1940 Blockade and Monty R Duel in Maryland Timber Racing

In 2007 The Chronicle of the Horse magazine published my article about Monty R and the 1940 Maryland timber racing season. In 2010 I gave the article to Ric Cottom to adapt for his WYPR Public Radio segment, Your Maryland. I missed the broadcast when it finally aired in 2014, but recently found it in the WYPR podcast archive. You can listen to it by clicking here. Or read the article with photos by clicking here.

Jericho Covered Bridge Under Reconstruction

    The bridge spans the Little Gunpowder Falls near Jerusalem Mill and connects Baltimore and        
    Hartford County. Go to this link and this link to see the bridge as it was a year ago.

                 

                            A yellow fungus or mold is growing up the trunk of the tree above.

Busy Beavers and a Stubborn Maple

     Hiking yesterday I encountered two things of interest; a beaver lodge at Meadowbrook Park in
     Howard County and a stubbornly green maple among the naked trees along the Patapsco River
     Valley in the Daniels sections of Howard County.

Steam Train Penstock in Use

Two years ago I took the above photo of the penstock at the old Western Maryland Railroad station in Cumberland, Maryland. This past weekend I was in Cumberland again and took the photo below which shows the penstock in use supplying water to the tender of the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad steam engine 734.

Brice Run

         Hiked Alberton Road along the Patapsco River to Brice Run and sat by the little falls there.

             On the return walk I saw these geese on the river. I think they are staying the winter.

On the Appalachian Trail in Maryland

Hiked a short section of the AT today with my brother Chris. We ran into a section hiker named Don. He  makes us look like pikers. He is 70 and so far has hiked 1,600 miles of the 2,200 mile trail whenever he can get away from work. Yeah, he is still working after retiring from teaching. This morning, hiking alone, he started at Dahlgren Backpack Camp and was headed north for a shelter just above of Rt 40. He does about 10 miles a day.  We met Don at an elevation of 1,350 feet at GPS coordinates 39 30 28 N and 77 37 16 W.  Go Don!

                                                                      Don

We were headed south to the Washington Monument built by citizens of Boonsboro, Maryland in 1827 and restored by the CCC, Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s during the Depression.

Washington Monument

                                   View from the base of the Washington Monument.

Access to the inside and top of the monument is currently blocked because it was struck by lightning in August 2015 and the structure is being evaluated  for safety.

                             Large paper wasp nest we encountered just to the side of the trail.

                                                     The AT footbridge over I-70

Greenbriar State Park

Western Maryland Scenic Railroad

            Steam still rides the rails in Western Maryland between Cumberland and Frostburg.

            Through the Cumberland narrows with a view of the Allegheny Front escarpment.

Kilgore Falls and King and Queen Seat at Rocks State Park

Yesterday was perfect autumn weather for the trip to Rocks State Park with my brother Christopher.

Kilgore Falls

                                                      The King and Queen Seat

Drier Than Expected

Things turned out drier than expected this past weekend at Fells Point after the scheduled Fun Fest was cancelled because of the threat of flooding in low lying waterfront areas. Better safe than sorry, but happy the predicted flooding did not occur. The nice looking tugs shown here are out of Yonges Island, South Carolina, where things were really, really bad in the flooding department. Rain causing disaster conditions in the Carolinas. For them it was a good weekend to be in Baltimore.

Laurel, Maryland: Depot to Paddock to Dam

Laurel is an old mill town on the Patuxent river in central Maryland. A 19th century mill town needed two things: a river to dam and a railroad to ship its product. If the railroad depot happened to be next to a thoroughbred race track, all the better. The rail depot sits at the east end of Main Street. The river runs parallel to Main Street and between the depot and the race track. The mill is long gone, but the depot and race track remain. My father grew up in this town and my brother now lives in our grandfather's house in the town's old section. We took a five mile hike around town and along the river this Labor Day morning.

                     The railroad depot at Laurel, built by the B & O, now owned by CSX.

                                       The paddock at Laurel Park, inside and out.

                                      The grandstand and home stretch at Laurel Park.

The Patuxent river near the site of the old cotton mill.

                                          All that remains of the old mill dam.

Dam! That Didn't Go So Well.

The Washington Monument in Baltimore's Mount Vernon Square

                July 4th 2015 marked the 200th anniversary of  laying the cornerstone for the nation's
                                        first monument dedicated to George Washington.

                          The monument was reopened to the public after an extensive refurbishing.

                                                        That is Lafayette riding point.

Work Car and the Dreamer at the Magic Mirror on the Wall

                           Some are workers. Some are dreamers. Even at the Streetcar Museum.
           

The Urban Zoo

Sunset on the Tred Avon River, Oxford, MD

Where's Waldo? On the Patapsco Near Henryton

Easter on the Patapsco

Hiked the river at Daniels early this morning.

Waiting for summer.

Battle Creek Cypress Swamp - Calvert County Maryland

This swamp in Southern Maryland is the northernmost cypress swamp in the United States.  It is not a large area: only 40 acres, but is is a significant piece of ecological preservation in our region. The park has a very good nature center, considering its small size. The cypresses in this swamp are Bald Cypresses, named that because they shed their needles for the winter like deciduous broad leaf trees. The knobs protruding from the swamp are called "knees" and are part of the root system of the cypress. They are believed to be stabalizers for the cyprss trees.