Eastern Shore Life and Lure -e

by Members of the Writers Bloc, Tom Taylor, Editor

The Writers Bloc Anthology II

Eastern Shore Life and Lure is the second anthology from the members of the Writers Bloc, an Eastern Shore Writers Group. Eastern Shore Life and Lure is a panorama of both fact and fiction, much like the Eastern Shore’s past.

Heroes and villains, rich and poor, all have their parts to play in this sampling of tales from the Writers Bloc of the Eastern Shore.

Format Paper

ISBN 978-1-59431-879-5 Anthology / Collection / Short Stories / Articles

THE MANSION AND THE HAT by Lana Figgs

The pride and glory of Princess Anne, Maryland, is the 200-year-old Teackle Mansion. This intriguing, architectural work of art was designed by the original owner, Littleton Dennis Teackle, based on a Scottish manor house he visited.

Much of the home’s notoriety is due to the book, THE ENTAILED HAT, by George Alfred Townsend.

Mr. Teackle purchased the land from Beckford Estate in May, 1802. By American standards, the brick mansion’s neoclassic architectural design was ahead of its time. When designing the floor plans, Mr. Teackle incorporated many unique features: the double-door center-front entrance is adorned with a Flemish-bond brick façade, a hand-carved cornice, and exquisite décor plaster panels are found above the first-floor window and above the main door. When the construction of Teackle Mansion began, the only other existing brick buildings in town were the Manokin Presbyterian and St. Mark’s Episcopal Churches. To satisfy Mr. Teackle’s obsession for symmetry, there are false doorways in the drawing room to match the real doors that open into the hallways which lead to either the north or south wings. In the parlor are arched niches each with a doorway, on both sides of the fireplace, but only the left doorway leads to a hallway; the right doorway is false to match the real one.

Two mirrored windows are used in the parlor to reflect sunlight into a naturally dim room.

Mirrored windows are also in his library so the prized rose garden can be seen from all angles. The Teackles also used modern amenities such as a marble bathroom with an underground cistern and their large kitchen had a beehive oven and expansive fireplace.