A photo from a St. Michaels Branch photo album (found in the Maryland Room), showing the Fremont Street location.



Settled into its new home on Fremont Street, the St. Michaels Branch was fitting into downtown St. Michaels just fine. As they enjoyed the new space, the staff and volunteers welcomed more patrons and friends, including the lovely Petunia the Pig (read more about Petunia here).

By the early 2000s the branch was feeling once again squeezed for space and desired improved building conditions. As part of a cooperative effort between the library, Talbot County Council, and Town of St. Michaels, plans were laid to expand the branch on its existing footprint.

However, active construction zones and libraries don't typically mix. During the renovation and expansion in the early 2000s, the branch moved to a temporary space closer to the water (foreshadowing, anyone?) in an unused building owned by the St. Michaels Volunteer Fire Co.

Unlike the Easton branch's great moving fiasco, the St. Michaels branch had professional movers to help. However, they also received a bit of unexpected help from a nearby neighbor to help move some additional items.

"At the time, the Acme supermarket was in the building in front of us, so one of the things we did was have shopping carts that they loaned us that we rolled down the street [to the temporary location]" Branch Manager Shauna Beulah recounts. "[The carts] came in handy, because right after we moved there [in 2003], Hurricane Isabel came right up the Miles River."

The rising water and storm surge surely spelled disaster for the library. Prepared and armed with their Acme shopping carts, Shauna and the folks at the St. Michaels branch took everything off the bottom shelves and put them in the shopping carts. As the water came into the building and rose about 18 inches, the branch lost only one book - a notebook used to record the use of the public computers.

Stay tuned for next week's edition, where we'll continue to explore the history and future of the branch!

Have a story or memory you'd like to share? Send us an email at librarymemories@tcfl.org - anonymous submissions accepted also!