Most motorists encounter Trappe only as that three-mile “Speed Awareness Zone“ on Rte. 50 in Talbot County between Easton and Cambridge as they whiz through, bound for Ocean City or the Bay Bridge.

But just one block west of Rte. 50 is Trappe’s quiet Main Street, with Main and Maple at the center of this old town. Incorporated in 1827, Trappe’s history traces to colonial days. Before the original Choptank River bridge was built in 1933, Trappe was the economic hub for southern Talbot County. The 2010 census reported  1,077 residents.

No longer a center for agricultural equipment and supplies, Trappe is a bedroom community with its economy based on a few restaurants and local businesses. We visited The Coffee Trappe on Main Street for a chocolate-chip cookie and a macaron and snapped a few photos of old homes.

Trappe is proud of native son Nathaniel “Nace” Hopkins. Born a slave in 1834, Hopkins joined the Union Army after Lincoln authorized “Colored” troops. Shortly after the Civil War, Nace organized a parade in Trappe to celebrate Emancipation, a tradition the town still celebrates annually, with the parade led by Hopkins’ descendants. His gravestone reads: “A soldier in the Civil War and originator of Emancipation parade in Trappe.”

Baseball Hall of Famer Frank “Home Run” Baker was a lifelong Trappe resident. He reportedly owned several homes here, but the one at 3872 Main Street is what’s remembered. Baker grew up in a farm family, returned to Trappe after every baseball season, and lived here in retirement. Though nicknamed “Home Run,” Baker played in the dead ball era and hit only 96 home runs in his entire 13-year major league career.

Other attractions include the Unicorn Book Shop at 3935 Ocean Gateway (Rte. 50) and the Rural Life Museum, located a mile north of Trappe on Backtown Road.

Governed by its town council and managed by a full-time administrator, Trappe shares problems with other small Eastern Shore towns, principally the cost to maintain its aging infrastructure, a small tax base, and the paucity of local employment opportunities.

And how did Trappe come by its name? According to Unicorn Bookstore owner James Lawson, “Trappe probably got its name because of a tavern: people who went there were said to be at ‘the Trap.’ This tavern was the nucleus around which the town grew. The fact that another Trappe in another state also got its name this way gives credence to this. It is thought that this tavern was the one owned by John Stevens as early as 1777, but there is no evidence that this tavern was named The Partridge Trap, which is a 20th Century invention. Other theories that the name came from some sort of trapping activity are less likely, but not impossible. However, one thing is definite: Trappe did NOT get its name from a Trappist monastery!”