Maryland Historical Trust

Proceeds from the sale of a 19th-century home in Darlington will enrich the Maryland Historical Trust by nearly $500,000. The trust, the state's preservation agency, has owned the 14-acre property known as Gray Gables since Isabel Scriven bequeathed it in 1999. The bequest included an endowment of nearly $300,000 to help pay for maintaining the home and grounds. "The terms of the will provided we find an income-producing use for the property or sell it after making sure it would be preserved in perpetuity," said Rodney Little, director of the Maryland Historical Trust.

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.

Ruth Gaither, 77, smiled as she stared quietly at the one-room schoolhouse -- so timeworn that its wooden construction was sun-bleached and splintered.Sitting in a metal chair in front of the vacant Sykesville Colored School House on Friday, Gaither recalled her years in first through fifth grades at one of Carroll County's segregated schools, a landmark that is the latest addition to the Save Maryland's Treasures program."We had a potbelly stove and carried water up from a well," the thin, retired Sykesville cook said.

Jacques Kelly 's article about the rebirth of Union Mill did a superb job of recognizing the innovative program that has driven Seawall Development's reuse of the historic property ("New tricks: Redone factory now homes," Nov. 23). This model project is a testament to the vision and generous spirits of Donald and Thibault Mannekin and their partner Evan Morville. It probably would not have been possible, however, without the assistance of a small, but highly effective public program.

Prehistoric stone carvings described by scientists as a window into an ancient people who once roamed Maryland have been piled in a quiet corner of Baltimore's Druid Hill Park for more than 60 years - all but forgotten, despite their significance. Transported to Baltimore from the Susquehanna Valley in the 1920s, the Native American carvings, which may date to 2000 B.C., were placed in one of the city's largest parks - out of sight - in the 1940s and have remained virtually ignored ever since.

Does the idea of living in a turreted Victorian with wraparound porches dance in your head, but you can't imagine tackling all the restoration needs of an old house?Have you found a striking, but rundown Early American townhouse for sale, but can't get financing for both the purchase price and restoration costs?Does your home miraculously have most of its 1910 Arts and Crafts interior intact, but you don't how to protect it for generations to come?The Maryland Historical Trust may have the answer -- and the answer may save you a great deal of money.

THE UNIVERSITY of Maryland at Baltimore, which has drawn praise in the past for its efforts to preserve and recycle old buildings on campus, is drawing criticism this year for a plan to raze three historically significant structures to make way for development.University officials notified the Maryland Historical Trust in April that they want to tear down the state-owned buildings at 513, 515 and 517 W. Lombard St. They have since begun to empty the buildings in preparation for demolition.

ROCKVILLE -- Eileen McGuckian looks out her office window and sees brown concrete. Huge vertical slabs of it.Luckily she can't see in the other direction. Beige brick, and a gruesome hodgepodge of metal and stone.This is the heart of Montgomery County government, a monument, critics say, to building techniques perfected by Josef Stalin.But McGuckian, ever the optimist, sees architecture and history where others see a terrific opportunity for the wrecking ball.For her vision, the Maryland Historical Trust will honor her and Peerless Rockville, the organization she helped found, with its 1999 Preservation Service Award at ceremonies tonight in Easton.

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 Maryland Historical Trust and the Archeological Society of Maryland present its 16th archaeological workshop at Community Place in Crownsville. Native American culture and history were a large part of programs at theworkshop, held Saturday.

A day after the largest East Coast earthquake in more than 60 years, Marylanders continued to deal with the fallout, as officials assessed the effects on buildings and infrastructure, transit riders saw delays and some federal workers and public school students got an extra day off. Although the tremor lasted for just a few moments Tuesday afternoon, damage prompted a Fells Point church to relocate services. State inspectors were busy assessing roads and bridges as the region braced for the predicted weekend effects of Hurricane Irene.

