Druid Hill Park

WJZ sports director Mark Viviano was assaulted by teens as he jogged through Druid Hill Park on Tuesday afternoon, police said. Viviano was wearing headphones as he ran through the park and past three teens when one struck him in the head from behind, said Agent Donny Moses, a spokesman with city department. Viviano said he did not hear the teens come up behind him about 1 p.m. He said a second teen tried to hit him but missed. He said they exchanged words, but Viviano continued to run, while the teens ran the other way. Viviano said he was not injured.

The week after Memorial Day sees the return of a good bunch of popular farmers' markets. The Lauraville Farmers' Market starts up again on Tuesday. This sweet little market, sponsored by Hamilton-Lauraville Main Street, runs every Tuesday, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., through Oct. 15 at 4500 Harford Road, across from the Safeway. The Baltimore County Farmers Market at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium returns on Wednesday. The market continues every Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., through Oct. 30. The Druid Hill Farmers' Market is back on Wednesday for its third year.

A 29-year-old man was fatally shot early Monday a few blocks south of Druid Hill Park, according to Baltimore police. An officer responded about 2:49 a.m. to the 2700 block of Parkwood Ave. for a report of gunshots and found the man suffering from gunshot wounds. The victim, identified as Louis Scott of the 2700 block of Parkwood Ave., was taken to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where he was pronounced dead at 3:29 a.m., police said. Homicide detectives were investigating, and anyone with information was asked to call 410-396-2100.

Fred Rasmussen wrote a terrific article about Sunday's inaugural Art Outside at Druid Hill Park ("Arts patron revives Druid Hill outdoor festival," May 17). The event was outstanding, bringing the city back together in a beautiful setting. Many communities came together to support this wonderful day. Just like the art show of the '60s, Art Outside was festive, entertaining, relaxing and social. People got to enjoy special artists work in various medium - music, magic, painting, jewelry, clay, etc. It was a wonderful and special event that I hope will continue.

Rob Kasper wrote a heartfelt editorial on Saturday about the beauty and charm of Baltimore's largest and most vital public park, Druid Hill ("Heart of a city," Sept. 4). Unfortunately, Druid Hill Park's heart, and greatest asset, was hardly mentioned. The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore , formerly known as the Baltimore Zoo, is literally in the center of the park, encompassing 135 acres of the park's 745. It employs 240 people and cares for more than 1,200 animals representing more than 175 species.

He has used a chain saw to carve intricate wooden sculptures for years, but when Mark Acton won a commission to hew two big new statues by the reservoir in Druid Hill Park, he wasn't sure he could pull it off. His material would be two tree stumps, each more than 12 feet tall and 20 feet around. Both were red oaks, which have especially tough wood. And when he first inspected them, he saw that each had lots of termite damage - the reason the city had cut them down. "'I thought, 'What in the world have I gotten myself into?

She's a regal 70-something these days, and among her other accomplishments, she was named the first African-American director in the history of the Enoch Pratt Free Library . But ask Anna Curry to name the most wonderful experience of her life, and she doesn't hesitate. It came when she was 6 and had her birthday party at Druid Hill Park. She wore patent-leather shoes and a dress hand-sewn by her mother. Her father somehow got hold of a car and took all her best friends.

On a partly sunny and breezy Saturday, a crowd gathered in Druid Hill Park to learn about solar panels and wind energy. They also heard about rain barrels, public transportation and saving the Chesapeake Bay at the seventh annual EcoFest, a day to share the latest green information and products. It's hosted by Baltimore Green Works, a nonprofit that promotes sustainable ways of living. The festival kicks off a week of environment-themed events throughout the city. A few thousand people from across the city and surrounding area were expected to peruse the tables set up by environmental groups and companies interested in hooking more people.

Consultants are right to underscore that the city's parks and recreation department should capitalize on Druid Hill Park's relationship with the non-profit Baltimore Zoo. Not only has the zoo been located in the park for nearly 120 years but its exhibits today account for a hefty share of the park's year-round visitors.The recommendation is just one of many suggestions that aim to spruce up the 740-acre oasis.Since Druid Hill Park was created in 1858, the open-air greenery has had its ups and downs.

A recent consultants' report details the many things desperately needed in Druid Hill Park. It also urges that the managers of this 740-acre oasis should capitalize on the park's relationship with the Baltimore Zoo, which occupies 180-acres of the land. Now it is up to city officials to implement the recommendations.Since the consultants' report is largely silent on the costs of all the recommendations, it is illustrative to consider how Druid Hill Park came about, 137 years ago. Although Baltimore was a rapidly growing city in those days, it had no readily available cash to buy a park.

