Broad Creek

The lone occupant in any of the cottages along Broad Creek in northern Harford County refused to leave Monday evening, when county volunteers went door to door to urge any residents to evacuate because of rising waters from Hurricane Sandy, the county government reported shortly before 7 p.m. Monday. "Members of the Harford County Tactical Rescue Team and Darlington Volunteer Fire Company, with support from National Guard resources, are currently going door-to-door at the cottages along Broad Creek in proximity to Flintville Road, and asking the inhabitants to evacuate the residences if they have not already done so," the county said in a news release issued Monday evening.

The lone occupant in any of the cottages along Broad Creek in northern Harford County refused to leave Monday evening, when county volunteers went door to door to urge any residents to evacuate because of rising waters from Hurricane Sandy, the county government reported shortly before 7 p.m. Monday. "Members of the Harford County Tactical Rescue Team and Darlington Volunteer Fire Company, with support from National Guard resources, are currently going door-to-door at the cottages along Broad Creek in proximity to Flintville Road, and asking the inhabitants to evacuate the residences if they have not already done so," the county said in a news release issued Monday evening.

Boy Scouts from around the Baltimore area gathered in Annapolis last week to witness a historic event involving the state's transfer of ownership to part of the Broad Creek Memorial Scout Reservation in northern Harford County. At a Board of Public Works meeting in the Governor's Reception Room in the State House, under a portrait of George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, Gov. Martin O'Malley signed an actual sheepskin land patent, granting 19.014 acres of previously state-owned land at Broad Creek to the Baltimore Area Council, Boy Scouts of America.

Boy Scouts from around the Baltimore area gathered in Annapolis last week to witness a historic event involving the state's transfer of ownership to part of the Broad Creek Memorial Scout Reservation in northern Harford County. At a Board of Public Works meeting in the Governor's Reception Room in the State House, under a portrait of George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, Gov. Martin O'Malley signed an actual sheepskin land patent, granting 19.014 acres of previously state-owned land at Broad Creek to the Baltimore Area Council, Boy Scouts of America.

For nearly a half-century, Broad Creek has meant camping for Boy Scouts in the greater Baltimore area. Three generations of families have enjoyed the rustic accommodations, the woods and trails, the campfires and the swimming pool in the formative periods of their lives.Year-round, some 20,000 scouts, parents and other campers use the spacious Broad Creek Memorial Scout Reservation in northeastern Harford County, along the tributary of the Susquehanna River. It hosts scouts from other states and even from foreign countries.

A stretch of Broad Creek that was closed for five days in the wake of a sewage spill reopened last week.Swimming, water-skiing and diving are allowed once again in the upper end of the Annapolis creek, said Evelyn E. Stein, spokeswoman for the county Health Department.Health officials posted signs Sept. 8 prohibiting water sports in the section between Heritage Harbour and Camp Woodlands, a Girl Scout camp on Riva Road, after an undetermined amount of raw waste spilled into the headwaters from a blocked sewer line.

A contaminated well at Broad Creek Memorial Scout Reservation in Harford County sickened as many as 200 campers last week, according to county health officials, who said they were concerned that the camp did not report the outbreak. "We found a fair number of children were ill and acted immediately to prevent the spread of disease," said Dr. Andrew Bernstein, Harford's health officer. Results of samples from the well tested positive yesterday for fecal coliform bacteria. The camp, which closes for the season today, has brought in bottled water and cannot use water from the well for drinking or food handling.

For nearly 50 years, the tradition of camping at the Broad Creek Memorial Scout Reservation in northeast Harford County has been passed down from one generation of Baltimore area Boy Scouts to the next.And before this summer's seven-week camping season is over, about 4,500 Scouts and their leaders will sleep on cots in tents under the stars on 2,200 acres of pristine woodland owned by the Baltimore Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America.They'll gather in lodges to learn about nature and improve their outdoor skills, earn merit badges, sing songs after meals in the dining pavilions and perform skits around evening campfires.

Saturday dawned crisp and clear, but some families living on Broad Creek in Annapolis had to abandon their weekend plans when a sewage spill left the waters less than inviting.The Anne Arundel County Health Department closed a stretch of the creek from Heritage Harbour to Camp Woodlands, a Girl Scout camp on Riva Road, until the contamination is cleared.An undetermined amount of raw waste spilled into the headwaters of Broad Creek from a blocked sewer line in the Heritage Harbour housing community, said Evelyn E. Stein, spokeswoman for the county Health Department.

The Baltimore Area Council of the Boys Scouts of America is beginning a campaign to raise $3 million to pay for repairs to the aging Broad Creek Memorial Scout Reservation in Northeast Harford County.Since 1948, the camp has provided year-round recreation for youngsters -- particularly Boy Scouts -- from the Baltimore metropolitan area. Now, as the 50th birthday of the 2,000-acre campground approaches, donations will be solicited from scouting families and leaders as well as from corporations and foundations.