The American Folklore Society has just smiled on one of Maryland's veteran folklorists, even if news of an award makes for a season of mixed blessings for Elaine Eff. She seems to be taking it all in stride, thinking about the next thing, and the next. Since the 1980s, she's been a champion of Baltimore screen painters, Smith Island cake bakers, crab pickers, muskrat skinners, watermen, crafts makers and mill hands - efforts that have earned her the Botkin Prize, considered the top honor the 121-year-old American Folklore Society gives to folklorists who are not affiliated with a university.

Rising in Carroll and Howard counties, the Patapsco becomes a real river when its two watery tentacles blend together at Marriottsville, and then gently roll some 50 miles southeastward until disgorging itself into tidal Chesapeake Bay waters at Baltimore. Its journey carries it through the historic Patapsco Valley that, beginning in Colonial days, was transformed into something of an industrial cradle when mill towns and villages began rising along its banks. Change began arriving when the National Road - the nation's first interstate road, which has been compared in historical significance to Rome's Appian Way - crossed the Patapsco Valley on its way westward in the late 1790s.

When Nora O'Brien hosts guests at the secluded Victorian farmhouse she has painstakingly restored, friends have been known to carp about the deafening chorus of summertime tree frogs. "I've had dinner parties where people say, 'Can't you make them shut up?' " said the 49-year-old landscape company owner and mother of three. But she and dozens of other families across the state are willing to put up with such inconveniences. For them, living rent-free inside a Maryland state park outweighs getting chased by skunks, startled by snakes or clearing horse droppings from unpaved driveways that double as public riding trails.

Mary M. "Macky" Bowie, a former newspaper reporter and publisher who had been active in historic preservation issues, died of cardiovascular disease Jan. 6 at Keswick Multi-Care Center. The longtime Lutherville resident was 92. Mary McIntyre Pennington was born in Hagerstown and raised there and in Annapolis. After graduation from Hagerstown High School in 1933, she went to work for The Herald-Mail in Hagerstown, covering social and civic events as well as writing celebrity features. Mrs. Bowie, who later became woman's editor, purchased The Boonsboro Times in 1944, a weekly newspaper that had been founded in 1842.

ISSUE: -- The Maryland Stadium Authority recently recommended demolishing or moving a 19th-century home in downtown Annapolis to make way for an estimated $20 million National Sailing Hall of Fame. Its long-awaited report said that trying to incorporate the modest house, one of the original pieces of the waterfront streetscape and now used as office space for the Department of Natural Resources Police, would be too challenging. Lee Tawney, executive director of the National Sailing Hall of Fame, said his group is consulting with the Maryland Historical Trust on the best way to move forward on plans to develop the site, while respecting its historic nature.

The Maryland Historical Trust, an agency of the Department of Housing and Community Development, will provide $500,000 in 1991 funding for historic preservation projects across the state. The state-funded program is available to eligible applicants for a broad spectrum of preservation-related capital and non-capital projects.Interested project sponsors may request an application for funding. The deadline for postmark of applications is Jan. 1, 1991. For applications to assist capital projects and associated pre-development costs, contact Charity V. Davison, Project Funding Administrator, Maryland Historical Trust, 21 State Circle, Annapolis, Md. 21401.

Two Ellicott City-based groups will receive grants totaling more than $5,000 in state museum assistance.The Friends of the Patapsco Female Institute will receive $2,500 to develop a living history interpretive program for school-age children.The ruins of the 160-year-old former girls school overlooking Ellicott City are being dedicated as a historic park.The Howard County Historical Society will receive $2,514 to purchase conservation equipment and materials for its artifacts.Each year, the Maryland Historical Trust awards funds for historic preservation projects.

ISSUE: The Maryland Stadium Authority last week recommended demolishing or moving a 19th-century home in downtown Annapolis to make way for an estimated $20 million National Sailing Hall of Fame. Its long-awaited report said that trying to incorporate the modest house, one of the original pieces of the waterfront streetscape and now used as office space for the Department of Natural Resources Police, would be "too challenging." Lee Tawney, executive director of the National Sailing Hall of Fame, said his group is consulting with the Maryland Historical Trust on the best way to move forward on plans to develop the site, while respecting its historic nature.