A sign beside the Arundel Expressway alerts motorists that they are approaching a community that demands respect.
Next exit -- Marley.
For the northern Anne Arundel community of Marley, it is an exit sign that symbolizes the spirit of a community that will not be dismissed. It is a story that still evokes a smile of satisfaction from Margaret Brown.
A resident of Marley for 42 years, Brown remembers the period after the opening of the extension to the Arundel Expressway in 1989.
"When the construction was over, the county put up an exit sign for Glen Burnie and for Sun Valley," recalled Brown. "Marley was the first neighborhood off the exit. You have to drive through Marley to get to Sun Valley, but there wasn't any way to know that from the signs."
While other communities might have shrugged off the slight, the neighbors in Marley started to make phone calls and write letters.
They got the sign.
A working-class neighborhood that traces its roots back to 1731, Marley is a busy community alive with constant activity -- teen-agers swimming in backyard pools, budding young athletes their way to football practice, retired couples lounging on their porches.
It would be a good guess that many of the drivers are on their way to a shopping center. Easy access to two major malls, dozens of specialty stores and shopping plazas is a major selling point for the community.
"Oh yes, it's a shoppers' heaven around here. Just down the street is Ritchie Highway and every store imaginable," Brown said with a laugh.
The opening of Marley Station was a joyous day for Helen Lawrence. Visiting the mall on Saturdays is a family activity for Lawrence, who takes along her daughter, Sharon Lenoir, and granddaughters Heather and Elizabeth.
Lawrence and her husband, Tom, now deceased, moved to Marley in 1965 to be closer to his job as a manager at Pep Boys. They raised two children on a quiet cul-de-sac off Marley Neck Road.
Lenoir lives across Marley Creek in Glen Burnie and her son, Jim, lives in Florida.
For years, Lawrence has talked about moving to Florida, but the roots she has in Marley have delayed her move again and again. She's not ready to leave home.
"I have such good neighbors here; they watch out for you," Lawrence said. "I have a neighbor who called last night to see if I was all right, because I had left a light on in the house that I normally turn off before I go to sleep. He was worried about me."
