Kirsti Uunila with Dr Ralph Eshelman
The Calvert County Historic District Commission for 26 years, has chosen someone to receive the award. This year Dr Ralph Eshelman was chosen. The commission selected him for a first time ever combined service and education award.
Ralph Eshelman was selected for outstanding service in his active role to interpret and to teach about the War of 1812 in Maryland, particularly in Southern Maryland.
Mr Eshelman has written and lectured on history in our region, which includes the War of 1812. Books by Ralph Eshelman, the sole lead or author are The War of 1812: A Reference Guide to Historic Sites in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.
During the bicentennial of the war, 2012 to 2015, he was actively writing and lecturing. In Southern Maryland he was appearing everywhere. He led and continues to lead tours, lectures, appeared on television, and was the lead author on two more books: Chesapeake Legends and Lore from the War of 1812 and In Full Glory Reflected: Discovering the War of 1812 in the Chesapeake.
Dr Eshelman was generous with his time and agreed to be interviewed for the newest virtual Heritage Tour of Calvert County, the Lower Marlboro Route.
Dr. Ralph Eshelman was director of the Calvert Marine Museum, Solomons, Maryland, from 1974 to 1990 and is a specialist in maritime history, polar exploration, vertebrate paleontology, and cultural resource management. He received his Ph.D. in 1974 from the University of Michigan with a major in geology and vertebrate paleontology and a minor in ecology. Ralph is a research associate in the Department of Paleobiology at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution.
The Calvert Board of County Commissioners presented Dr Ralph Eshelman with the 2015 Historic Preservation Award at their June 2, 2015 meeting.
Margit Miller / Calvert Beacon