Monkton

Two Monkton residents thanked Cockeysville police assistant commander Lt. Bob McGraw with a basket filled with fruit, cheese and crackers and snacks on Feb. 1. They commended McGraw and Baltimore County police for their quick actions after a string of house burglaries put Monkton in the news last month.   Many North County residents knew about the burglaries from a mass e-mail sent out by McGraw. He has 359 names on his e-mail tree and can zero in a particular neighborhood to send out notices, watches or warnings.

Rebecca Rigger, a League of Women Voters activist who monitored the Baltimore County Planning Board, died of a heart attack March 25 at her Monkton home. She was 85. Born Rebecca Rogers in Big Island, Va., she was raised at an apple orchard in the Blue Ridge Mountains. She earned a bachelor's degree from what is now James Madison University, where she was editor of the college newspaper. As a young woman, she moved to eastern Baltimore County and taught at Middle River Junior High School.

The Harford County Department of Public Works announced the Hess Road Bridge over the Little Gunpowder Falls in the Monkton area is closed to traffic daily through Thursday, March 15, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The closures began Tuesday morning along one of the commuter routes from northwestern Harford County to points west and south in Baltimore County. The bridge closures will allow for testing of the substructure to evaluate the abutments' condition, according to a county news release.

1 How sweet it is Celebrate the 12th-annual Chocolate and Candy Festival on March 2 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Bel Air Armory. The event includes hundreds of desserts and other goodies from local vendors. Sponsored by the Bel Air Downtown Alliance. More at downtownbelair.com or 443-823-1797. 2 Ready, set, hunt! Take your little ones on the Easter egg hunt of a lifetime at Bel Air's Rockfield Manor from noon to 2 p.m. on March 16. Open to children 6 and under. Bring your own basket.

Instead of visiting country manor homes that are occasionally open to the public, here is an opportunity to own an estate in northern Baltimore County. Nestled on 50 acres of bucolic pastures and agricultural land, Alistatim Farm , in the heart of My Lady's Manor — a national historic district near Monkton — presents dramatic views for every season. Long summer days can be spent by the pool, while autumn mornings call out for a bit of competing in the dressage ring. "A seven-stall barn comes complete with hay storage, fly-spraying system and tack room," noted Ashley Richardson, a Long & Foster agent who listed the property.

It is not often that a visitor receives a Dickensian welcome at the front gate of a historic Monkton home decorated for the holidays. Dressed to the nines in fresh greenery, this circa 1840, white-washed brick structure wears red bows and pine cones on green wreaths like haute couture. Two women arrange garlands to sweep the length and breadth of the white picket fence surrounding a small front garden. Large brass lanterns on either side of the front entrance light the steps up to the front door.

Incomplete, ridden by Joey Elliott, won his second My Lady's Manor timber race Saturday as the first race in the Maryland Triple Crown of steeplechase drew thousands to Monkton. Owned by Robert A. Kinsley and trained locally by Ann D. Stewart, the 11-year-old bred by Press Card, also prevailed at My Lady's Manor in 2009. He finished the three-mile course in 5:58. and held off three-time timber champion Bubble Economy, the runnerup. Bon Caddo, winner at My Lady's last year, took third.

James D. Hruska, a former steeplechase rider and horse trainer who lived in Monkton, died Wednesday as a result of complications following a fall from his 10-speed bicycle while visiting Lexington, Va., for a horse show.Mr. Hruska, who was 55, received a fractured neck in the fall and was found unconscious by a passing motorist. He was taken to a nearby hospital where he later died. Services will be held at 11 a.m. tomorrow at the Broadmead retirement community in Cockeysville.Born in Baltimore, Mr. Hruska began working for Hall of Fame steeplechase rider and trainer D. Michael Smithwick at age 15. He graduated from Towson High School in 1953 and attended the Johns Hopkins University.

An 18-year-old Monkton resident who recently graduated from Dulaney Valley High School died early Saturday after the vehicle in which he was a passenger crashed near his home, police and family friends said. Officer Teresa Lockwood of the Baltimore County traffic investigation team, said Steven Radford of the 4100 block of Stansbury Mill Road was a passenger in an Infiniti sport utility vehicle driven by his friend Derek Campbell, also 18, of the 4000 block of Stansbury Mill Road when Campbell lost control of the vehicle shortly after 2 a.m. while eastbound on Stansbury Mill Road near Jarrettsville Pike.

A three-alarm fire last night heavily damaged the historic Manor Tavern, a popular northern Baltimore County restaurant and bar. Firefighters were called to the tavern, in the 15000 block of Old York Road in Monkton, shortly after 10 p.m. by a person reporting an electrical fire. It was not immediately known where in the three-story structure the fire originated. By the time firefighters arrived, the second and third floors were ablaze. "It was pretty intense," said nearby resident Sarah Scott, who watched the fire with her husband from a parking lot about 70 feet away.

