18th Century

August Court Days hark back to the late 1700s, when the Judicial Court was in session and townsfolk and those living in the surrounding countryside made it an occasion for merrymaking.A re-creation of those days will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. LTC Saturday and next Sunday in Leesburg, Va. There will be re-enactments of events of 200 years ago, including the re-election of President George Washington in 1792. The town ++ will be filled with merchants, roving musicians, mimes, militia and marching bands.

Nestled among the trees just off Bayside Beach Road in Pasadena lies an old farm called Hancock's Resolution. At first glance, passers-by are rarely enticed enough by the meager appearance of the structures to take a closer look, but those who venture up to the front door quickly discover that looks can be deceiving. Although the house is owned by Anne Arundel County, James Morrison, a local man with no ties to the house but a strong love of history, founded a group that is working to restore the property to a self-sufficient, authentic 18th-century farm.

THIS JOURNEY began innocently enough, a curious foray into my family's history. But I find it has led me into an unexpected place of greed and betrayal, slavery and cruelty. For generations my father's family has passed down a legend. It is a story of an early white settler in northern Alabama named John Gunter who married a Cherokee "princess." My father's mother was a Gunter from Alabama, and as I grew up I was intrigued by the romantic tale. I always proudly added "Cherokee" to the list of otherwise European nations whose blood we believed moved in our veins.

Visit the Hays House Museum in Bel Air Sunday at 1 p.m. and explore the health issues and illnesses that plagued 18th century women and children. Visitors will see a display of historic medical equipment and find out about herbal medicines, midwifery practices and Quaker contributions to medicine, surgery and dentistry. Your guide to the fascinating art and mystery of medical practices and theories of the time is Nancy Webster, a Past Masters history interpreter who has studied 18th century domestic life and Quaker material culture for more than 40 years.

No doubt you've heard about the three most important considerations when you're buying a house: location, location and location. They also serve quite handily as the three most important considerations in planning a wedding, too. Just about everything except your choice of spouse is determined by this most important detail -- the flowers, the colors, the style, the themes.So to assist in finding your quintessential, one-and-only, I-did-it-my-way sort of setting, we've compiled what you might think of as a real estate listing of area reception sites.

Last night in Meyerhoff Hall with conductor David Zinman and the Baltimore Symphony, Angela Hewitt gave a performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 that cleaned out the ears.Hewitt, a Canadian pianist in her middle 30s, played the famous opening chord by rolling it: Instead of playing the notes simultaneously, she played them in quick succession from bottom to top. This is a practice of 18th-century music, and it is perhaps no accident that Hewitt is a specialist in the music of Bach.

Ellswood Shank, 64, loves old homes and history. A few years ago, heused that love to restore a dilapidated 200-year-old Havre de Grace home to its former glory."

The stately brick manor has stood on a Harford County hillside since 1791 and has been home to several prominent Maryland families, including that of a former governor whose signature is on the Declaration of Independence. But a developer's site plan refers to the two-story house near Bel Air as an "existing dwelling" that could be razed to make way for a luxury townhouse complex for senior citizens. And as county planners consider the proposal, preservationists have taken up the cause of trying to save the home.

After five years of contention, Howard Community College is putting Belmont, its secluded 18th-century estate in Elkridge, up for sale. The unanimous decision by the college's board of trustees comes as college leaders confront a growing demand for money to expand the main campus in Columbia. With the state cutting operating funds, tuition increases are likely even as more students seek financial aid. "There is concern this might not be the end of cuts for the year," Howard Community College President Kate Hetherington told the board of trustees at a meeting Wednesday night.

Several hundred visitors eager to see a restored log-and-stone home could arrive on the doorstep next month, and the Fieselers are eager to welcome them. John and Katie Fieseler will readily describe their efforts to return their two-story home in Keymar to its original 18th-century appearance. They have albums of photos that give "before-and-after" glimpses of the farmhouse, the barn and the surrounding three acres. They can answer questions about how they have painstakingly restored most of the home and how they still have a few bedrooms and the barn to go. "We are putting it back, room by room," John Fieseler said.