The House at Royal Oak (28 page)

Chapter 18 coyote Dreams

Brazos River Rattlesnake Ranch. “Cottonmouth Water Moccasin.” January 22, 2007.
www.wf.net
.

DesertUSA. “The Coyote: Canis latrans.” November 6, 2006.
www.deser-tusa.com
.

Maryland State Department of Natural Resources. “Coyotes.” July 23, 2006.
www.dnr.state.md.us
.

Chapter 19 Kitchen, Garden, Field

Cox, Beverly, and Martin Jacobs.
Spirit of the Harvest: North American Indian Cooking.
New York: Stewart, Tabori and Chang, 1991.

Chapter 20 As simple As It seems

Harwood, Richard, ed.
Talking Tidewater: Writers on the Chesapeake.
Chestertown, MD: Literary House Press, Washington College, 1996, 2003.

Chapter 21 Guests and Geese

“Conviction of Wife in Killing of Spouse Is Upheld.”
Baltimore Sun
(September 28, 2000): 4B.

“Got Ghosts? Share Them with Us.”
Star Democrat,
Easton, MD: October 20, 2005,
www.stardem.com

Terrer, John.
Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980.

Chapter 23 And the Creek Don't Rise

Carroll, Bill. “Demand Management: Beyond Yield Management.”
Innkeeping,
Professional Association of Innkeepers International, 24, no. 12

(December 2006): 1.

Dougherty, Conor. “The Endangered B & B.”
Wall Street Journal
(August 11, 2006): W1.

Chapter 24 Home

Hammond-Harwood House Association.
Maryland's Way: As Told by a Collection of Traditional Receipts Selected from Three Centuries of Maryland Cooking.
Annapolis: Hammond-Harwood House Association, 1963. Jones, Beth. “What's Not to Love About a Marsh?”
Water's Edge.
St. Michaels, MD: Bay Hundred Foundation Newsletter, May 2007.

Eight Good Reasons to Start a Bed-and-Breakfast and Seven Bad Ones

Brown, Susan et al.
So—You Want to Be an Innkeeper: The Definitive Guide to Operating a Successful Bed-and-Breakfast or Country Inn.
San Francisco:

Chronicle Books, 2004.

Professional Association of Innkeepers International,
www.paii.org
.

I wish to thank all those named and unnamed here for providing ideas, insight, and help in many different ways.

At the Talbot Historical Society, Beth Hansen led me to a trove of information on the region, as did Scotti Oliver at the Talbot County Library, along with the staff of the library's Maryland Room, Beth Jones at the Bay Hundred Foundation, and Captain Wade Murphy. Pete Lesher, curator of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, expertly reviewed historical portions of the book, for which I am very grateful. Naturalist Tom Horton gave inspiration through his writings about the Chesapeake Bay, as did Helen Chappell in hers and in conversation. William Habig drew my attention to attitudes toward emancipation in Maryland, the state where Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman were born, a state that solidly supported Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election, the same state where O
BAMA FOR
P
RESIDENT
signs were burned.

Those who encouraged this project from the beginning include Margaret Bauer, Karen Binswanger, Dianne Stephens, Rita Geier, Keven Wilder, Amy Taylor, and Jean and Gary
Ratner, true friends. Also Robert and Kathy Day, Theron Raines, and John Nicoll. Brigitte Weeks kindly read an early draft and offered hope. Gail Greco, who celebrates bed-and-breakfasts in her many books, made useful comments, as did Jay Karen, president of the Professional Association of Innkeepers International, who generously took time to read the entire manuscript.

Thanks to everyone who shared their stories about the bed-and-breakfast life, including the hosts at over a hundred of these remarkable establishments, which Hugo and I visited before embarking on our own adventure. Especially Hugh and Jeannie Taylor of the Outermost Inn, Martha's Vineyard; Joe and Raquel Sanchez of the Aspen Inn, Flagstaff, Arizona; and Vicki Barrett at Inn on the Ocean and Danielle Hanscom of the Brampton Inn, both in Maryland—extraordinary innkeepers all.

For hospitality during the cold, early months of work, I thank Amy Haines for the warmth of Out of the Fire, Ellen and Steven Exelbert for their cozy cottage, and Paul and Candy Milne, of The Oaks. Paul really knows how to cook an oyster. Lydia and Jerry Kaplan offered advice on everything from publishing to medical care. From Fran Neaton came the perfect metaphor for our line of work.

Technical assistance on the manuscript was provided by Peter Strupp of Princeton Editorial Associates. Thanks also to Melissa Kelly and Dale Patchett. Miss Ebbie down at the post office always got the manuscript where it needed to go next. Bill Lippincott provided a quiet place for work.

A basketful of gratitude to Alice Waters, who inspired appreciation for the fruits that flourish all around us wher
ever we live, the good, the local, and the seasonal—and to the memory of Julia Child. These two extraordinary women graciously taught Hugo and me, on an earlier project, how (and how not) to present a recipe. Appreciation again to the ever-enthusiastic recipe testers, Hugo, Rick, Lucy, Amanda, Ethan, and Linda, along this time with Kurt Weyrauch.

For friendship, the sharing of local ways including a Christmas goose on the doorstep, and so much more, thanks to the best of neighbors, Susie and Scott Kilmon, also Jerry and Julie, Kurt, Paul, Francine, Liisa and her clan, and Captain Iris. Roland Murray was generous with his great store of historical and practical knowledge, a bridge to the region's past. Many thanks to Bryan Arling, through thick and thin and to Barbara Meade, preeminent bibliophile and friend.

An important part of bringing this account to light was played by Susan Koh, Donald Buxton, Philip Webster, and Bernice Michaels of Chesapeake Chamber Music. I am most indebted to Alison Schwartz of ICM, New York, and to Becky Koh, J.P. Leventhal and their colleagues at Black Dog & Leventhal, for their hard work, vision, and tenacity.

Last, a thousand thanks to Tarmy.