Instead of visiting country manor homes that are occasionally open to the public, here is an opportunity to own an estate in northern Baltimore County. Nestled on 50 acres of bucolic pastures and agricultural land, Alistatim Farm , in the heart of My Lady's Manor — a national historic district near Monkton — presents dramatic views for every season. Long summer days can be spent by the pool, while autumn mornings call out for a bit of competing in the dressage ring. "A seven-stall barn comes complete with hay storage, fly-spraying system and tack room," noted Ashley Richardson, a Long & Foster agent who listed the property.

Do you begin inside, with the airy rooms, chef's kitchen and four fireplaces? Or outdoors, with the sculpted gardens, rolling green hills and tranquil riding trails on 78 acres? If you can't make up your mind about 16835 Gerting Road in Monkton, choose something in between: the screened-in sleeping porch and the poolside cabana. Designed by local architect Faith Nevins Hawks and built in 2001, the 1812 replica farmhouse "is timeless," said Realtor Heidi Krauss, who represented the seller.

Europeans would have a laugh at our expense over what we consider an old structure. Nevertheless, Monkton's Stone Haven Farm, owned by Dan Saffer and his wife, JoAnne Duffy, had been standing for eight years when Handel's "Messiah" was first performed. The home's rugged stones braved winter two decades before the signing of the Declaration of Independence and years before Baltimore City became incorporated. By American standards, it's really quite old. A long narrow lane off a main road in northern Baltimore County leads to a circular stone wall, inside of which are a fountain, trees and myriad poinsettias.

It is not often that a visitor receives a Dickensian welcome at the front gate of a historic Monkton home decorated for the holidays. Dressed to the nines in fresh greenery, this circa 1840, white-washed brick structure wears red bows and pine cones on green wreaths like haute couture. Two women arrange garlands to sweep the length and breadth of the white picket fence surrounding a small front garden. Large brass lanterns on either side of the front entrance light the steps up to the front door.

A brick Colonial in Monkton set on 160 acres with an historic stone guest house sold for $3.1 million in June. The nearly 7,000-square-foot main house, built in the 1970s but renovated over the years, has four bedrooms, 51/2 baths, five fireplaces, a four-person sleeping porch, a paneled breakfast room, a swimming pool and a five-car garage. "They did it right when they built it in the 1970s," said Susan Knott, of O'Conor & Mooney Realtors in Lutherville, who was the selling agent for a house that she also owned.

On a hot summer day, Big Gunpowder Falls beckons and thousands answer the call: anglers, swimmers, kayakers and picnickers. The Gunpowder also speaks to Gary Kloch, who hears cash registers each time a customer pays $20 to $35 for a red-and-yellow tube and shuttle to the water's edge for a refreshing three-hour float downstream. Maryland Natural Resources Police say what he's doing is illegal - using a state park to drop tubers off and stash a stack of inflatables - and have ticketed him three times since Friday.

In Monkton, it's not just about what is there: diverse housing, lush fields, wooded hiking trails, convenient shopping and top-ranked schools. It's about what is not. The absence of dense development, crime and noise is striking, residents and real estate agents say. Much of the land in the rural, northern Maryland community has been preserved as open space or has been designated for agriculture by zoning designations. "I think that's a big part of the appeal," says Frank H. Durkee III, a Realtor with O'Conor & Mooney in Phoenix and a 36-year Monkton resident.

Services for Mildred Saportas, an early woman racehorse trainer who was known as "Babe" since her childhood, will be held at 1:30 p.m. today at St. James Episcopal Church, 3100 Monkton Road.Mrs. Saportas, who was 90, died Monday at her home at Oakland Farm in Monkton, after breaking a leg in a fall last month.The former Mildred Pearce was born in the Oakland Farm house built on land her family had held since Colonial times. She gained her nickname as the youngest of four children. She exercised and trained horses for hunt races by the time she was in her teens, a period in which she became well known as a rider in horse shows.

If your idea of an active weekend is to fire up the grill, pound a few burgers and beers and rock in the hammock, maybe you don't want to read this. You don't really sound like the type to show up in Monkton this Saturday for the so-called Rebel Race. But 4,500 people will be there for the chance to dash around a 5K or 15K obstacle course that features everything from a tall pyramid of hay bales to a steep wall draped with cargo nets to a mud pit topped with barbed wire. "It's an incredible challenge," said Mike Kiefer, a race spokesman.

From the bucolic setting of her country home in Monkton to the gentle hum of the palm leaf paddles on the ceiling fans in her covered porch, Kim Eastburn's philosophy of decorating is apparent. "The focus of my design practice ... is to elevate interior design beyond just the esoteric," she said. "I think there is a huge opportunity to expand the conversation of overall wellness by bringing mindfulness to where we live. " Eastburn, who blogs as The Interior Design Shrink (theinteriordesignshrink.com)