Historic Places

The Department of Housing and Community Development, through its agency the Maryland Historical Trust, released a list of properties under consideration by the Governor's Consulting Committee for nominationto the National Register of Historic Places.County properties under consideration are: Aisquith Farm E Archaeological Site; Dorr Archeological Site; and Magothy Quartzite Quarry Archaeological Site.A committee meeting will begin at 10:30 a.m., Jan. 30 in the main-floor conference room of the Shaw House, 21 State Circle, Annapolis.

The rehabilitation of the Old Towson Jail into an office building was honored by the Maryland Historical Trust last week as part of the organization's 2012 Maryland Preservation Awards The rehabilitation of the historic jail, now known as Bosley Hall, was cited as, "an outstanding example of a public/private partnership undertaken by the Baltimore County government. " The trust gave the project its award under Preservation Partnerships, and noted the collaboration of Baltimore County government; developer Towson Jail Associates, which was created for the rehabilitation project; Azola & Associates Inc.; and others for the project.

WASHINGTON - The F. Leonard Wailes Law Office at 116-118 E. Main St. in the central business area of Salisbury has been named to the National Register of Historic Places.The law office is one of the last survivors of an October 1886 fire that leveled most of the city's business district.It is architecturally significant for its early 20th-century law office design and incorporates neo-federal elements into an urban townhouse form, according to National Register documents.The office, a two-story, four-bay brick building with a slate roof, was built in 1927 by Salisbury architect W. Twilley Malone.

A historic aqueduct in Western Maryland has been restored nearly four decades after two of its three arches collapsed, leaving the now-139-year-old structure in ruins. State and federal lawmakers held a ceremony Saturday near Point of Rocks, about 15 miles southeast of Frederick along the Maryland-Virginia border, to celebrate the reopening of the Catoctin Aqueduct, one of 11 aqueducts along the 184.5 miles of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal. "It just couldn't have been a more perfect day," said George E. Lewis Jr., a veterinarian who is president of the Catoctin Aqueduct Restoration Fund Inc., by phone Saturday.

Lawyers Hill, an Elkridge neighborhood that used to be a summer retreat for Baltimore City jurists, has been named to the National Register of Historic Places."

Carroll County has no shortage of towns in the National Register of Historic Places. Sites in Westminster, Sykesville, Uniontown and Taneytown have been recognized for their historical significance.Now it's Union Bridge's turn.The town's Main Street area is the latest Carroll district to be included in the register, a division of the National Park Service."Union Bridge had not really even been looked at, and it was time," said Ken Short, the county's historic planner. "There are so many great resources there."

The town of Union Bridge may have its application for the National Register of Historic Places reviewed next month by a gubernatorial committee.Ken Short, an architectural historian for the state, told town officials at last night's town meeting that he has completed the nomination application, which could be reviewed by the Governor's Consulting Committee as soon as Feb. 23."The committee will be looking at how the structures have survived over the years, like have they kept their historic integrity," said Mr. Short, a former county historic planner who had worked with the town.

SMITH CENTER, Kan. -- The buffalo no longer roam and the antelope certainly don't play around here anymore.But in a stand of cottonwoods on the banks of Beaver Creek is the one-room log cabin where Dr. Brewster Higley wrote a song of the West more than a century ago. "Home on the Range" became the favorite of Franklin D. Rooseveltand the state song of Kansas.This dilapidated little cabin shares a distinction with more famous structures and places, such as Mount Vernon, Yellowstone National Park and the grounds of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Residents of Original Northwood are confident they've come up with a lesson in what makes a lovely and livable neighborhood.Standing before the city's Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation recently, they ticked off their reasons why this home-proud Northeast Baltimore community, constructed during the depths of the Depression, should be listed on the prestigious National Register of Historic Places."

CHESTERTOWN -- Lauretum looks like someone slapped together the "Addams Family" mansion and a gingerbread house.It is just that combination of characteristics that won the Chestertown bed-and-breakfast a spot on the National Register of Historic Places."

The newly-renovated Hays-Heighe House at Harford Community College was the site for a "Fun With American Girls" youth enrichment camp during the second week of August. During this week-long summer camp, girls ages 8 to 12 combined learning about American history with a variety of cultural projects. They experienced the stories and characters behind the American Girls dolls, making crafts, toys, decorations, recipes, and other fun activities similar to those done by Kersten, Josephina, Addy and other dolls in the series.

