A new, carved pineapple now sits atop the historic Tolchester Beach Bandstand as a sign of welcome at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Md. Hand-carved and gilded with 23-karat gold, the pineapple was crafted and generously donated by John Garlick of Easton, Md. and installed earlier this month.
The original pineapple—a wooden ornament repaired with plaster—had become beyond repair and was recently removed. The new pineapple is crafted from locally-sourced pine using a pattern created from the original carving.
From 1880 until 1962, musicians entertained summer visitors from this bandstand at Tolchester Beach, a resort and amusement park in Kent County, Md. Constructed to attract day trippers traveling by steamboat from Baltimore and Washington, D.C., Tolchester Beach was part of a golden era of nineteenth century amusement parks.
The old Tolchester Beach park closed in 1962, following a pattern seen at resorts all over the Chesapeake once served by steamboats. Today, the historic bandstand hosts numerous weddings, musical performances, and programs at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, and is one of the few structures remaining from Tolchester Beach.
The bandstand was generously donated to CBMM by Mr. and Mrs. Walter B. Harris in 1984, when it was relocated to CBMM. The pineapple was added to its peak around the same time, and continues to serve as a welcome symbol to CBMM’s nearly 70,000 annual guests. See more of the Tolchester Beach Bandstand at bit.ly/tolchester.