Roaming the streets that encircle Pimlico Race Course , I discovered so many places that I had trouble going back to the same locale twice. Outer Northwest Baltimore is a fascinating, at times geographically bewildering, place. When the Maryland Jockey Club members built Pimlico, they must have been thinking big and distant. It was a gallop from Druid Hill Park, and if you didn't own a carriage, you would have needed a ticket on the Western Maryland Railway to spend a day at the races.

A Roland Park resident has created a "passport" to Druid Hill Park. Janet Felsten, founder and director of the nonprofit group Baltimore Green Map, introduced the green-colored passport April 19 at a Baltimore Green Week kickoff party in the conservatory. Felsten said she created the 20-page, passport-shaped booklet on cover stock paper as a companion to a detailed map of Druid Hill Park that she made in 2010. The purpose of the map and the new passport is partly to point out places of interest in the 745-acre park, which is home to the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, Druid Lake and the Howard Peters Rawlings Conservatory and Botanic Gardens, among other attractions.

The city of Baltimore on Wednesday approved a $200,000 settlement with the family of a 14-year-old Randallstown girl, Deanna Green, who was electrocuted in 2006 while stretching during a church softball game in Druid Hill Park. "As a mother, it was a terrible tragedy," Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said. "I can't even imagine the pain that Deanna's family and her parents have gone through. The city has done a lot since 2006, when this incident happened, to make sure that something like this doesn't happen again.

Kate Blom's glamorous old house is 125 years old this year and, not surprisingly, it is badly in need of repairs. The wood is rotting around the windows, the doors need replacing, the chimney brick work needs re-pointing and the floor in one room is worn and crumbling. So she is throwing a kind of "work party" this week, hoping her guests will pitch in and take on a job that's too big for just one woman. Kate Blom's house is the Howard Peters Rawlings Conservatory and Botanic Gardens in Druid Hill Park, the last of five Victorian glass houses that once graced Baltimore's parks and offered peaceful respite to the city's residents.

See a photo gallery of Baltimore City landmarks . Exterior landmark list (arranged in chronological order of legislation) 1. CITY HALL 100 N. HOLLIDAY St. 1867-1875, GEORGE A. FREDERICK ORDINANCE 71-974 01/11/71 2. OTTERBEIN CHURCH 112 W. CONWAY ST. 1785-1786, JACOB SMALL, SR. ORDINANCE 71-974 01/11/71 3. MCKIM FREE SCHOOL 1120 E. BALTIMORE ST. 1833, WILLIAM HOWARD & WILLIAM SMALL ORDINANCE 71-974 01/11/71...

He has used a chain saw to carve intricate wooden sculptures for years, but when Mark Acton won a commission to hew two big new statues by the reservoir in Druid Hill Park, he wasn't sure he could pull it off. His material would be two tree stumps, each more than 12 feet tall and 20 feet around. Both were red oaks, which have especially tough wood. And when he first inspected them, he saw that each had lots of termite damage - the reason the city had cut them down. "'I thought, 'What in the world have I gotten myself into?

A Roland Park resident has created a "passport" to Druid Hill Park. Janet Felsten, founder and director of the nonprofit group Baltimore Green Map, introduced the green-colored passport April 19 at a Baltimore Green Week kickoff party in the conservatory. Felsten said she created the 20-page, passport-shaped booklet on cover stock paper as a companion to a detailed map of Druid Hill Park that she made in 2010. The purpose of the map and the new passport is partly to point out places of interest in the 745-acre park, which is home to the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, Druid Lake and the Howard Peters Rawlings Conservatory and Botanic Gardens, among other attractions.

Baltimore City recorded its first homicide this year when a man was fatally shot Sunday afternoon near Druid Hill Park, said a city police department spokesman. The victim's name was withheld pending notification of family members, said Detective Donny Moses, the spokesman. No arrest had been made. Shortly after 3 p.m., Northwestern District police and the crew of a city Fire Department ambulance responded to an alley in the 2300 block of Ocala Ave., about two blocks west of the park, for a report of a shooting, Moses said.

Superstorm Sandy may not have hit Baltimore as hard as weather forecasters had warned, but it did claim one of the city's oldest trees, an impressive Osage orange in Druid Hill Park that's been estimated to be nearly four centuries old. As reported Tuesday morning by my Baltimore Sun colleague Steve Kilar, (a "scoop" wrongly attributed to the Baltimore Brew when I first posted this - sorry, Steve!) the tree fell across Greenspring Avenue on Monday as winds and rain lashed the region.

Baltimore's reservoirs soon will no longer be needed to store the city's supply of drinking water. To meet a 2006 federal water safety rule to protect drinking water from contaminants, the city plans to install underground tanks to replace its reservoirs at Druid Hill Park, Guilford and Lake Ashburton. The city plans to fill in the Guilford reservoir, but the Druid Hill reservoir in particular could become an attractive new recreation area for swimming, boating and other waterfront activities that bring new life to the surrounding communities.