Historic Ellicott City

When some business owners use sandbags to protect their property during storms, Bean Hollow owner Gretchen Shuey uses bags of ground coffee. The Ellicott City store owner laid about 1,000 pounds of ground coffee bags behind the door of her business and used duct tape to fill in the seams in preparation for Hurricane Sandy Monday night. Thankfully, it wasn't necessary as the historic district in Ellicott City avoided flooding. "Yes, yes I do feel lucky," Shuey said inside the coffee shop Tuesday morning.

Main Street is finding its inner peace. After opening Gogo Guru, a women's yoga and fitness clothing shop, in Historic Ellicott City in November 2012, Hilary Brich expanded her operation with a yoga studio in February. Brich's original plan was to simply provide the shop's patrons with information about where in the neighborhood they could practice yoga. But with most of the studios being more than a few miles away, she noticed a problem. “People kept asking where to do yoga but didn't want to go farther away than they had to,” says Brich.

There were several reasons for celebration at Historic Ellicott City's 17th annual Decorator Show House preview party. One, this is the 25th anniversary of the Ellicott City B&O Railroad Museum, which the organization supports. Two, the show house this year is the Columbia treasure, Dorsey Hall. And three, "This house is 250 years old, and in our 17 years of doing show houses, it's the first one with air conditioning," exulted event chair Rick Weinkam. On this summery night, the party's 225 guests seemed to share that sentiment as they drifted between the house and a tent outside that housed a dinner buffet and a live band.

Before it became "The Wall That Ate Some Cars," it was just a stone wall on Mulligans Hill Lane, bracing a 20-foot-high embankment - stalwart as the steep hills that give Ellicott City's historic district much of its character. Then in early September 2011 came the rains of Tropical Storm Lee, and in the dead of night a section of the wall that had stood since before the Civil War collapsed. Six cars parked along the wall were crushed or damaged. Parking spaces vanished under tons of stone quickly trucked in to shore up the embankment.

Three groups in historic Ellicott City are joining forces to promote local issues, such as parking, and to establish solidarity among merchants, residents and property owners.The Ellicott City Restoration Foundation, a 14-year-old nonprofit civic group, for the first time is adding members from the Ellicott City Business Association and Historic Ellicott City Inc., a nonprofit group that operates the B&O Railroad Station Museum.By uniting behind common interests in historic Ellicott City, members of the three groups say they hope to wield greater influence with the county on behalf of the historic district.

Nestled on the banks of the Patapsco River, Historic Ellicott City has served many purposes. Founded in 1771 by the Ellicott brothers, Joseph, Andrew and John, the town existed for its milling and flour production. During the Civil War, it was a pivotal Union outpost. Today, the picturesque downtown is a popular tourist spot and a must-visit for history buffs and window shoppers. Here, new shops open quickly after the old ones close. And other than the occasional housing renovation, the look and feel of the town remains fairly constant.

Armed with cameras, clipboards and surveys, Alan Feinberg and Sharon Suarez hope to solve historic Ellicott City's parking shortage."We're going to figure out how to have parking for all and minimize the impact of traffic," said Mr. Feinberg, president of FeinDesign Associates Inc., a Frederick-based planning and design firm, which is conducting a $17,200 parking study of the area.The study, which started last month, will identify the community's parking problems, devise long- and short-term solutions, and calculate the costs of those solutions.

Historic Ellicott City could have a miniature movie palace like The Senator or the Charles if Jill Porter has her way.The Baltimore resident plans to reopen the Ellicott Theatre at the corner of Main Street and Old Columbia Pike and show artistic, second-run and classic films like those featured in the Baltimore movie houses."

In preparation for Earth Day, local merchants, city government officials and Boy Scouts tomorrow plan to clean up a portion of the Patapsco River that runs through historic Ellicott City.The group will pick up discarded bottles, paper and other debris that has collected along the river near the parking lot on Main Street and Maryland Avenue and the bridge between historic Ellicott City and Oella.The Patapsco River "was looking real, real trashy," said County Council member Darrell Drown, who requested the clean-up.

Parking problems in the historic district of Ellicott City could be alleviated before the end of the year, when a new 82-space parking lot is expected to open just across the Patapsco River bridge.Construction on the parking lot, a joint venture between Howard and Baltimore counties, is scheduled to begin this fall.The project was moved ahead after Howard County earlier this month won a $213,000 transportation award for the construction, which also includes building sidewalks in the neighborhood of Oella and upgrading the bridge, from the state Transportation Department's Enhancement Program.

For a grown-up escape from everyday life, head to Envy Salon in Historic Ellicott City for Tini Tuesdays and Brew & Do Wednesdays. What started as a way to promote new business hours is now a highly anticipated weekly event at the 13-year-old salon. "We basically started it as something to drum up business on a new day of the week we were open, which was Tuesdays," says Leeza Rainey, owner of the salon. "So we started the martini night and found it was super-successful. " On Tuesdays, clients can enjoy a signature hot pink "Envy-tini," which Rainey describes as both sweet and tart.

