Silver Spring’s Talbot Avenue Bridge now honors a Lyttonsville woman’s legacy
New plaque honors Charlotte Coffield, a lifelong resident, community activist
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Danny Chung-A-FungJune 26, 2026 11:31 a.m.
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A multicultural community of friends, neighbors and Montgomery County officials gathered Thursday morning at the north side of the Talbot Avenue Bridge in the historically Black Silver Spring neighborhood of Lyttonsville to honor one of their own.
The crowd gathered near the intersection of Fourth Avenue and Grace Church Road to watch the unveiling of a plaque that will eventually be in the center of the Talbot Avenue Bridge. That plaque will posthumously honor Charlotte Coffield, a lifelong resident of Lyttonsville who spent most of her life in service and activism to the community.
For decades, the bridge was a single-lane wooden structure that was the only way to travel from Lyttonsville. The bridge was removed in 2019 to allow for construction of the upcoming light-rail Purple Line, and a new bridge has been in place since 2024.
“[To] my mom, the Talbot Avenue Bridge was never just a crossing to her,” Myra Coffield, Charlotte Coffield’s only child, said at the plaque unveiling. “She understood that preserving it and rebuilding it wasn’t just about steel, concrete, timber. It was about reuniting the people that history had worked hard to divide and keep separate.”
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According to her 2024 death notice, Charlotte Coffield was born on June 19, 1933, and spent her 43-year career in the federal government. She was notable for being the first sign-language interpreter in the federal government, working in what eventually became the Department of Education. Myra Coffield told Bethesda Today that her mom never envisioned serving as an interpreter – her work came about when she had a new boss who was deaf and she had to “figure out how to make things work.” In 1995, after her retirement, Coffield received an honorary doctorate from Gallaudet University for her dedication as an activist for the deaf community.
Coffield was also an advocate for Head Start programs, helping at-risk youth, and individuals with disabilities. She also received numerous awards including the Roscoe Nix Distinguished Community Leadership Award, which honors individuals who make exceptional contributions to improving life in the county.
Just as Coffield was a staple of the Lyttonsville community, so is the Talbot Avenue Bridge.
The original 100-year-old, one-lane wooden-and-steel crossing was once the link between segregated communities. African Americans lived on the Lyttonsville side and North Woodside was inhabited by primarily white residents. The bridge passed over the CSX and Metro tracks and provided Lyttonsville residents a connection to employment, shopping and recreational opportunities in Silver Spring, according to the Greater Lyttonsville Sector Plan.
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“Growing up here, this is how [Coffield] and her neighbors reached the rest of the world and she never forgot that,” County Councilmember Will Jawando (D-At-large) said at the unveiling. “It’s really fitting that she spent the rest of her lifetime creating bridges for other people to cross.”
County Executive Marc Elrich, who also spoke at the unveiling, talked about his relationship with Coffield.
“I knew Charlotte for a long time,” Elrich said. “She was the epitome of good trouble. She knew how to frame what she was getting at in really positive ways, and she was kind of irresistible because of that.”
Parts of the old bridge will eventually be incorporated into the new bridge, according to state Del. Jared Solomon (D-18), who was also on hand Thursday.
“The original bridge is going to be incorporated in a really wonderful park as soon as the Purple Line is finished to outlive all of us, hopefully, as a symbol of really the bright future of this community,” Solomon said.
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As an African American who lives in Sandy Spring, another historic African American town in the county, Jawando said he appreciates how more African American history is being taught around the county.
“The beautiful thing about Montgomery County is there’s a lot of history here that’s important and worth learning that you’re not necessarily taught all the time,” Jawando said. “I’m really proud of [the fact that] now in the schools, we are teaching more history around local African American history … and this bridge is a part of that.”
Myra Coffield noted that even as Coffield was nearing the end of her life, the bridge still held a special place in her heart.
“On her last birthday…. [I told her] we could drive wherever she wanted to go,” Myra Coffield said. “It was no surprise where she chose. She wanted to come here. We drove around the neighborhood and we crossed this bridge many times … back and forth and back and forth.”
Ginny Bixby contributed reporting to this story.
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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine