Live Stream to Reimagine Margaret Crowner’s Cook Shop

The Galesville Community Center Organization, Inc. (GCCO) proudly presents a virtual live stream presentation to reimagine Margaret Crowner’s Cook Shop, a two-room structure that served the Galesville and the West Benning Road communities.

Mark your calendar to watch this engaging online virtual presentation on Saturday, November 21 at 6:00 pm. This event will be live streamed on Galesville Community Center Organization Facebook. A link to access the live stream will be emailed a week prior to November 21st and available on GCCO Facebook.

Built in 1941 by Margaret’s husband Benjamin Crowner, Sr. and other men within the community, the Cook Shop stood at 954 West Benning Road in Galesville and operated until 1962. This local restaurant became a central gathering place during segregation and afterward. Patrons of the Cook Shop included employees at Woodfield Fish & Oyster Company and F. H. Benning Oyster Company, workers at tobacco warehouse companies in nearby Upper Marlboro, and players on the Galesville Hot Sox baseball team and their opponents. A hot delicious meal could be had for only 25 cents, Monday through Saturday, from 7:00 am until about 10:00 pm. The Cook Shop menu offered chicken, ham, fish, oysters, crab cakes, soups, and sandwiches, as well as corn, cabbage, and potatoes. Dessert items included an assortment of pies, cakes, and ice cream, while coffee and a variety of soda drinks were also available. The Cook Shop also provided an important venue for movies, bingo, dances, birthday parties, and other forms of entertainment.

Noted genealogist and oral historian Lyndra Marshall (née Pratt) will interview members of the Crowner family, including LTC. Samuel “Rodney” Hull, grandson of Margaret and Benjamin Crowner and son of Harriet Crowner Hull and Oliver Hull, as well as granddaughter Sylvia Crowner Butler and great-niece Henrietta Crowner Stevenson. Mr. Hull and Mrs. Butler will share memories of working at the restaurant at a very young age. This informative, educational program will also feature an engaging cooking demonstration by Gertrude Makell (a well-known cook in the community and president of the GCCO) along with the community center cooking team, followed by a sampling of the types of food served at the Cook Shop. Doris Sellman Foote, native of Galesville, a Crowner family member, and another well-known cook in the community, prepared the desserts or baked the desserts.

This program is sponsored by the Galesville Community Center Organization, Inc., Lost Towns Project, Arts Council of Anne Arundel County, Preservation Maryland, Maryland Historical Trust, and Maryland Humanities.

Courtesy RSVPs would be appreciated but are not required, and may be emailed to galesvillecommunitycenter@gmail.com or [email protected]