London Town

Every piece of furniture that antique dealer Aileen Minor displays shows amazing craftsmanship -- deep, ornate hand carving and polished veneers.All of it is as perfect as anything on a showroom floor, and each piece has lasted a lifetime."

Mission: To serve as steward of Historic London Town and Gardens and to research, explore and teach tidewater history through the story of the lost towns of Anne Arundel County. The foundation is committed to preserving its historic, archaeological and horticultural resources and to contributing to the fields of history, archaeology, preservation, architectural history and horticulture. Historic London Town and Gardens, a 23-acre park on the South River, is owned by Anne Arundel County and managed and interpreted by the nonprofit London Town Foundation.

FINDING REMNANTS of the largest, and perhaps the only, commercial colonial brickyard on the Eastern seaboard is a testament to the historical consciousness in Anne Arundel County. Few other counties would be able to field a skilled crew to dig, salvage and catalog such a significant find on short notice.Anne Arundel is rich with historic sites. It is not alone in Maryland in this regard. Witness the discovery last year of the "first Baltimore" on the Bush River in Harford County. Careless development practices could destroy these artifacts and the secrets they harbor.

The archaeology program at Historic London Town and Gardens has been designated an official project of Save America's Treasures, a public-private partnership of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the White House Millennium Council.In remarks prepared for the designation ceremony held Thursday, National Trust President Richard Moe wrote of the importance in entering the next millennium of preserving not only historic buildings, but "the places where our history unfolds.""The Lost Towns of Anne Arundel Archaeology Project is unearthing evidence that London Town was a thriving port of the Chesapeake Bay," Moe wrote, adding, "This project is a terrific example of how we can inspire future generations by rediscovering our past."

LET'S GET environmental here, now that spring is busting out all over.At 1 p.m. Wednesday, volunteers will plant a heritage fruit tree orchard at Historic London Town and Gardens. The orchard will commemorate John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, the legendary figure famous for roaming across the United States planting apple trees.For this event, Greg Stiverson, London Town's executive director, has teamed with Don Riddle, of Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville, and Jeff Meyer, of American Forests, the country's oldest nonprofit conservation organization.

ONE DAY IT'S 73 degrees; the next it's 23. There's no mistaking the wacky month of March.Right on time, District II of the Federated Garden Clubs of Maryland presents the 18th annual daffodil show April 3-5 at London Town: Daffodils, Digs & Discoveries.The show is expected to be the best ever -- daffodils are noted for their gallant defiance of lousy weather -- and will run from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.Daffodil experts Marie Coulter and Chris Hoffman from the Chartwell Garden Club in Severna Park are chairing the event.

Ensuring that the historically rich land that hugs the Chesapeake Bay from Sandy Point southward will continue to delight residents and the visitors who are arriving in increasing numbers has become the task of a committee pursuing new state money.It will have to be a delicate balance, organizers say.At stake are the pastoral views and narrow, winding roads of the countryside and the historic city blocks of Annapolis that bustle as a seat of government. Rampant tourism could kill the very thing attracting people to the area.

The House Appropriations Committee approved yesterday $2.175 million worth of bonds to pay for projects to preserve and renovate historic and other old structures in Anne Arundel County.Nearly half the money, $1 million, is to help renovate the former Wiley H. Bates High School in Annapolis, the long-vacant school for blacks in the days of segregation. Last week, the Senate approved a similar amount to turn the building into apartments for senior citizens and an after-school learning center.

London Town has untouched potential.Everyone from archaeologists to tourism marketers says that of the Colonial town being uncovered inch by dirty inch on the banks of the South River.Much of the potential remains buried deep beneath the landscaped yards and basements of houses that surround the 23-acre Anne Arundel County park and could stay that way much longer.The park contains a trove of preserved tavern trash, a historian's dream. That and the nine or 10 known building sites in the neighborhood bordering the park add up to more potential dig sites than county archaeologists and volunteer scrapers and sifters can get to at one time.

London Town has untouched potential.Everyone from archaeologists to tourism marketers says that of the Colonial town being uncovered inch by dirty inch on the banks of the South River.Much of the potential remains buried deep beneath the landscaped yards and basements of houses that surround the 23-acre Anne Arundel County park and could stay that way much longer.The park contains a trove of preserved tavern trash, a historian's dream. That and the nine or 10 known building sites in the neighborhood bordering the park add up to more potential dig sites than county archaeologists and volunteer scrapers and sifters can get to at one time.