From the pages of The Aegis dated Thursday, July 6, 1961: The big news in Harford County 50 years ago this week was soil conservationists and county officials signing an agreement to allow two more dams to built along Little Deer Creek that, according to the story, "which will hold and release evenly flood waters feeding into Deer Creek. " Bel Air celebrated the Fourth of July a bit differently than it will this year. According to a front page picture, "Bel Air's celebration of July 4 was the raising of 'Old Glory' on the new flag pole on the courthouse lawn, after many months of discussion.

A 72-year-old Rossville man who had been reported missing was found dead Tuesday in a car partially submerged in a Harford County creek, the Maryland State Police said. He was identified as Edward Jackson, 72, of the 5000 block of Brightleaf Court in eastern Baltimore County. The cause of his death will be determined by an autopsy. Jackson had last been seen leaving the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Baltimore at 5:30 a.m. Monday. Shortly before 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, the state police's Bel Air barrack received a call from a man walking northbound on Pylesville Road, just north of Wheeler School Road in Harford County.

Montgomery Rockville Israeli tech company to move to state Gov. Martin O'Malley announced yesterday that a Jerusalem-based identity-authentication company will establish its U.S. headquarters in Rockville, where it already has a small operation. The deal with ClassifEye comes at the end of the governor's weeklong trip to Israel. The state will give ClassifEye $250,000 through an Enterprise Investment Fund, which assists startup technology companies, and officials said Montgomery County will provide an additional $75,000.

Terry Hanley is fond of his cottage on the water, a cozy four-bedroom house surrounded by soaring oaks and maples tucked into the bank of Broad Creek. "They are Harford County's best secret treasures," said Hanley, who lives year-round in Bel Air but spends many weekends with his family at the cottage, one of about 170 along the shores of Broad Creek and the Susquehanna River. But Hanley's getaway and the other cottages, some that have been on the water for more than 60 years, face an uncertain future as the county begins what an official called one of the largest home inspection efforts in Harford history.

Neavitt -- The fog on Broad Creek hangs like cotton as Floyd "Bunky" Chance Jr. wends his way toward the Choptank River and one of three oyster bars he knows are bulging with fat bivalves. In the cluttered wheelhouse of Chance's 30-foot work boat, Our Daily Bread, satellite navigational equipment flashes and a depth finder displays the outline of the shoal he is searching for. In the murky pre-dawn, he easily locates the reef, 14 feet below the surface of the brown-gray waters near St. Michaels.

Sept. 10, 1781: The heavy artillery and baggage train of the French Count de Rochambeau camped at Indian Spring before traveling south to join American troops at Bush. This encampment gave him easy access to Bald Friar, a well-known ford and ferry on the Susquehanna River. The most southern ford of the river, Bald Friar was part of Robert West's "Maiden's Mount" property, which extended between Peddler's Run and Broad Creek. Rochambeau traveled to Bush via Trappe and Churchville, accounting for just some of the military traffic that passed through Harford County during the Revolutionary War. [Sources: The Complete Guide to Maryland Historic Markers by Joe A. Swisher; Our Harford Heritage by C. Milton Wright; research by Harford County Public Library.

Despite a voluntary evacuation alert on the morning of Oct. 8 amid a heavy storm, residents south of the Broad Creek Dam need not worry much about the prospect of floodwaters breaching the nearly 60-year-old concrete structure. The storm that dumped 11 inches of rain on some parts of Harford County caused Lake Straus to rise considerably and caused more than five feet of water to rush over the dam that links it to the Susquehanna River. As water began to trickle into the creek's floodplain and inch toward nearby roads, Darlington's volunteer fire department told residents they might want to consider leaving the area.

Terry Hanley is fond of his cottage on the water, a cozy four-bedroom house surrounded by soaring oaks and maples tucked into the bank of Broad Creek. "They are Harford County's best secret treasures," said Hanley, who lives year-round in Bel Air but spends many weekends with his family at the cottage, one of about 170 along the shores of Broad Creek and the Susquehanna River. But Hanley's getaway and the other cottages, some that have been on the water for more than 60 years, face an uncertain future as the county begins what an official called one of the largest home inspection efforts in Harford history.

Government Acting director of elections quits With less than three weeks until the primary election, Harford County's acting elections director has stepped down because of stress and health issues, the county's elections board president said yesterday. Rena Waggoner's predecessor retired months ago, citing personal reasons. "There's a lot going on, and most anybody in that position is under an awful lot of stress," said Edward D. Yoder, president of the county elections board. "Because of these extra things being hung onto the program, it's gotten a little more intense than I've ever seen it before."