Dickeyville

The pungent, haunting narrative of Laura Lippman's new novel, "The Most Dangerous Thing," kicks in with a group of kids arguing for dibs on a grassy kickball field near a cotton mill on "Wetheredsville Road. " The whole scene sounds like a cozy nostalgia trip. But that patch of grass really does exist - in Charm City, no less - in isolated, rustic Dickeyville. Lippman grew up there, and "The Most Dangerous Thing" is full of vivid backgrounds and behavior - some factual, some imagined - pulled from or inspired by the youth she spent in this improbable neighborhood on the western edge of Baltimore.

A Baltimore police officer watching for vandals in the Dickeyville community arrested a 15-year-old boy Sunday and charged him with slashing the tires on two cars. Police said someone cut the tires of at least two vehicles, and possibly more, Friday night or Saturday morning. The incidents occurred in the 2300 and 2400 block of Pickwick Road. The community is located on the western edge of Baltimore, near the start of Interstate 70. After residents called police, an officer in the Southwestern District went on alert and kept a close watch on the neighborhood, said Detective Jeremy Silbert, a city police spokesman.

Virginia L. Sandlass, a local historian and former member of numerous civic groups, died Tuesday of a heart attack at St. Agnes HealthCare. She was 95 and lived at the Charlestown Retirement Community in Catonsville. She was born Virginia Allison in Bridgeville, Pa., and grew up in the Pittsburgh area, graduating from Tarentum High School in 1925. She graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1929 with a degree in English literature and moved to New York City, where she modeled for department stores, worked in a law firm and, in 1932, married Henry L. Sandlass, an architect.

The pungent, haunting narrative of Laura Lippman's new novel, "The Most Dangerous Thing," kicks in with a group of kids arguing for dibs on a grassy kickball field near a cotton mill on "Wetheredsville Road. " The whole scene sounds like a cozy nostalgia trip. But that patch of grass really does exist - in Charm City, no less - in isolated, rustic Dickeyville. Lippman grew up there, and "The Most Dangerous Thing" is full of vivid backgrounds and behavior - some factual, some imagined - pulled from or inspired by the youth she spent in this improbable neighborhood on the western edge of Baltimore.

An old sign for Dickeyville once proclaimed it "the most interesting development in America." But "development" is not what comes to mind when looking at this quaint 200-year-old historic district, complete with winding cobblestone streets, white picket fences, towering trees and generations of landscaping.Residents call Dickeyville a village.Longtime residents Joan and Sam McCready said the area is reminiscent of the old village green in their home country of Ireland. "It's the place where everyone comes together to celebrate as a village," Sam McCready said.

Good news for ferrets and the people who love them: Those small, mildly stinky critters may now be bought and sold without a special permit in the city. Ferrets are no longer considered wild animals by the health department. The city had been the only metropolitan-area subdivision that restricted ownership of the increasingly popular pets, a domesticated variety of polecat. The Baltimore Ferret Club is quite excited by all this -- though I'll bet they're not too excited by my use of "mildly stinky."

Dickeyville's quiet, narrow streets and historic homes may lure buyers to the West Baltimore neighborhood, but once residents settle in, they rave about the neighbors."

Bert Page Smith, a retired mechanical engineer who spent 25 years restoring a pre-Civil War house in historic Dickeyville, died Friday of heart failure at Timber Ridge Nursing Center in Dunnellon, Fla. He was 96. Mr. Smith was born in Washington, the son of Elbert Lucian Smith, who was chief of staff to an Arkansas congressman. He was raised in Washington and Arkansas, and returned to Pine Bluff with his family in 1923. After graduating from Pine Bluff High School in 1931, he attended George Washington University in Washington.

A Baltimore police officer watching for vandals in the Dickeyville community arrested a 15-year-old boy Sunday and charged him with slashing the tires on two cars. Police said someone cut the tires of at least two vehicles, and possibly more, Friday night or Saturday morning. The incidents occurred in the 2300 and 2400 block of Pickwick Road. The community is located on the western edge of Baltimore, near the start of Interstate 70. After residents called police, an officer in the Southwestern District went on alert and kept a close watch on the neighborhood, said Detective Jeremy Silbert, a city police spokesman.

