Documenting Tulagi Place
Sometime in 2023, the “Tulagi Place” area In Lexington Park, Maryland--a community 10 miles north of St. Mary’s College--will be razed in order to build a new Royal Farms gas station. This panel discussion and exhibit will document the history of the area, whose roots go back to the opening of Patuxent Naval Air Station. The program will include a multimedia exhibit, including oral histories from people whose lives were connected to the area, as well as a panel discussion with several people familiar with the history of Tulagi Place.
Taj Reed
Taj Reed (b. Trenton, New Jersey) is a New York-based artist, photographer, and writer. He holds a self-designed BA in Art, Literature, and Human Behavior summa cum laude from St. Mary’s College of Maryland and is a candidate at Hartford’s International Limited Residency Photo MFA program.
Taj has exhibited work at Hercules Art Studio Program in New York City, Agony Books in Richmond, Virginia, St. Mary’s College of Maryland’s Boyden Gallery, and digitally through the Maryland State Arts Council. In addition, his images have been featured by Booooooom, Pomegranate Press, Pearl Press, and other digital and print publications. Since pivoting to fine art, Taj has dedicated himself to exploring the communicative and self-actualizing potential of pictures and letters, relying on his practice to reckon with selfhood, cultural inheritance, memory, and American institutions.
John Rue
Born in Washington, D.C., John Rue was raised in St. Mary’s County, Maryland. After completing his secondary education at Ryken High School, John graduated from St. Mary’s College of Maryland with a BA in History. He then attended the University of Baltimore School of Law. Graduating in 1974, he began his law career with Dorsey and Rue in Lexington Park and Leonardtown, Maryland. In 1976, he established a private practice in Lexington Park and two years later became a partner in the firm of Myerberg, Sawyer and Rue and served as Deputy State's Attorney for St. Mary’s County. In 1980, John and his wife Connie moved to the Eastern Shore of Maryland, after he became an Assistant State’s Attorney for Wicomico County Maryland. Two years later he was appointed to the Maryland Office of the Public Defender and served as a trial attorney in that office for the next thirty years. During part of his tenure, he held the position of District Public Defender for the Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland. John handled a wide range of cases including death penalty litigation, felony and misdemeanor trials in both the Circuit and District Courts on the Lower Shore. After leaving the OPD, he practiced criminal defense until his appointment as Associate Judge to the District Court of Maryland for Wicomico County in 2012. John reached mandatory retirement age on his birthday in 2019. Enrolled at Spring Hill College, a Jesuit institution in Mobile, AL, he is pursuing an MTS in Theology. He does service work at the Joseph House in Salisbury and is a member of Resurrection (Ascension & St. George’s) Parish, Valley Lee and Lexington Park. In the 1990’s John was Chancellor for the Diocese of Easton. He was, for a time, an Adjunct Instructor in Criminal Justice at UMES. Interests include history, Colonial Maryland architecture, sailing, exploring the Shore in his MG and playing scales on violin and viola when home alone. Most importantly he loves the time spent with Connie, their daughter Molly, and their grandchildren.