While a large celebration takes place every year honoring the protest in this Maryland town, some historians doubt that it ever actually happened. A ship called the Geddes landed in the town in May 1774 – that much is clear – and according to legend, some colonists boarded the ship in the middle of the day and threw tea they found on the ship overboard while others cheered. However, unlike the other tea parties, there aren't any pamphlets or reports in newspapers documenting the incident, and a historian notorious for getting dates wrong was the first to introduce the idea in a book. The official ledger which recorded the landing of the Geddes in port does state that there were "East India" goods aboard and this could have meant tea – but it might also have been silk or some other material.
