Maryland House & Garden Pilgrimage
Announcing: Maryland House & Garden Pilgrimage Opens
Talbot Tour Ticket Sales for May 9, 2026
Early Bird tickets are now available for the Talbot County Tour of the Maryland House & Garden Pilgrimage. Organized by the Talbot County Garden Club, this May 9, 2026 event is not to be missed!
The 2026 Talbot County Tour will showcase significant historic sites in our county to offer visitors an unrivaled experience in celebration of America’s 250th Anniversary. Visitors can access an array of houses and grounds that are rarely open to the public. These include nationally important historic waterfront homes with singular interiors and significant private gardens on the water. At each property, visitors can expect to see incredible floral displays creatively fashioned by the garden club’s talented designers – a hallmark of this biennial event.
Waterfront homes on tour include:
- Wye House (a 17th century National Historic Landmark with an 18th century residence continuously occupied by 12 generations of the Lloyd family, including a delegate to the Continental Congress, Governor, and U.S. and State Representatives);
- Plimhimmon (where Anna Maria Tilghman, widow of Revolutionary War hero Lt. Col. Tench Tilghman, entertained the Marquis de Lafayette); and
- Emerson Point (graciously set on the Miles River).
The spectacular grounds of Harleigh Farm (on Trippe Creek) will also welcome visitors.
Tours and a delicious lunch will be available at Third Haven Friends (Quaker) Meeting House (1684) in Easton. And visitors will be encouraged to tour Talbot Historical Society’s Gardens and Neall House (ca 1804). The gardens are designed and maintained by the garden club and Tour proceeds are earmarked to help with Neall House restoration.
To add to the day’s experience, visitors will be directed via exclusive audio tours to drive by and discover the many historic landmarks in Oxford and St. Michaels, towns that were influential in America’s Colonial Period.
The TCGC Talbot County Tour Committee includes: Front row (l. to r.) Co-Chairs Camille Massie and Louise Peterson; Middle row Colleen Doremus, Chloe Pitard, Madeleine Cohen, Hatsie Long, Ingrid Blanton, Paige Connelly; Back row Caroline Benson, Nancy Thompson, Dana Vlk, Kim Eckert, Myra Gons, Laura Cassidy and Marjory Sheldon. Not pictured: Margaret Benghauser, Laura Carney, Cherie Carroll, Mary Helen Cobb, Jan Cullen, Joyce Doehler, Alden Firth, Juliette Fry, Rebecca Gaffney, Tracy Garrett, Fran Jenkins, Pat Lewers, Rita Mhley, Maxine Millar, Virginia Sappington, Bob Shanahan, and Sara Walker.
The History of the Talbot County – Maryland House and Garden Pilgrimage
The Maryland House and Garden Pilgrimage is a beloved springtime tradition for thousands of “pilgrims.” From the beginning, the Talbot County Tour has been the most prestigious and sought after tour for several reasons: our creeks and rivers of unparalleled beauty; the magnificent colonial era properties along those waterways; the many points of historical interest; and, the outstanding gardens, many of which were planned by the best professional garden designers of their day.
The Pilgrimage counts 1937 as the first tour with seven counties and 37 properties – including Talbot County – and has continued every year since, with few exceptions. In Talbot County Garden Club’s 100th year, the Pilgrimage is hosting its 80th tour.
After the 50th Anniversary Tour in 1987 the TCGC board of directors voted to host the Pilgrimage only in alternate years. Now occurring in even numbered years, the Tour is TCGC’s most successful fundraiser.
Our tour’s successful reputation is due to the unparalleled efforts of decades of Talbot County Garden Club 
members paired with the unending generosity and hospitality of so many homeowners. Putting on a premiere tour requires a year of careful organization of myriad details tour after tour. With the willing, enthusiastic, and dedicated participation of 100% of the Club’s membership, every duty is attended to — from providing hostesses to road marking. It’s the work of the flower committee, led by the Club’s prizewinning, talented arrangers, that creates the crème de la crème of the Talbot Tour – the sparkling, eye-catching flower arrangements, which fill each home, interpreting the surroundings and enhancing the beauty of each place.
The Talbot Tour epitomizes what the County is so famous for – elegant, waterfront living. A pilgrim in 1987 was heard to remark, “It is not necessary to go to England to see the most beautiful gardens,” and we can enthusiastically add, “and houses and floral arrangements!”
