
The Choptank Tolomato Legacy Project


Henry Highland Garnet
Wayne Gilchrist Rail Trail
835 High Street, Chestertown, MD 21620
In 2021 our nonprofit initiated the creation of a 4’ x 12’ mural featuring
Henry Highland Garnet. Garnet was born at Chesterville, Kent County, Maryland in 1812. In 1824 his family escaped to New York City where he was educated at the African Free School. During his lifetime Garnet was a US Ambassador to Liberia, Presbyterian minister, educator and orator.
Garnet was an advocate of militant abolitionism and he worked closely with Frederick Douglass to sway a wavering Abraham Lincoln into releasing the Emancipation Proclamation. The Garnet mural was designed and created by students and community members over a 12 week period as they learned about the local hero’s pivotal place in our regional history. This mural was completed and installed on the Wayne Gilchrest Rails Trail in Chestertown, MD in 2022.




