Hampton Mansion

Storytelling at Hampton Mansion Kids today might curl up with a Harry Potter book, a Goosebumps tale or maybe something from the Arthur series. And parents may lull their younger set to sleep with a Dr. Seuss book or a Curious George story. Times have changed indeed. Back in the day when the Hampton Mansion was occupied - from 1790 to 1948 - children were occupied by hearing stories of Homer, Shakespeare and Dickens. Sunday, visitors to Hampton Mansion will hear a variety of tales that the children who lived in Hampton may have heard.

The cast-iron dolphin stolen from the Hampton Mansion in Towson on June 16 was recovered early today.Police found it lying under the United Parcel Service sign in the Loveton Industrial Park near Sparks after a man told a Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Co. operator where the $12,000 artwork could be found."

John Ridgely III, 79, a direct descendant of the builder of Towson's 18th-century Hampton Mansion and the last to live on the estate, died of congestive heart failure Sunday at College Manor.A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. tomorrow at Trinity Episcopal Church, 120 Allegheny Ave., Towson. Burial will be in the Hampton burial grounds.Mr. Ridgely had lived since the late 1940s at his home, Spring Hollow, which he built on the Hampton property. The house was built about the time his father turned over the Hampton Mansion to the National Park Service in 1948.

A memorial service for John Ridgely III, a direct descendant of the builder of Towson's 18th-century Hampton Mansion and the last to live on the estate, will be held at 2 p.m. today at Trinity Episcopal Church, 120 Allegheny Ave., Towson.Mr. Ridgely died Sunday at College Manor of congestive heart failure. He was 79.He had lived since the late 1940s at his home, Spring Hollow, which he built on the Hampton property. The house was built about the time his father turned the Hampton Mansion, which dated to 1790, over to the National Park Service in 1948.

Sara M. McFarland, a homemaker who performed in amateur theater productions, died of pulmonary fibrosis Sunday at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. She was 84. She was born Sara Murphy in San Diego and was raised in Murfreesboro, Tenn. She earned a bachelor's degree in theater from Peabody College, now part of Vanderbilt University, in 1943. During the 1940s, Mrs. McFarland performed at the Nashville Community Playhouse and summer stock theater in New England. She was married in 1946 to Frank Russell McFarland, a horticulturist, who died in 1998.

Salary: $20,000 Age: 52 Time on the job: 19 months. How he got started: Alan Gephardt began his career working in therapeutic recreation at a nursing home. He later worked at the Baltimore County Department of Aging, managing senior centers among other responsibilities. After several years, he also began volunteering at the former Baltimore City Life Museums. He then went back to school, receiving a master's degree in history at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. For the past 15 years, Gephardt has worked in the museum field creating programs and managing volunteers at historical sites such as the Phoenix Shot Tower and Mount Clare Museum House.

FUN IN FELLS POINT Fells Point will be hopping this weekend, thanks to the Fells Point Fun Festival. The annual event, presented by the Fells Point Preservation Society, offers an array of entertainment, exhibits, kids' activities and food. More than 100 arts and craft vendors will sell their wares, and there will be an Arts on the Pier fine-art display, an International Bazaar, a Fun Fest Flea Market and La Plaza Hispana. There will be five stages of entertainment, carnival rides and games, 50 food vendors and more.

MAKING SCARECROWS is just one of the man entertainments to be enjoyed at the Hampton Heritage Festival this Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Hampton Mansion near Towson. It is free.Turn back time to the 18th and 19th centuries at this National Historic Site, where staff, volunteers, students and Boy Scouts have planned a full day of fun and history, such as mule wagon rides, demonstrations of blacksmithing, weaving, pottery and candle making and other entertainment.Take a tour of the farm or visit the mansion and gift shop, which will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Food will include Andy Nelson's pit beef and lunch served in the Tea Room from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.''Children will have help in making scarecrows all day if they like, and they can also enjoy the hay jump," says Anna vonLunz, assistant curator at Hampton.

Playing around at Hampton Get a hands-on history lesson with a visit to the Hampton National Historic Site. The 18th-century site holds events for the family on the second Sunday of every month. They include storytelling and music and dance performances. This Sunday, families will have the chance to play with reproductions of historic toys. The toys, most of which are wooden, are said to have been designed to help the development of children's coordination. Sunday's free event will take place from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Tours of the Hampton Mansion are also available.

Dorothy Powell Ridgely Thomas, a former teacher of disabled students who was active at the Hampton National Historic Site, died of complications from Parkinson's disease Aug. 4 at her Lutherville home. She was 82. Born Dorothy Powell Ridgely in Baltimore, she was the daughter of D. Stewart Ridgely and the former Dorothy Powell. Her father was in the last generation of his family to be born at Hampton, the Baltimore County landmark. Mrs. Thomas was a descendant of Charles Carnan Ridgely, Maryland's governor from 1816 to 1819.