Just beyond the south-side entrance to Dickeyville, a mill town established in 1772, the home of Brooks Woodward and Riess Livaudais is one of the first few you see. Its steeply pitched roof and twin gables trimmed in lacelike, wooden cut-outs commonly referred to as gingerbread, attest to its architectural style of Victorian Gothic. Constructed of brick, fieldstone and clapboard, this three-story home is believed to have served as an officers' infirmary during the War of 1812 (as noted on a shiny brass plaque at the front door)

Barbara R. Worthington, a retired credit union administrative assistant and weaver, died June 29 of lung cancer at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. The Mount Washington resident was 70. Barbara Reeves, the daughter of a Presbyterian minister and a homemaker, was born in Baltimore and raised in Forest Hills and Riverdale, N.Y. She was a 1957 graduate of Riverdale Country School and earned a bachelor's degree in psychology in 1961 from William Smith College, now Hobart William Smith.

Luther S. Sieck, a retired longtime floral supply salesman and Dickeyville resident, died in his sleep Jan. 22 at Mercy Ridge in Timonium. He was 100. Born at home in Federal Hill, Mr. Sieck was raised in Northwest Baltimore, where he attended Forest Park High School. Mr. Sieck worked as a driving instructor until the 1930s, when he joined Claymore C. Sieck, the wholesale family-owned flower firm established in 1918. For more than 40 years until retiring in the 1970s, Mr. Sieck traveled the East Coast selling the company's floral supplies.

Just beyond the south-side entrance to Dickeyville, a mill town established in 1772, the home of Brooks Woodward and Riess Livaudais is one of the first few you see. Its steeply pitched roof and twin gables trimmed in lacelike, wooden cut-outs commonly referred to as gingerbread, attest to its architectural style of Victorian Gothic. Constructed of brick, fieldstone and clapboard, this three-story home is believed to have served as an officers' infirmary during the War of 1812 (as noted on a shiny brass plaque at the front door)

Bert Page Smith, a retired mechanical engineer who spent 25 years restoring a pre-Civil War house in historic Dickeyville, died Friday of heart failure at Timber Ridge Nursing Center in Dunnellon, Fla. He was 96. Mr. Smith was born in Washington, the son of Elbert Lucian Smith, who was chief of staff to an Arkansas congressman. He was raised in Washington and Arkansas, and returned to Pine Bluff with his family in 1923. After graduating from Pine Bluff High School in 1931, he attended George Washington University in Washington.

The voice of William C. Schultheis echoed off stone walls and clapboard Dickeyville homes on July 4th mornings. He spoke through a bullhorn as he led his neighborhood's annual history walk along nearly forgotten mill sites, abandoned streetcar lines and a jail. His audience offered no objections when the history lesson lasted two hours. The retired Baltimore teacher died of lung cancer Wednesday at the Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. He was 70. Born and raised in Frostburg, he was a Beall High School graduate.

Zoe M. Parrott, a former longtime Dickeyville resident and World War II veteran, died of pneumonia Monday at the Charlestown Retirement Community. She was 96. Zoe McFadden was born and raised in Roanoke, Ind. She attended Butler University in Indianapolis, and earned a law degree from George Washington University Law School in 1940. In 1942, she enlisted in the Navy WAVES - Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service - and served in Washington as a member of the Judge Advocate Corps.

"Carolyn called me at work one day and said, 'I just got a call from somebody at Better Homes and Gardens,' " Robert Hill relates. "I said, 'Are they selling subscriptions?' "No indeed. Although the couple still can't quite believe it, their Dickeyville house had been "discovered" by one of Better Homes' editors, who thought it a perfect candidate for the shelter magazine's glossy pages."I asked first if they had the right house," Carolyn Hill says. "I wasn't being clever. I was really wondering."

Say "church" and most people conjure images of "sanctuary," "somber" and "formal." For Jim Griffin, the word church means "home."For the past 13 years, he has lived in a converted Dickeyville church built in 1849.The stone building originally served as a Quaker meeting house (then called the Ashland Chapel) for local mill workers and later was used as a Methodist church. In 1960, it was converted to a house, and since then it has changed hands twice. Griffin bought the house in 1986 for $195,000 and has invested $20,000 in repairs and renovations.

Erma P. Clapper, a retired licensed day care operator and avid stationary bicyclist, died from complications of a stroke Dec. 12 at Northwest Hospital Center. The Dickeyville resident was 89. Erma Mae Perry was born in Randolph, Vt. Because she was sickly as a child, the family moved to Florida for several years on the advice of a physician. They later moved to Port Deposit, then to Phoenix in Baltimore County. A graduate of Bel Air High School, she married Samuel P. Clapper, an engineering draftsman at Edgewood Arsenal, in 1943.