Preservation Society

Trout preservation is only one reason to fight Loyola planThe article by Liz Atwood ``Small fish fuel big debate'' (Dec. 28) calls into question the motives of several groups and mocks grass-roots community activism.The suggestion that communities of northern Baltimore County that oppose the Loyola College Conference Center have found their snail darter devalues the real issue and ignores their long list of legitimate concerns.The almost 400 members of the Prettyboy Watershed Preservation Society oppose the Loyola College conference center now for the same reasons we did when our group was formed in October.

Mission: To promote and emphasize the historical and architectural significance of Federal Hill and Fells Point; to foster further preservation of the communities' architectural heritage and historic legacy; and to ensure that present and future development within the area is compatible and worthy of inclusion in a historic district. The Preservation Society restored, maintains and operates the 18th-century Robert Long House and Garden as a museum at 812 S. Ann St. -- the oldest surviving urban residence in Baltimore.

A new visitor center will open today in Fells Point, designed primarily to capitalize on the many people who travel to the neighborhood by water, encouraging them to explore and spend money at local businesses.The $400,000 center at 808 S. Ann St. has been constructed in and around the partial shell of a house that dates from 1775 and had its second story removed in the 1930s. Designed by Swanston & Associates, the center is bright with sunlight from a raised triangular glass skylight and will serve as an orientation gallery and briefing area.

HOPING TO MAKE Fells Point more of a daytime attraction, preservationists are about to begin construction of the first phase of a $2.2 million Maryland Maritime Center that will provide a gateway to the waterfront historic district.The Society for the Preservation of Federal Hill and Fell's Point has planned a block party for 5 p.m. June 14 to mark the groundbreaking for the $350,000 visitor center at 808 S. Ann St., next to the Robert Long House museum and garden.The visitor center has been designed by Swanston & Associates to serve as an orientation gallery and briefing area expected to attract thousands of people.

STEVE BLAKE has this poetic way of rapping about the a-rabs of Baltimore. He gets downright passionate about it, too. Example: "Jughead works out of Carlton Street, but will he get fined if Man Boy hires him to drive Dirty White out of Retreat Street?"We'll come back for a translation in a minute. First, some background about Blake:He's front man for the Arabber Preservation Society, dedicated to keeping the horses healthy, the vendors organized and the institution intact. A-rabbing in Baltimore goes back a couple of centuries, and its survival here is unique in the nation, though a lot of people in power don't seem to appreciate that.

Fred "Hot Dog" Parker recalls warmly the days of more than a half-century ago when -- as an a-rab selling fresh produce from his horse-drawn wagon on the streets of Baltimore -- he "would holler, 'Watermelon red to the rind,' 'til I couldn't holler no more."The spectacle of the a-rab (pronounced AY-rab) has been a trademark of Baltimore for two centuries and for many Baltimoreans, the a-rab's market on wheels has an appeal that is lost in the aisles of the local Safeway or Giant. Time and modern convenience have caught up with the a-rabs, though, and only three stables and 25 working a-rabs remain in the city.

Commission needed to inspect Maryland racingThe recent revelations concerning Maryland racing present a golden opportunity for a commission to be appointed to look into the current state of racing.As an owner and breeder of thoroughbreds, it has long been apparent to me that decisive steps have to be taken to reform the ownership and management of Maryland's racetracks and to reconstitute the Maryland Racing Commission.S. Bonsal WhiteMonktonJury refusenik shirks citizen's dutyI wonder how John Olszewski (letter, "If called, I won't serve," July 9)

TOUR HARBOR HOUSESFourteen homes in Federal Hill and Fells Point will be open to the public for the Preservation Society's annual Historic Harbor House Tour from noon to 5:30 p.m. Sunday.The tour will highlight restored 18th and 19th century buildings, a renovated warehouse, a historic inn and the Captain Steele house in Fells Point. The Robert Long House, the city's oldest surviving house, and Preservation Society's headquarters, also will be open.Tour-day tickets may be purchased only at the Federal Hill and Fells Point offices of O'Conor Piper & Flynn real estate agency.

A roundup of new products and servicesGreat GroutOf course you want your house to look perfect the holiday-entertaining season, but do you really want to waste precious hours replacing stained grouting between tiles? Certainly not. So check out Brookstone's roll-on grout whitener for $11.50. Applied with a small applicator wheel, the whitener dries in 24 hours. Look for it at stores in the retail chain, or call (800) 926-7000.Original OrnamentsWhat's the Christmas season without the purchase of a few new holiday ornaments?

The two-story building in Fells Point was constructed in the mid-1800s as a barn for horse-drawn trolleys. A century later, it had become a rope and twine works. Now it's home for the Daily Grind coffeehouse and the Orpheum Theatre.By 1998, if all goes according to plan, it will house a public attraction befitting its prime waterfront location -- a new home for the Maryland Historical Society's Radcliffe Maritime Museum.The society has made a tentative commitment -- possibly permitting the coffeehouse and theater to remain -- to lease part of the old trolley barn at 1724-26 Thames St. and an adjacent property to house its collection of maritime art and artifacts, now in the basement of its headquarters at 201 W. Monument St.Assembled over the past 40 years and named for a former Maryland senator, George M. Radcliffe, the collection contains a vast and valuable array of ship's paintings and drawings, ship's models and other objects related to Maryland's maritime history.

