In today's Real Estate section, the names of Felix Agnus Lesir and Felix Agnus are misspelled.
The Sun regrets the error.
Two miles north of the Beltway, between the noisy commercial corridor of Reisterstown Road and the residential developments along Falls Road, acres of pristine meadows and woodlands hug the origin of the Jones Falls waterway.
FOR THE RECORD - CORRECTION
This is the Greenspring Valley, and in the heart of the valley, home of polo and fox hunting, is the village of Stevenson.
"We say Stevenson is from hill to hill. That is, from Reisterstown Road to Falls Road, from Chattolanee [known for spring water and a former inn] to the Beltway, an area about two miles wide," said Leona North, who has lived there 51 years.
"This whole area is not one of tremendous change. It has [risen from] old, old money with tremendous properties.
"We keep the valley basically as it is," she said, referring to her membership in the Greenspring Valley Improvement Association, which has been actively resisting development in the valley for more than 20 years.
"If we were to get water and sewer service, we would get change. We don't want change. This is a unique spot."
Stevenson's downtown is a clubby community, where first names are used and vacations are taken during the same week in August. The nucleus of Stevenson activity is probably the post office.
"We all go to the post office to pick up our mail. That's the fine tuning," said Mary Dee Beall, describing who is considered to reside in Stevenson.
At the post office, where the postwoman hands one's letters over the counter, there are 580 mailboxes and a home delivery route limited to about one mile north of the village.
Mary Dee Beall took residence in a three-story white country home in 1937, after marriage into the Beall family, which arrived here from Perry Hall in 1907.
The Beall family grocery expanded with her husband's Ford dealership, for 40 years a landmark on the corner of Stevenson Road and Old Valley Road.
Her husband gradually converted adjacent homes into storefronts. Each two-family home became two stores, and the tiny group became Stevenson Village.
Today, Stevenson Village is a cluster of upscale shops for books, interiors and accessories, flowers and garden statuary, plus a spa and small cafe. A veterinary office is to open next door. An architect's office occupies the former train station. Within sight of the post office sprawls a community member's personal menagerie of buffaloes, llamas and geese.
