St. Mary's County unveils Tulagi Place mural, dedicates six community garden benches at Lexington Park
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Summary
The St. Mary's County Arts Council and Recreation and Parks dedicated a mural honoring local history and installed six painted benches at Lexington Manor Bassett Park on March 29, 2025. The ceremony included remarks from county officials, the mural artist and family members, and a proclamation by the commissioners.
St. Mary's County officials, artists and community members gathered March 29 at Lexington Manor Bassett Park to dedicate the Tulagi Place mural and unveil six painted benches donated to the park's community garden.
The mural — created by Tom Rogers of Flying Rabbit Art — traces Tulagi Place's history from its 1940s commercial center role tied to the Patuxent River Naval Air Station through to the present. "You can either let us sell it, buy it from you, or not and we're gonna have it," Rogers said of the wartime land takings depicted in the work, adding that the mural is meant to preserve local memories and point viewers to more information through QR codes embedded in the piece.
The project was presented as a collaboration between the St. Mary's County Arts Council and the county Department of Recreation and Parks. "The arts council is just a fantastic partner for us. We're so excited about what's coming to Carver," Ray Bivens, director of Recreation and Parks, said at the ceremony. Bivens noted county support for murals and summer arts programming and praised the new stage at the park.
Carlton Dyson, representing the family pictured in the mural, described generations affected when land was taken to build the local military installation and said, "They survived. They struggled," urging the mural be read as recognition of those families' histories.
In addition to the mural, the county and Arts Council dedicated six artist-painted benches for the Allen Community Garden. The benches were built and donated by Eagle Scout Keegan Cresswell and painted by six artists — Jamie Faith, Christina Gray, Yolanda Christiansen, Kelly Perna, Kathleen Ball and Katie Brinkley — each of whom received $1,000 for their work. The Arts Council representative said the benches illustrate themes of "connection, sustainability, resilience, harmony, wellness, and beauty." The Lions Club and a range of private donors provided funding and support for the bench project.
Speakers highlighted related arts projects: a planned Carver Community Arts Center and Makerspace on Lincoln Avenue, and ongoing Arts Park development around the park, including future sculpture and interactive installations. The Arts Council representative said the county has brought in "more than $500,000 in grant funding and private support" for arts programming and projects in the last two years.
County commissioners joined the event and read a proclamation dated March 29, 2025, recognizing the mural and bench dedication. Commissioner Eric Colvin spoke briefly about Lexington Park's redevelopment and the role of community events in the area. Organizers planned a ribbon-cutting at the mural immediately following the ceremony and announced a small tree-planting of four cherry trees as part of the day's activities.
Funding partners named during the ceremony included the Maryland State Arts Council, the Southern Maryland Folklife Center, Shore United Bank, Cedar Point Federal Credit Union, Southern Maryland Toyota, the Lexington Park Lions Club and others. The plaque and QR codes on the mural link to local institutions and archives, including the Southern Maryland Folklife Center and the local historical society, intended to provide deeper historical context for viewers.
The dedication serves both as public recognition of local history and as a continuing element of the county's broader arts initiatives, with organizers encouraging residents to visit the garden benches and scan the mural QR codes for archival material and partner resources.
