Cockey’s Tavern, Westminster, Carroll County, Maryland Purchase Support Letter
January 30, 2001
Mr. Jay A. Graybeal
Director of Museum and Library
Historical Society of Carroll County
210 East Main Street
Westminster, Md. 21157-5225
Dear Jay;
I can't tell you how excited I am about the Historical Society purchasing Cockey's Tavern. Of course my wife, Caroline Babylon, and I first knew it as Thelma Hoffman's Boarding House in the 1960s. Our friend and teacher Mike Eaton lived there. Caroline and I married as a result of our mutual friendship with Mr. Eaton. I'm sure you remember Mr. Eaton, he taught English and Drama in Carroll County Public Schools for 41 years. Mr. Eaton passed away April 24, 1995 and has since become somewhat of a legend in our community. It is certainly only fitting that his former home, also a legend in our community, continues to make history in Carroll County.
Of course many of my fellow historians understand Cockey's to be the Willis-Boyle House. As a Westminster native, and the product of many generations of Carroll County farmers, merchants and bankers, I have always been quite impressed with the prominent role that Cockey's has played in Carroll County history.
Built in the early 19th century, Cockey's serves as the quintessential beginning of our community's Smart Growth principles. As the Willis-Boyle House, it served as an anchor for concentrating growth in and around the organized communities of the county. Indeed, the Willis-Boyle House became not only figuratively, but literally the center and county seat of Carroll County when it was formed in 1837.
A year or so ago, the Historical Society identified a compelling need to expand its services and its facilities to meet the ever increasing and growing demand of our community to understand and know it roots and preserve its history. Many of my community leader colleagues were afraid that it might be necessary for the Historical Society to leave Main Street, Westminster. Not only do we whole-heartedly support your endeavor to stay on Main Street in Westminster, we are energized by your leadership role and sense of community responsibility in extending Westminster's revitalization from downtown Westminster to East Main Street. This project bookends downtown Westminster with its counterpart, the Carroll Theater Cultural Arts alternative use revitalization effort at the other end of town. I am very excited about the traffic flow, inspiration, and economic contagion that an Historical Society Campus will generate on East Main Street, Westminster.
I am thrilled to watch the Willis-Boyle House lead Westminster into another century, just as it has at the beginning of the 19th and 20th centuries. I am very proud of the leadership team at the Historical Society of Carroll County for stepping up to the plate and assuming a key and critical role in community leadership.
Thank you for your efforts. God Bless you.
With best regards, I remain
Sincerely yours,
Kevin E. Dayhoff
Westminster City Councilman