Don't let the vintage sign hanging above Randy & Steve's The New General Store on Main Street in Ellicott City fool you. Everything inside is -- as their name suggests -- “new” but with an old-fashioned touch. After closing The Good Life Market on nearby Tonge Row and taking a two-year sabbatical in Madeira, Portugal, Randy Neely and his partner, Steve Archuleta, returned to downtown Ellicott City to open a store in the former location of Yates Market, which had been a Main Street mainstay for more than 100 years.

The beige-plastic Wilkins-Rogers Mill is unmistakable, as are the red B&O Freight House and the purple Obladi hotel. Rendered in toy building blocks, the replicas of historic Ellicott City landmarks lend an air of authenticity to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum's newest train garden, a 360-degree, custom-built feature that is proving to be a major attraction on Main Street. "This is definitely something unique," Tom Hane, site manager at the Ellicott City Station, said of the display by the Washington Metropolitan Area Lego Train Club.

On good days, the Tiber Hudson tributary of the Patapsco is a pleasant part of the scenery in Historic Ellicott City as it flows through a stone channel by Tonge Row, beneath Tiber Alley alongside Main Street and past the B&O Railroad Museum before it spills into the river. It's a troubled waterway nonetheless, not considered able to support life, paved over in spots and surrounded by lots of asphalt. The urban and suburban surroundings that drain into the Tiber Hudson - its "watershed" - will be inspected early in December by teams of consultants and volunteers as part of a continuing private, county and state effort to improve the streams and rivers that ultimately flow into the Chesapeake Bay. Focusing on areas some distance from its channel, the crew of about 15 will spend four days driving around, looking for possible pollution sources and ways to better protect the Tiber Hudson.

When some business owners use sandbags to protect their property during storms, Bean Hollow owner Gretchen Shuey uses bags of ground coffee. The Ellicott City store owner laid about 1,000 pounds of ground coffee bags behind the door of her business and used duct tape to fill in the seams in preparation for Hurricane Sandy Monday night. Thankfully, it wasn't necessary as the historic district in Ellicott City avoided flooding. "Yes, yes I do feel lucky," Shuey said inside the coffee shop Tuesday morning.

As a longtime resident of Main Street in Historic Ellicott City, I support parking meters on Main Street and understand their purpose. As a resident, I have rarely parked my vehicle on Main Street during business hours in order to free up a spot for a tourist to come spend money and enjoy our fantastic little town. It's a minor inconvenience for the greater good. I believe the new system that will allow visitors to use their smart phones or computers to locate available spaces will be a benefit to all ("Parking plan splits Main St. merchants," Oct. 14)

A prospective restaurant owner in the midst of an acrimonious development dispute in historic Ellicott City has asked the Howard County Circuit Court to review a Board of Appeals decision in a separate case.In the latest dispute, Peter G. Ruff has appealed a board decision letting a Columbia developer build an apartment building for low-income senior citizens on Hamilton Street in the historic commercial district.In May, the board granted the D. A. McDaniels development company a variance in county zoning regulations to build a 12-unit housing project for elderly people with incomes of $18,000 to $24,000 a year near Old Columbia Pike.

For the two owners of Craig Coyne Jewelers Inc., the fire that tore through Main Street in Ellicott City last year left behind one good thing: space for their new shop. "I had been coming through here a couple of times looking for space," said Jesse Craig, co-owner of the business. "We were very happy that we had finally found space that was open." On Nov. 9, a fire ripped through Main Street in historic Ellicott City, destroying several stores in the shopping hub. Fire officials believe the blaze started when a discarded cigarette ignited trash behind the restaurant Main Street Blues.

Ed Williams, the apron-wearing proprietor of the Mumble and Squeak Toy Shoppe on Ellicott City's Main Street, has for decades heard arguments about downtown parking. It's a multiheaded beast - studied often, discussed ad nauseam and yet unsettled - but he figures he can point out what he considers the essence of the problem quickly by stepping out of his store on a bright October weekday afternoon. Note the white Chevy parked in front of his shop, he says, and across the street the white van and another car up the street - all belonging not to customers but to the owners of local businesses.

Enalee E. Bounds has been running Ellicott's Country Store on Main Street in historic Ellicott City for 50 years, telling customer after customer that they have stepped into a house that could be the oldest "duplex" in the country - built in the late 18th or early 19th century - and how Mr. Walker lived on one side, Mr. Chandler on the other. In her view, Main Street hasn't changed so much since her family bought the store in 1962, and she doesn't see why it should. "It could always be spiffed up," said Bounds, whose store boasts four floors of antiques and home furnishings and an interior design service.