In her hands, a scrap becomes a story. Jessie Grow fishes through a box full of what looks to be junk, pulling out a 2-inch fragment of clay pipe. It brings to mind a time long ago - hard to imagine now - when men, women and children routinely smoked tobacco, thinking it was good for their health. A rust-eaten nail evokes the late 1600s, when settlers near the South River built small homes out of wood, never realizing they wouldn't last 30 years in termite-infested Maryland. And a chunk of pottery evokes Colonial days, when traders from the Far East shipped their fine porcelain to the mid-Atlantic region in exchange for tobacco - the crop that gave birth to London Town, a bustling community that served as a major seaport for 90 years, then silently passed away.

Environmental program for kids The Annapolis Recreation and Parks Department is offering an environmental educational program at Back Creek Nature Park at 1314 Edgewood Road. Stormwater Education Experience will be held at 3 p.m. May 17 and 3:45 p.m. May 18. The program is geared toward ages 3 to 10 and cost $5 per class. Registration is required by phone at 410-263-7958 or online at annapolis.gov/recreation. New galley The Naval Academy has received $51 million in federal economic recovery money to build a galley.

$186,000 in grants offered to four groups in Four Rivers The Maryland Heritage Areas Authority has approved more than $186,000 for four grant project proposals within Four Rivers: The Heritage Area of Annapolis, London Town & South County. The grant money totalling $186,916 will support regional heritage-related projects totaling more than $397,000. All grants are matched at the local level. In addition to receiving $100,000 for operating and program assistance, Four Rivers helped the following local heritage-related organizations in obtaining MHAA funding: * The Annapolis Maritime Museum will receive $50,000 to support an interactive exhibit entitled Oysters on the Half Shell, the first component of its new Bay Experience Center in the reconstructed McNasby Oyster Company building in Eastport.

He'll face down Soviet spies, penetrate jungles and wrangle giant ants in his quest for a skull possessed of strange magical powers. When Harrison Ford hits movie theaters next week in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - his fourth turn as America's favorite globe-trotting archaeologist - his character's exploits will quicken a few million more pulses than the day-to-day work of his brethren in the real world. But a lack of derring-do is no reason, professionals say, that Marylanders should miss out on the many opportunities they'll have to take part in archaeological excavations this summer.

The redecked Route 214 bridge linking Anne Arundel and Prince George's counties reopened Monday after a nearly four-month closure. The State Highway Administration spent $3 million on the project to replace corroded steel plates and concrete deck, repaint the 72-year-old bridge and resurface the road on each side, in Davidsonville and Bowie. Drivers using the bridge this week should still expect a single-lane closure between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Cleanup will continue at the work site for several weeks, with all work scheduled to be completed by early January, weather permitting.

Temporary roadwork near Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport will affect travelers starting tomorrow. The inbound ramp from MD 170/Aviation Boulevard to eastbound I-195 will be closed tomorrow through Thursday for resurfacing, according to the Maryland Aviation Administration. Travelers wishing to access the BWI terminal and the airport's hourly parking garage from MD 170 should follow the detour signs to Elm Road, just north of the I-195 interchange. Signs and other markers will be posted in the construction zone to warn travelers of the detour.

Betty Williams sat in the sunlight pouring through the windows of Anne Arundel County's new archaeology lab, washing off sticks and vegetation from piles of crumbled brick, mortar and oyster shells. Next to her, Anne Tiffany used a toothbrush to scrub dirt off broken pottery, glass and nails. The bright, airy lab, part of the new $5.1 million visitors center complex at Historic London Town and Gardens in Edgewater, is a vast improvement for the volunteers, unpaid college interns and 10-person staff who work to preserve the county's past.

Holiday workshops -- Historic London Town and Gardens will offer a wreath-making workshop from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday and a topiary workshop until 1 p.m. at 839 Londontown Road, Edgewater. Participants are asked to bring clippers; greens will be provided. Reservations are required. The cost for London Town members is $25 for each workshop or $45 for both. The cost for nonmembers is $28 for each workshop or $50 for both. Information: 410-222-1919.

At Historic London Town and Gardens in Edgewater, office staffers, volunteers and custodial workers scurried yesterday to set up a party after the ribbon cutting for the $5.1 million visitor center. That doesn't mean it's open yet. The eight-year-long project, delayed by construction slowdowns and last-minute code compliance glitches, is not expected to be completed until later in the fall. But for the former Colonial-era settlement known as "a lost town on the Chesapeake Bay," the lateness is just a blink of an eye in time.

Plant sale -- Historic London Town and Gardens will host its annual fall plant sale from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday at 839 Londontown Road, Edgewater. It will feature native and exotic plants, trees and shrubs. Anne Arundel County master gardeners will be available to answer horticulture questions. London Town Foundation members and volunteers will receive a 10 percent discount on all purchases. 410-222-1919 or www.historiclondontown.org.