March 28, 2024

Commemoration Event Selected for Grant Funding

Commemoration

The Friends of St. Clement’s Island and Piney Point Museums organization has received a $3,400 matching grant for the Black Diamond Disaster Commemoration Weekend event held in April each year.

The event, now in its third year, remembers a little-known piece of American Civil War history that occurred in Southern Maryland near St. Clement’s Island in the Potomac River during the hunt for presidential assassin John Wilkes Booth.

According to the Southern Maryland Heritage Area Consortium, the grant award was part of the $40,000 awarded to heritage tourism projects in Calvert, Charles, and St. Mary’s counties. The Heritage Area had its greatest response to the Seed Grant Program to date, with over $70,000 in grant requests. This granting opportunity, completed in accordance with SMHAC’s mission, focuses on projects that preserve the heritage of Southern Maryland through innovative tourism, excellence in cultural and natural resource conservation, and unique educational opportunities. Each of the programs selected for an award will enhance the Southern Maryland experience for visitors, residents, educators, and businesses.

“We are truly honored that this important event was selected for grant funding,” says Karen Stone, manager of the St. Mary’s County Museum Division. “The Black Diamond disaster has often been overshadowed by other Civil War happenings, with the result that the 87 men who lost their lives have been mostly forgotten by history. By putting on this weekend commemoration here at the museum, we bring attention to their stories.”

Specifically, the grant will help fund the concert by the Federal City Brass Band, a band that performs in period dress, on original Civil War-era instruments, using period songbooks. The public is invited to see them perform during the Black Diamond Event Weekend at 4 pm Saturday, April 25, 2020.

The commemoration weekend will occur at St. Clement’s Island Museum in Colton’s Point on April 25 and 26, 2020, and will feature weekend-long activities related to the American Civil War including a special commemoration ceremony and interpreters.

For more information, visit museums.stmarysmd.com, Facebook.com/SCIMuseum or call 301-769-2222.

The Friends of St. Clement’s Island and Piney Point Museums group raises funds in order to support historical interpretation, education programs, and special needs of the sites.

 

To learn more about Lexington Park, visit the St. Mary’s County Community Development Corporation’s Leader member page.

St. Mary’s County Community Development Corporation

46940 South Shangri-La Drive, Suite 7

Lexington Park, MD 20653

301-863-7700

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