Upon entering the G. Krug & Son blacksmith shop, I was handed a pair of safety goggles and immediately knew I was in for a treat. All around me were the goings-on of a bygone era. Peter Krug, owner of the Baltimore workshop that has been in business since the early 19th century, crafts steel scrollwork by hand, the old-fashioned way: hammer and anvil shaping red-hot metal heated in a 2,500-degree forge. You don't know hot until you've stood in front of that forge on a summer day in a building that has no air conditioning.

Rosalyn N. "Roz" Roddy, an indefatigable neighborhood activist who was a founder and past president of the Greater Patapsco Community Association, died May 27 of lung cancer in her Owings Mills home. She was 77. "Roz was one of those remarkable people that had so many dimensions that were not directly related or overlapping," said Kathleen Skullney, a Legal Aid attorney and a Granite activist. "She was an ever-inquiring and graceful human being." Rosalyn Rayboen, the daughter of a Bethlehem Steel Corp.

Baltimore City Hall. The Hippodrome Theatre. Lloyd Street Synagogue. The Scottish Rite Temple. The Garrett-Jacobs Mansion. Those are just a few of the landmarks that might not be part of Maryland's landscape if it weren't for Baltimore Heritage, an advocacy group that works to protect and promote Baltimore's historically and architecturally significant buildings, places and neighborhoods. This spring the organization is marking the 50th anniversary of its founding with an awards gala at the Garrett-Jacobs Mansion on June 11, tours of local landmarks, citations to "centennial" families that have lived in the same house for more than 100 years, and other events designed to appeal to the "inner preservationist" in everyone.

Cleora B. "Cleo" Thompson, a city planner who became Howard County's first archivist and whose countywide architectural survey resulted in many structures being placed on the National Register of Historic Places, died Feb. 13 of Alzheimer's disease at a daughter's home in Newton, Mass. The former longtime Columbia resident was 79. Cleora Barnes was born in New York City and raised in New Haven, Conn. After graduating in 1949 from Milhouse High School in New Haven, she earned a bachelor's degree in 1953 in political science and history from the University of Connecticut at Storrs.

Developers doing a hit job on the environment I am disgusted by the hit job on the environment currently being orchestrated by the Maryland home builders ("Storm water regulations would cost jobs," Readers respond, Jan. 26). The poll they just released suggests that anything we do to improve the Chesapeake Bay will drive the economy further into recession. Their public statements have made practical environmental safeguards look heavy-handed and senseless. They are doing this to fight against new rules that would reduce urban and suburban runoff pollution that goes into the bay. Rather than requiring expensive underground pipes that divert rainwater directly to rivers, the rules require developers to use simple design techniques like putting deep plant beds next to parking lots to absorb dirty runoff.

Stone Hill, a Baltimore neighborhood of small stone houses built in 1845 for textile-mill workers, is getting some attention these days. "It's a kind of an honor for a community," said Norma Theo Pinette, a resident of Stone Hill, a section of Hampden. "We share a look and a love of our history so that's why we did it." By year's end, Stone Hill will be listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a kind of honorary society run by the National Park Service for properties that are historically and culturally significant.

Dick Hopkins is celebrating an anniversary. It's been 50 years since he purchased his home on Stratford Road in Academy Heights for $8,800. And now the area is being prepared to be entered into the National Register of Historic Places. In his historical outline for Baltimore County and the National Register of Historic Places, Daniel Rosen, another neighborhood resident, noted that Academy Heights "located on a now-defunct streetcar line ... was literally the first stop of Baltimore's great postwar migration to the suburbs."

Community:: Havre de Grace Location:: Harford County Average sales price:: $241,000 (January through June) Notable features:: Water, water, everywhere. Havre de Grace's northeastern boundary is the Susquehanna River, and along its southeastern edge flows the Chesapeake Bay. There's a boardwalk promenade along the river and boats galore, plus a quaint downtown on the National Register of Historic Places. Some of the homes here are historic and stately. Some are just darn cute, with splashes of bright color and inviting porches.

Community: Havre de Grace Location: Harford County Average sales price: $241,000 (January through June) Notable features: Water, water, everywhere. Havre de Grace's northeastern boundary is the Susquehanna River, and along its southeastern edge flows the Chesapeake Bay. There's a boardwalk promenade along the river and boats galore, plus a quaint downtown on the National Register of Historic Places. Some of the homes here are historic and stately.