Tom Bradshaw is a Councilman serving in his second term for Dorchester County. Tom’s mission as a Councilman has been to advocate for the farmers and watermen of the area. He is a genealogist and historic researcher, specializing in Dorchester County natives and local families.
Tom serves as Dorchester’s representative to the Clean Chesapeake Coalition as well as Dorchester watermen’s representative to the Oyster Advisory Commission. Additionally, he is the Chairman of Delmarva Resource Conservation and Development Board and is the Maryland Association of Counties representative on the Heritage Areas Authority Board.
Originally from the lower part of Dorchester County, he now resides in Reid’s Grove just north of Vienna with his family. Tom is a 7th generation Eastern Shoreman and has worked in both the agriculture and seafood industries. Tom’s grandfather was a boat builder and commercial fisherman who worked on the Nanticoke river and lived below Vienna. He gave Tom the love of wooden boat building, the water and its way of life. Tom worked for a seafood processor/buyer during his junior and senior years of high school and for a time after he graduated. Tom also worked on the water periodically with a couple of his watermen friends even after he went to work in the local timber industry. Tom has spent many years as a truck driver, school bus driver and small business owner.
Tom’s goals are to preserve the watermen’s way of life and to work toward having the aquaculture and traditional seafood harvesters work side by side without conflict.