Winter Lecture: Chesapeake Bound

Speaker: Thomas Guay, Author and Musician (Eastport Oyster Boys)  

Thomas Guay is the author of Chesapeake Bound, a historical novel tracing one young man’s perilous 18th-century journey from London to Annapolis—and the motivations that drove ordinary Britons to risk years of indentured servitude for a chance at a new beginning. A former Capitol Hill journalist, Guay turned toward history and storytelling, drawing on his work as a guide with the Charles Carroll House and Watermark Tours to bring colonial Annapolis vividly to life. 

His lecture examines a central question: Why—and how—did Britain lose her American colonies? Through the firsthand experiences of indentured servants who arrived in Annapolis during the Stamp Act crisis, Guay explores the economic, social, and political pressures that transformed loyal subjects into reluctant revolutionaries. 

A student of history at the University of Maryland under Dr. Gordon Prange, Guay credits Barbara Tuchman as a major influence. Since moving to Annapolis in 1999, he has been deeply involved in Chesapeake culture—as a sailor, longtime Severn River Association board member and executive director, advocate for habitat restoration, and member of the Eastport Oyster Boys.