The next morning Eric arrived to put in our new Air Conditioning. (Its been 91 and 92 in the salon and it doesn’t look like its going to get any cooler) Angie then arrived later to take us into Chestertown. What a treat. Our first stop was the church and as we entered a hall we met these ladies who had not seen each other since the start of Covid and were now returning to their knitting circle. They were clearly delighted to catch up with each other. We didn’t want to interrupt them but asked where the church was. Helen went out to turn on a few lights so that we could see the church and the ladies were so welcoming. Telling us how they knit and then donate the knitting to be sold and the proceeds go to charity.

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In the church Helen showed me a few of the kneeling cushions which had all hand made ‘point’ sewing. Each one was in memory of someone with their dates and the date it was sewn and by whom. They were all different except they all had the gold and green. The window was a donation from Tiffany. Up at the altar there is a stain glass depiction of Moses. The minister asked the children once if they knew who he was and one of the kids replied. Santa!

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We go to so many museums and famous houses but this church was such a delight.

They have run out of land to bury people in and there is a garden of remembrance where everyones ashes are placed in the urn in the ground and their names are on a plaque on the wall. I love this idea and it was such a peaceful place. When we were leaving I mentioned this website and one asked me did I play the guitar and sing. I bashfully replied that I did and they begged and pleaded with me to sing a song. ( OK one of them asked me would I like to sing them a song). So I sang the “Sick Note”. Maybe not the most religious song sung there but I think they were happy enough. They were great fun and the energy in the room was palpable. I would take up knitting to join the craic!

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We then took a tour of the town. There were so many houses originally built in the 1700’s. We had the tour notes with us and Angie would read aloud in her English accent the details of the house. I found a music shop and the boy played Maple Leaf Rag by Scot Joplin for us on the piano.

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We then picked up Eric who had finished the AC and he whisked us off in the motor boat to George Town for lunch/dinner. Over 30 mph across the water as opposed to Maingeal going at 5 MPH. We managed to make it home before the storm came. and they sure can do lightening storms here. AC is in and running and we are now going to head south.

I will be going back a day in the next blog with pics of Mount Vernon.