Founders

In August of 1933, Mrs. Benjamin E. Talbott (born Mary Cecelia Hamilton) of Charles County, and her daughter, Mrs. John Jenkins Hagerty, were visiting "Hawthorne," the ancestral home overlooking Port Tobacco Valley. She was eager to locate the grave of a Revolutionary ancestor, Colonel Edward Hamilton, in the small Catholic cemetery at Mt. Carmel. She found the Hamilton family plot, and with it, the graves of other well-known Maryland families. . .the Semmes, Spaldings, Davises, Jamesons, Brents, Brookes, Clements, Sanders and Farrels.

Because of the unique history, they resolved to see what could be done to initiate a restoration program. The following year, 1934, the citizens of Maryland were celebrating the tercentenary of the founding of the Maryland Colony at St. Mary's City. Patriotism and civic pride were contagious, and buildings and landmarks were being restored. Why not restore the site and the buildings where the later faithful had planted the fruit of that religious freedom—the foundation of religious life?

Mrs. Talbott and her daughter set to work to organize a society to restore the buildings as well as acquire sufficient land for pilgrimages. Underlying these plans was the fond hope that Carmelites would one day return. Archbishop Michael Curley of Baltimore approved heartily and appointed Mrs. Talbott president and Rev. John Farley, S.J., of Washington, chaplain. The officers now consisted of the Archbishop as Honorary President, a chaplain, president, two vice-presidents, secretary, treasurer, historian, and a board of four governors.

The organization of the Restorers was officially realized on July 16, 1935. The legal name "Restorers of Mt. Carmel in Maryland" was suggested by the prioress of the Baltimore Carmel at that time, Mother Seraphim, with reference to St. Teresa of Avila, the great "restorer" of the Order of Carmel.