Chestertown Flashback: Delia Ringgold Caulk

On this last Friday of Women’s History Month we share a 1988 portrait by Tyler Campbell of Delia Ringgold Caulk, who was born in Big Woods in 1910 and called Kent County home all her life. According to a passage about Mrs. Caulk from Here on the Chester, Washington College Remembers Old Chestertown by John Lang (© 2006, Washington College),

As a young girl, Delia Ringgold Caulk worked in the fields, did domestic work, and worked for several canneries. At hog butchering time, she went from farm to farm, where she helped cut up meat, made scrapple, and put up lard in 50-pound cans. She later worked at the Rigbie Hotel in Betterton, where as a “pantry girl” she washed and sorted the silver for each waitress. She worked at the Chestertown Cannery and the Vita Foods plant. At one time, she was the only black woman who worked at the old Acme store, where she dressed chickens.

Yet apart from her lifetime of labor, Mrs. Caulk served the Lord and her community. She was the first president of the No. 2 Kent and Queen Anne’s Hospital Auxiliary (No. 2 indicating the black membership), and at one time she was chaplain of the Kent County PTA. Her life centered around Fountain Methodist Church on Big Woods Road, where the pastor and parishioners called her “Old Faithful” and “Rock of Gibraltar” because they could always count on her to help. She taught Sunday school, and was president of what is now the Methodist Women. At one time she was in a “praying band,” part of a troupe of musicians with only their voices for instruments.

The first exhibit of 2025 at the Bordley History Center includes several oral histories from the Historical Society’s collection. Delia Caulk’s is among them, and all are encouraged to stop in and listen to Mrs. Caulk’s story in her own voice, and to the others that are also available. The Bordley History Center is open Thursdays and Fridays from 11 am – 2 pm, Saturdays from 10 am – 1 pm. Image courtesy of Tyler Campbell.