Joseph “Bubby” Knott

A Legacy Built on Hard Work, Community & Giving

1946–2024

Long before Great Mills Trading Post became the company it is today, there was a little junk store at the corner of Route 5 and Indian Bridge Road, a young couple willing to work hard, and a man who could see value and opportunity where others might not.

That man was Joseph Duane “Bubby” Knott.

The nickname “Bubby” went all the way back to his childhood. At the time, the Knott families had a tradition of nicknaming their first son “Bubby.” For Joseph Duane Knott, the name stuck for a lifetime. Eventually, throughout St. Mary’s County, there was little need to say anything more than Bubby.

Where It All Began

Bubby was born in Leonardtown, Maryland, in 1946, one of nine children of Irving and Hazel Knott. His parents operated Take It Easy Ranch as well as an excavation company, and it was working alongside his father that Bubby first learned the excavation business.

In 1970, Bubby married Deborah Foster, and together they began Great Mills Trading Post.

It wasn't a construction company then.

It was quite literally a trading post.

Located at the corner of Route 5 and Indian Bridge Road in Great Mills, Bubby and Debbie bought and sold just about anything they thought had value—junk, used cars, equipment and whatever else Bubby believed he could make something out of.

That ability to see value in old and used things would stay with him throughout his life.

As the Trading Post grew, Bubby began buying and selling used cars and construction equipment. Before long, he started taking on small jobs using some of the very equipment he had originally intended to sell.

The excavation skills he had learned working with his father took over from there.

One job led to another.

The junk store became an excavation business. The excavation business grew into paving and general contracting. And over the decades that followed, Great Mills Trading Post became one of Southern Maryland's longstanding construction companies, working on roads throughout the county, projects at Naval Air Station Patuxent River and countless projects across the region.

But Bubby never really stopped being that young man at the Trading Post who loved making a deal.

Once a Trader, Always a Trader

Even after Great Mills Trading Post had grown far beyond its beginnings, Bubby never lost his love of auctions, equipment and old things.

He loved finding something others had overlooked and figuring out what could be done with it. He appreciated history and believed old things could have a new purpose.

GMTP maintained an equipment sales division throughout his lifetime, and even in his later years, Bubby could frequently be found doing what he loved—attending auctions, buying equipment and making deals.

His daughter Karen joined her parents at Great Mills Trading Post after graduating from college in 1994. She would spend the next 30 years working alongside her dad.

In later years, Bubby liked to joke that about the only reason he came into the office anymore was to have lunch with Karen.

For Karen, those years working beside him became an education no classroom could have provided.

She learned construction. She learned business. She learned how to negotiate, how to recover from mistakes and how to keep moving forward.

But perhaps the most important lesson Bubby taught her was this:

A successful business has a responsibility to the community that made its success possible.

Buy Local. Support Local. Give Back.

For Bubby, supporting the community wasn't a marketing strategy.

It was simply how he lived.

He believed strongly in buying locally, hiring locally and giving local businesses an opportunity to succeed. He mentored young contractors and business owners. He helped people get started. Sometimes he loaned them money.

Sometimes he gave someone a job or an opportunity when others would not.

He believed in second chances.

And sometimes third ones.

Bubby could negotiate a deal down to the last dollar—and then turn around and sell something at a loss because he knew the person on the other side needed a break. There were even times when he took construction jobs at cost simply because he wanted to keep his employees working.

His generosity followed much the same pattern.

Some of it was very public.

Much of it wasn't.

He supported schools, churches, fire departments, rescue squads, sports teams, nonprofit organizations and families throughout Southern Maryland.

He donated land for George Washington Carver Elementary School.

He purchased the former Brass Rail property and gave it to St. Mary's Caring, providing the organization with a permanent home from which to serve people in need.

He supported the Second District Volunteer Fire Department & Rescue Squad, not simply by writing checks, but by serving on the board, helping plan its new facility and serving as the project's general contractor.

He loved the St. Mary's County Fair and especially the 4-H livestock auction. Bubby made a point of bidding on animals belonging to children who didn't have many bidders supporting them.

His family still jokes that because of Bubby, they ate some of the most expensive bacon in St. Mary's County.

Those were the things people saw.

Then there were the things they didn't.

Helping a family afford medicine for their child.

Building a handicap ramp for someone who needed one.

Paying funeral expenses for someone he didn't know.

Helping people through addiction and recovery.

Quietly adopting families at Christmas.

Giving someone a second chance when their past made it difficult for anyone else to do so.

Often, the people receiving the help never knew it came from him.

Bubby didn't need them to.

The Magic of Flat Iron Farm

For thousands of Southern Maryland families, the name Bubby Knott will forever be connected with Christmas.

For more than 30 years, Bubby transformed Flat Iron Farm into a Christmas wonderland.

What began with Christmas lights grew year after year into something much bigger—lights, music, Santa Claus, animals, decorations, hot chocolate, hayrides and generations of families making memories together.

Bubby wasn't interested in keeping that joy to himself.

He opened his farm and shared it.

Christmas also gave him another opportunity to teach the next generation about giving. Each year he quietly adopted families who needed help. He involved his grandchildren and other young family members in shopping and wrapping gifts, wanting them to understand how fortunate they were and to experience firsthand that the gift truly is in the giving.

Flat Iron Farm also became a gathering place for charitable events throughout the year, including Bluegrass for Hospice and other community causes.

More Than the Big Things

Bubby received recognition during his lifetime for his philanthropy, including induction into the Community Foundation of Southern Maryland's Philanthropy Hall of Fame in 2016.

But awards and large donations tell only part of his story.

Bubby was larger than life. He could be tough. He could be grumpy. He expected people to work hard because he worked hard himself. He wasn't interested in perfection, but he expected people to learn from their mistakes and keep going.

He was a businessman, a negotiator and a dealmaker.

He was also a man who believed deeply in people.

He gave opportunities to people others had written off. He helped people who could never repay him. And many times, he made sure no one knew he was the person helping.

His generosity wasn't measured only in dollars.

It was measured in opportunity.

In second chances.

In jobs created.

In businesses encouraged.

In families helped.

In children supported.

And in thousands of small acts that will probably never be completely known.

A Legacy That Continues

Bubby passed away in January 2024 at the age of 77.

But his story did not end there.

Great Mills Trading Post continues today under the leadership of his daughter, Karen Siebert, carrying forward a business that began more than half a century ago with her parents selling junk on a corner in Great Mills.

His family's commitment to giving continues as well.

Following his passing, the family established the Bubby Knott Foundation — A Legacy of Giving, dedicated to carrying forward the spirit of generosity that defined his life.

And in Christmas 2024, family, friends and community members came together at Flat Iron Farm one more time for Bubby's Christmas Farewell—celebrating the tradition he loved while raising money to continue helping the community he spent his life supporting.

Perhaps that is the most fitting measure of Bubby's legacy.

He taught people to work hard.

He taught them to find value where others didn't see it.

He taught them to give people another chance.

He taught them to support their neighbors.

And most importantly, he showed through his actions that success means very little unless you use some of it to make someone else's life better.

More than fifty years after Bubby and Debbie opened that little junk store in Great Mills, the business they started is still here.

So is the community Bubby loved.



And so is the lesson he left behind:

The true gift is in the giving.

Joseph Duane “Bubby” Knott
Founder, Great Mills Trading Post
1946–2024

A life well lived. A community forever changed. A legacy that continues.