Chestertown

Bob and Susan Lathroum had always dreamed of owning and operating a bed-and-breakfast. So 11 years ago, when Bob lost his third management job in 15 years, the couple decided the time was right to pursue that dream. The quest led them from Linthicum to Chestertown on the Eastern Shore. "The second time I crossed the bridge over the Chester River, I said, 'This is home,' " Susan Lathroum recalled of the historic little town. The Lathroums purchased the Widow's Walk Inn in 1997. Covered in yellow clapboard siding and trimmed with deep red shutters, the stately Victorian was built in 1877 and is listed in Chestertown's historic registry.

Memorial Day weekend produces a number of good ideas for day trips. One traditional favorite is the annual Chestertown Tea Party Festival on Saturday. The festival grew out of an event that happened in Chestertown on May 23, 1774. As a result of the Boston Tea Party, the British closed the port of Boston. When the citizens of Chestertown heard the news they protested the act by staging their own "tea party." They boarded a British ship anchored on the Chester River and dumped its cargo of tea overboard.

In what was believed a first for Chestertown, voters elected a woman as mayor yesterday -- and in what could be another first, a black candidate was leading in a tight contest for a seat on the Town Council, an election official said.Elected mayor is Margo Bailey, a council member often at odds with the town's incumbent mayor, Elmer S. Horsey, a colorful and often combative leader who decided not to seek election after 16 years in office.Among the issues on which they disagreed was a proposal to build a huge Wal-Mart store, which Ms. Bailey found at odds with the county's master plan.

CHESTERTOWN - African-Americans in this normally placid Kent County seat are accusing police of racism and brutality for using pepper spray to disperse a crowd of 150 to 200 teens - many of them middle school pupils - at a firemen's carnival last weekend. Last night, more than 80 parents, community leaders and students turned out for a fact-finding meeting arranged by a local official of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The incident, parents said, represents a gross over-reaction by police, excessive force that would not have been used had the crowd been mostly white.

CHESTERTOWN'S SECOND annual Jazz Festival featured three days of jazz performed by internationally renowned jazz vocalist Ethel Ennis; Stef Scaggiari, keyboardist; Paul Hildner, drummer; Keter Betts, bass player; Sherry Winston, a Grammy-nominated flutist; vocalist Sue Matthews; pianist Dick Durham; the Hometown Rhythm Section and the Lee Howell Trio.The festival is a dream come true for its founder, Dr. Mel Rapelyea, chairman of diagnostic imaging for Howard County General Hospital.Rapelyea fell in love with the Eastern Shore after working several days a month in the Kent and Queen Anne Hospital.

CHESTERTOWN -- Susan Cochran Sutton dropped her husband's health insurance three years ago and got insurance for her small accounting firm just so she could design a plan to serve her family."

CHESTERTOWN -- Soon there will be a monument erected in the town square to honor a baseball player, an action that is unusual, if not unprecedented, but the chorus for approval rings loud and clear. This is a different kind of a man, given to gentle ways and an enormous ability to swing a bat with booming gusto.Bill Nicholson became known as "Big Swish" because of the physical power he demonstrated. And when he broke the sound barrier, hit or miss, it was an awesome experience to observe and to hear.

CHESTERTOWN -- These days, when Colin Dickson hammers, he's usually pounding the beauty of French language and literature into an undergraduate's brain. But this weekend, the Washington College professor tried his hand at the real thing.Along with several hundred drill-wielding, shovel-toting, hoe-hauling volunteers, Mr. Dickson helped build a playground for his community."Usually, I spend Saturdays at the Farmers' Market or tidying up or reading a book on the French Renaissance," said Mr. Dickson, a canvas worker's apron slung round his waist and a carpenter's ruler in his back pocket.

CHESTERTOWN -- For decades, the men of the Army National Guard's 29th Infantry Division prepared for war inside the powder-blue corridors of this faded fortress, perfecting drills in the cavernous gym. Weekends when the soldiers weren't there, Chestertown's armory hosted basketball games, concerts - even the town's Christmas bazaar. But the building has been quiet for more than two years, ever since the state's Military Department announced plans to sell it. Now, seemingly everyone in this close-knit town has an opinion on what should happen to the armory - which sits on waterfront property.

Laura H. Boyer, a homemaker and longtime Chestertown resident, died Saturday of heart failure at Chester River Hospital Center. She was 77. Laura Hogans was born and raised in Rock Hall and graduated in 1946 from Rock Hall High School. She attended Washington College. In 1952, she married Elroy G. Boyer Sr., now a retired Kent County Circuit Court judge. The couple lived for many years in Rock Hall before moving to Chestertown in 1980. During the 1970s and 1980s, Mrs. Boyer worked in real estate sales for Cooper-Barroll Realty in Chestertown.