AROUND THE PARK AGAIN by Sharon Lee Tegler
Brought to you by Jing Ying Institute of Kung Fu & Tai Chi
Though long aware of the Eastport Oyster Boys, I was surprised to learn the well-known Chesapeake folk music group was performing a concert at Maryland Hall in Annapolis on March 22nd celebrating their 30th Anniversary.
Curious about the group’s beginnings in 1996 and its evolution through the years, I met with Eastport Oyster Boys co-founder Jefferson Holland at Davis’ Pub in Eastport. Since we met on the first actual day of spring, the restaurant was as busy as could be and everybody that walked by seemed to know Holland and his beautiful black rescue retriever Millie.
Holland has been known to reinvent himself from time to time. Some people will have met him as a young, enthusiastic media representative for the Annapolis Boat Shows in the 1980’s. Others may have caught one of his performances as a musician and storyteller in the late ’80’s and ’90’s. From 2000 through 2014, they might have known him as the Director of the Annapolis Maritime Museum and Park. For a few years afterward, he was Riverkeeper for the West and Rhodes Rivers. Through it all, he has nurtured his love for writing songs, poetry and books.
Originally a co-founder of the musical group Crab Alley in the 1980’s, Holland partnered with Kevin Brooks in 1996 to found “Them Eastport Oyster Boys”. Asked how and why the pair chose such an unusual name, Holland responded that they simply wanted something that stood out. Because McNasby’s Oyster Company (now home to the Annapolis Maritime Museum) and the oyster industry were a mainstay of their town of Eastport for more than a century, the name was a natural.
He noted that people never did know what to make of the name – a name that has subsequently been mispronounced in five different countries and on two continents.
“Our Eastport Oyster Boys performances started out with just Kevin and I performing on the schooner ‘Woodwind’. That was a lot of fun and our audience of passengers could see that our material was drawn from all around us. You could say it lent us an air of authenticity,” said Holland.
They occasionally performed on other craft like the deadrise workboat, “Miss Lonesome” seen below, that was built by Perry Rogers in Shady Side in 1923.
Brooks and Holland wrote all of the songs themselves. They’d started out thinking they would rediscover some of the songs watermen would have been singing 100 years ago and bring them back to life. But, after years of research, they didn’t find a single one.
“It turned out that, if the waterman would have been singing anything, it would have been out of the Methodist hymn book,” Holland said. “There were only a couple of Chesapeake Bay oriented songs in existence. So, we made up our own. The idea was to write about the boats, people, places and events that made our area special. We came up with songs like ‘Back Creek Bay’ which we wrote in 1981.”
The duo decided early on that they never wanted to perform in bars, so they did festivals, concerts and events. They would appear each year at an event called “Eastport ‘A Rockin'” and people would come up to them mentioning that they played trumpet or some other instrument and asking if they could play with them. After a while, the group grew. It is seen below during an appearance at the Boatyard Bar & Grill in the late 1990’s.
Eventually, the group compacted.
“I actually left the The Eastport Oyster Boys in 2011,” Holland said. “By 2011, I was director of the Annapolis Maritime Museum and we were involved in ongoing reconstruction from the effects of Hurricane Isabel. Nowadays, joining Kevin Brooks on banjo are Andy Fegley on trumpet, Tom Guay on guitar, and Mike Lang on keyboards. I’ll still make guest appearances three times a year though the group’s emphasis has changed from our original mix of stories, tall tales and poetry that fit so well with our appearances on the schooner.”
Holland joined the group onstage at Maryland Hall for the “Shuck It Tour” 30th Anniversary concert which he said went very well.
Named Poet Laureate of the City of Annapolis for 2024 through 2026 by former Mayor Gavin Buckley, Jefferson Holland is doing what he’s always wanted to do – creating and presenting a combination of poems, stories and songs, all with the theme of Annapolis, the Chesapeake Bay, people, boats and dogs. He relishes his appearances in the role several times a month.
In addition to a weekly column he writes for The Capital newspaper, he’s authored a book called “Walk Around Arundel: 52 Places to Hike with Your Dog (and Other Best Friends)” from New Bay Books. He’s recently written a new song called “That’s My Maryland” that you can listen to on YouTube on a channel by the same name.
Circling back for a moment to talk about the Eastport Oyster Boys, it occurred to me that Jeff Holland and his wife Louise are longtime Eastport residents. Thus, I thought him the perfect person to ask about the changing nature of the town.
“Yes, the town has changed. It’s become Yupified,” he said. “This very restaurant where we’re sitting, Davis’ Pub, used to be the neighborhood black bar. The original owner was a waterman who liked serving fellow watermen. I used to come here when it was a great local hangout and most of Eastport’s black families lived along this very street.”
“Following the Civil War, the Eastport/Annapolis area was one of few places in an otherwise segregated society where white and black families lived side-by-side. But, starting in the 1970’s with the advent of the Annapolis Boat Shows, people became aware of Eastport as a desirable location and things began to change. People came here because they love it but, by doing so, they ruined it for those already here.”
Holland notes that the town has fortunately preserved some of the older buildings associated with the oyster industry. He thinks aquaculture may bring the industry back to some extent but not remotely like it used to be.
“Though some of the town’s traditions seem to survive like the annual Eastport Sock Burnings celebrating the Spring equinox and beginning of the boating season, the biggest change to the community known by many as the ‘Maritime Republic of Eastport’ is gentrification.”
Those who would like to learn more about Jefferson Holland’s work may check out his website at Home.
Children’s Business Fair of Severna Park on April 11th
The Maryland Curiosity Lab is partnering with the Greater Severna Park and Arnold Chamber of Commerce for Commerce for the 4th Annual Children’s Business Fair taking place at Park Plaza on Saturday, April 11 from 1 pm to 4 pm. According to Chamber CEO Liz League, The Fair will be hosting 64 child-run businesses. There will be music by Bach to Rock and a few other surprises. The Fair is free for anyone to attend.
The Around The Park Again column is brought to you this week by Jing Ying Institute of Kung Fu and Tai Chi at 1195 Baltimore Annapolis Blvd. – For over two decades providing martial arts training that improves cardio-vascular health, strength and flexibility while reducing stress. Jing Ying is again bringing Tai Chi to the Severna Park Community Center. From health-defense to self-defense, Jing Ying provides fitness with a purpose for the whole family!
and by Lean On Dee Senior Home Care Services at 815 Ritchie Hwy., Suite 206 – When you need someone to lean on, Lean On Dee. Their experienced team of personal care management specialists and friendly companions provide high quality consistent care.
