PHM is very happy to announce a new – Music at the Mansion. The Music at the Mansion Series will feature local musicians playing a diverse variety of music. Many musicians have told us that they particularly enjoy playing at PHM because of the wonderful natural acoustics in the building. We have already been doing musical programs and want to make it more of a regular event. We have invited some groups for return engagements for this spring and hope to keep this as an ongoing series, funding permitting. The Salisbury Wicomico Arts Council was very generous this past fall in helping PHM to fund two musical events. First, we had local Salisbury quartet, or as it would have been called during the period, consort, Canzona Diversa do a reception full of period music featuring the pianoforte in Novemeber. The quartet features Susan Parker on the violin, Jim Ressegger on the viola da gamba, Karen Zera on the recorder, and Bill Alexander on the guitar and the pianoforte. The group has agreed to come back for an encore performance on February 11, 2018. Another performer who was featured was harpist Kara Dahl Russell. She graced us with her beautiful harp music for our Yuletide Open House. This was the second year she has agreed to play holiday music at the Mansion, and we hope it is a tradition that continues for many years to come.

PHM will also be welcoming back Mickey Justice and Mike O’Loughlin this March 15^th to play some of their favorite Irish Folk music in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. This is always of special interest to PHM since Dr. John Huston was of Irish decent and surely, Irish music would have been heard in the house during his lifetime. Also, this May 12^th, PHM will be hosting a Mother’s Day Tea Reception featuring the music of Judy Willing, Becky Joseph, and Bill Alexander. They played last year for our Mother’s Day event and were such a hit, that we had to bring them back! They bring to life many of the classic hits of the 1950s and 1960s and present a great show where everyone can sing along with their favorite songs.

The Music at the Mansion Series will be free and open to the public and is our way of saying thank you to the community. Please note that these are not formal concerts. Limited seating will be available throughout the Mansion. Tours of the mansion will also be available. If you haven’t visited Poplar Hill Mansion for a while, now is the perfect opportunity to see some changes in the exhibits and to see what’s new.

The Music at the Mansion Series is made possible, in part, by a grant from the Salisbury Wicomico Arts Council, awarded by the Maryland State Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. We thank them for their continued support of the arts and music programming throughout the greater Salisbury area.

On June 22, 2017 we officially opened our new surgery room exhibit. The grand opening ribbon cutting of Dr. Huston’s Surgery Room was a great success. We had over 50 people attend in conjunction with the Salisbury Area Chamber of Commerce. In attendance, several elected officials came representing, city, county, state, and Federal offices including: Jack Heath, Salisbury City Council President, Jim Ireton, Salisbury City Councilman, John Cannon, Wicomico County Council President, Delegate Mary Beth Carozza, Maryland House of Representatives, and Shawn Jester (representing Congressman Andy Harris). WMDT also came the day of the opening to do a feature piece on the exhibit which aired that night on their news broadcast. We want to thank everyone who made the exhibit possible including our Staff; our Board of Directors; Wirt Wolfe who donated many of the medical instruments; the DiscoverSea Shipwreck Museum, who loaned us many instruments; The Union Drummer Boy in Gettysburg, PA, who helped in finding period imstuments; Design Floorcloths Limited, who hand painted the new floorcloth in the room; Jodi Shearer, who handmade authentic reproduction menswear; The Gentleman’s Historical Emporium, for men’s accessories (boots, hats, and cane); H & H Furniture in Pocomoke for the Windsor Chairs; and last, but never least, all of our wonderful supporters and contributors – – – this exhibit would not be possible with the contributions to the Bertha Lewis/Bobbi Biron Endowment Fund through the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore.

To see the exhibit of Salisbury’s first surgeon, please visit us any Sunday for free tours between 1:00-4:00 or by appointment.

WMDT Article

We had our best attendance for our Yuletide Open House and Tea with Santa ever this year! We want to thank everyone who came out for our Yuletide Open House on Dec 4th. This year it was in conjunction with the Newtown Holiday House Tour. We welcomed over 200 people through Poplar Hill Mansion to see all the beautiful table arrangements from the Four Season’s Garden Club. We also got a special treat this year with the talented harpist Kara Russell-Dahl as she played favorite holiday tunes on her harp all afternoon. We even had a special spread in the Salisbury Independent showcasing some of the decorations on the second floor. Our Tea with Santa was also a big success as more families than ever came to visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus, enjoy peppermint tea and hot chocolate, and of course eat some cookies!

The Friends of Poplar Hill Mansion are excited to announce that we will be constructing a new surgery exhibit! Dr. Huston’s Surgery Room will be opening in 2017 and will showcase furnishings and instruments pertaining to surgical practices in the early 1800s. Dr. Huston practiced surgery in the rear room of the house and in keeping with our mission to interpret history of the Federal Period, we are transforming this space into a typical surgeon’s room. We are collaborating with other museums to acquire instruments of the period. We hopefully will also be getting an expert speaker to give a lecture about medical practices in the early Republic or during the War of 1812. Come check out the progress any Sunday during tours from 1-4.