EASTON, MARYLAND — Easton's Historic District Commission is scheduled to consider Wednesday whether the Academy Art Museum can hang a 20-foot-long mural on its back wall facing Talbot Lane, across from the Hill neighborhood, for one year with the option to renew.
The mural, "Amazing Grace," was painted by artist Esteban del Valle during his 2026 residency at the museum. The museum's application says it was developed with the Waterfowl Festival and Talbot Mentors, made with local young people, and painted in studio space at the Armory. Its namesake, according to the application, is Grace Brooks, an African American resident of the Hill in the early 19th century who bought her own freedom and her family's, acquired land and built a home, and who worked as a midwife. Her likeness is on the right side of the mural with words from her obituary; the left side shows portraits of teenage interns from the museum's programs.
The work is painted on five aluminum panels, each about 4 by 8 feet, that would be screwed to the museum's existing non-historic wood wall along the alley. No lighting is proposed, and a small placard would name the artist and partners. The museum says it eventually intends for the mural to travel to Talbot Mentors. The building at 106 South St. is a contributing structure in the historic district and carries a Maryland Historical Trust preservation easement. Town planning staff support approval as submitted, noting the panels go on a secondary, non-historic wall and are not applied to the building surface.
The commission will also take up changes to Foundation of Hope's planned two-story commercial training building at 52 S. Washington St. Architect Timothy Crosby is asking to use fiber-cement siding instead of the approved brick on the east, north and south sides, aluminum railing instead of wrought iron, and composite windows in place of clad-wood windows, and to add a ramp and a trash enclosure on the east side. The commission first approved the design in October 2024 and again in June 2025, but both approvals lapsed when no building permit was pulled within six months. The current approval dates to Feb. 9, and the town issued a building permit Oct. 6. Staff support the changes on one condition: the trash enclosure must be wood or another material the guidelines allow, not the proposed vinyl fencing.
Other items on the agenda:
- Signs: a wall sign and a hanging sign at 5 E. Dover St. for the Dock Street Foundation, where staff support the wall sign but not the hanging sign because an existing sign hangs within 25 feet; and a 22-inch hanging sign with wall lettering at 20 Goldsborough St., which staff support as submitted.
- Trinity Episcopal Church, 315 Goldsborough St.: a reworked door frame so the southwest entry door swings outward, a push-button accessibility bollard and new site lighting. Staff support it.
- Windows at 402 Goldsborough St. and at 117 E. Dover St., Unit 202, and new siding at 219 S. Harrison Street.
The meeting is at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28, in the Council Chambers at the Easton Town Office, 14 S. Harrison Street.
Source: Town of Easton
Also: Town of Easton (2)
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