John Thomas Yuhanick, who founded a public relations and event business, died of cancer Friday at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. The Guilford resident was 59. Born in Salem, Ohio, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at St. Louis University and moved in the early 1970s to Baltimore, where he worked as a Sun advertising representative. He sold ads related to the travel industry and remained an indefatigable traveler throughout his life, often visiting another country every two months.

About 200 years ago, a two-story Federal-style mansion was built in Essex. Many years later, although little was known about the structure, Baltimore County purchased the land surrounding it and announced the house would be torn down. In response, some local citizens headed to the state archives in Annapolis to learn more about the property. What they found was enough to save it from destruction. "During a title search, the land the house stands on was erroneously identified as the property of George Washington's great-grandfather," said Michael Bosse, 47, who became the curator of the house about a decade ago. "As it turns out, that house was on the adjoining land."

In Fells Point, walking down cobblestone roads amid quaint boutiques is an effortless excursion into the past. The rapid pace of modern life converges with the city's simpler days to create a unique, colorful community. At the 40th annual Fells Point Fun Festival this weekend, thousands of people will revel as this waterfront neighborhood bustles with live music, art, carnival rides and cultural expression. The list of events scheduled for the two-day celebration includes an international bazaar featuring more than 300 retailers and free ethnic dance lessons.

The remaining portion of a rectory near an old church in Fells Point was demolished yesterday, a move that brings a developer a step closer to building high-priced condominiums on the property. The rectory was the first of several buildings slated to be razed as part of a redevelopment project at the site of the old St. Stanislaus Kostka Roman Catholic Church complex at Ann and Aliceanna streets. Opponents of the project say the buildings should be preserved because they are part of the heritage of the neighborhood's Polish community.

Catering to Kids Newport mansion tours keep things interesting for young visitors As tour groups filter through the Breakers in Newport, R.I., the opulent oceanside mansion once used as the Vanderbilt family's summer home, a guide brings a Connecticut family of four into a spectacular room off the main entrance. The Great Hall is 50 feet high with red-carpeted staircases and a gilded plaster frame that borders a bright blue sky painted on the ceiling. Tour guide Nell Trainor lets the Chan family take in the view, then turns to the youngest members of the group -- Alissa, 9, and her 14-year-old sister, Queenie.

An 18th-century Carroll County landmark will be the main attraction when more than 200 preservationists and others fascinated with old mills gather in Westminster this year. When the Society for the Preservation of Old Mills holds its annual conference in Maryland for the first time this September, members from across the United States and Canada will focus upon one of Maryland's gems: the Union Mills Homestead. Half a dozen volunteers, who worked more than a year to bring the conference to Carroll County, are busy planning events at Union Mills and visits to other mills in the area -- part of a region once known as America's breadbasket.

After spending years in limbo, Mother Goose, Papa Bear and Cinderella's mice finally got their happy ending yesterday along with several other fairy-tale figures. Left over from the long-closed Enchanted Forest theme park, the wooden and fiberglass characters had languished behind a chain-link fence in Ellicott City, beaten by the weather and vandals. This week, the company that owns the land announced it would donate the park's fairy-tale figures so they could entertain children at a nearby farm.

From Fort McHenry to the old Shot Tower, Baltimore abounds with monuments and historic buildings. And though these sites are definitive reminders of the city's past, there are other spots where history comes alive, said Preservation Society Executive Director Ellen von Karajan. The trendy neighborhood of Fells Point, she noted, still echoes the tales of yesteryear. "Most people just don't realize ... what a very richly historic place Fells Point really is," she said. "There is so much here that just isn't known, even by Baltimoreans."

Hanging up history Why not give a piece of history? Each year, a local group called the Preservation Society commissions a Christmas tree ornament in the shape of a historic building, district or sailing vessel that it has worked to preserve, and uses the sales proceeds to help fund its efforts. This year's ornament depicts the Fells Point Maritime Museum, which the society opened this summer in collaboration with the Maryland Historical Society. It features ship models, paintings and other maritime artifacts from the George Radcliffe Maritime Collection of the Maryland Historical Society, displayed inside a restored horse trolley barn at 1724-26 Thames Street.

TOMS RIVER, N.J. - After almost four years of legal wrangling, a New Jersey judge has ruled that the state Department of Environmental Protection could begin moving 24 tigers to a sanctuary in Texas from the private preserve run by the woman widely known as the Tiger Lady. The judge said the woman, Joan Byron-Marasek, had had "by any definition, a reasonable time" to argue her case against moving them. But Byron-Marasek can still appeal the ruling. The order by Judge Eugene D. Serpentelli, of Superior Court in Toms River, could end one long chapter of the state's fight to close the Tigers Only Preservation Society in Jackson Township, which began after a Bengal tiger was found roaming the nearby woods in January 1999.