AM The Lahr Wires - Lake Roland has wildlife, woods, and clear water-just twelve minutes from downtown. Millionaires and bird-watchers live ...
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By ANNE BENNETT SWINGLE
...AM The
Lahr [Wires
Lake Roland has wildlife, woods, and clear water—just twelve minutes
from downtown. Millionaires and bird-watchers live along its shores.
Floods, development, silt, and now a light rail line have threatened the
lake's peace. How long will people let this urban wilderness last?
W ANT SOME EGGS, ADELAIDE?"
Sarah Fenno Lord calls out from
her back porch. Adelaide Racke-
mann is just leaving after a short visit,
crossing the wide, sweet-smelling back-
services; all Lord had to do was escort
them across the park. She made an occa-
sion out of it, inviting friends and neigh-
bors and piles of children to come along.
Now it's become a biannual event, this
yard to her house next door. You can hear sheep walk. Everyone gets a balloon, the
chickens squawking in the barn out back. sheep are summoned, and Lord, a theater
Lord and Rackemann live on small critic for the Daily Record, her husband,
farms less than a mile from the city line in Henry, and their 4-year-old daughter,
Bare Hills, a bucolic enclave north of Hannah, bring out their shepherd's crook
Mount Washington. Their homes border and embark on a real-life nursery rhyme,
on Robert E. Lee Park, five hundred a two-mile "welcome-to-spring" hike
acres of relatively unspoiled wilderness through the park.
that includes Lake Roland. The area On one such day, Evelyn Zink hap-
where Lord and Rackemann live has been pened to be out strolling in the park with
called the Left Bank, and not just because her dog. Zink lives on the other side of
it is on the west side of the lake. It's al- Lake Roland, on the populous, affluent,
ways had more than its share of free- and highly civilized Right Bank. The peo-
thinkers and seems to foster a more Bohe- ple here don't necessarily live close to the
mian life-style than Ruxton or Wood- land. Close to the club maybe (the masses
brook on the Right Bank. Most Left are about equally divided between the
Bankers are devoted to nature and live L'Hirondelle Club and the Elkridge), or
somewhat close to the land. close to Graul's, but not close to the land.
Take Sarah Lord. Through the years, So there was Zink walking through the
she has kept chickens, turkeys, pigs, and park when suddenly Sarah Lord appeared
sheep. Her hens used to keep the lawyers on a wooded knoll, crook in hand, lead-
at Piper and Marbury supplied with eggs. ing her flock. It was a confused moment:
(Her husband, who is a partner with the the astonished Zink reining in her dog (an
firm, obligingly would cart them in to
work with him). Right, On skates or on sleds, Sarah Fen-
As for the sheep—once, when Sarah's no Lord, her daughter Hannah, and
house was being worked on, she had to next-door-neighbor Adelaide Racke-
farm them out. A friend who lived across mann venture onto frozen Lake Roland
the lake volunteered her sheep-sitting on a winter afternoon.
38 BALTIMORE MAGAZINE CRAIG DANIELSEnglish sheep dog, no less, straining in ness will be lost forever. At 66, Adelaide is remarkably trim
unparalleled delight on its leash)—an in- "I've been around too many cities, and and—as would soon be revealed—fit. On
tersection in time and place when city I don't know any city that has an area like our walk in the woods, she keeps a sharp
mouse met country mouse, when Ralph Robert E. Lee Park," says Edward Dav- eye out. There's hardly a sight that
Lauren met L.L. Bean, when Right Bank ens , a retired physician who has lived doesn't have a certain meaning, a certain
met Left Bank. near the lake for forty-five years. "But history for her: the box elders and poplars
the area is terribly threatened. The park near the water where she's been seeing a
will be cut in half by a train, running yellow-billed cuckoo, the place where
L AKE ROLAND IS PART OF THE FIVE- through every seven minutes. This will she came upon a big white standard poo-
hundred-acre Robert E. Lee Park, an not just disturb it, but it will destroy the dle lost in the woods several months ago.
abundant wilderness only twelve wildlife and the quiet. " Nondescript clearings along a wooded
minutes by 1-83 from downtown Balti- Most of the people around Lake Ro- path are as identifiable to Adelaide as the
more. With its forest, wetlands, and open intersection of two city streets would be
water, the park is a refuge for wildlife to most people. In her matter-of-fact
amid a major metropolitan area. "The Sierra Club will way, she points out a big-leaf magnolia,
viburnum shrubs, a euonymus elatus with
Not only is the area around Robert E.
Lee Parka unique natural ecosystem, it is be here, Green Peace its red berries and intriguing, stiff wings.
a social ecosystem as well—with Lake
Roland bringing together people from all
will drop in . . If (As a writer of horticultural articles, and
wife of the former gardening editor at The
around its shores with shared concerns Lake Roland were Sun, she knows her plants.) We come
and a shared way of life. The area is home across an unusual variety of honey-
to some of the most beautiful real estate in
deep enough, we'd suckle. "It's one of the first things out in
Baltimore, and some very interesting have Save the the spring—sometimes as early as Febru-
ary. On a calm day, you can pick up the
people. It is a respite for thousands more
from outlying areas who use the park, or Whales." fragrance when you're about thirty feet
just feel better knowing it is there. away."
But however much it may be loved, all The trees are still so thick with autumn
is not well with Lake Roland—and never land understand well the importance of leaves that we cannot see the lake until
has been. A man-made lake built to sup- mass transportation. They know it will al- we're actually upon it. But very suddenly
ply the city of Baltimore with water, it has leviate traffic congestion and air pollu- it is there, its surface as still as glass. We
been filling up with silt since its begin- tion throughout Baltimore, and allow city stop a moment to take in the Sunday
nings in 1861, threatening to dry up and dwellers unable to find employment near morning quiet and the colors of the re-
return to its natural state as a meadow. Its their homes to get to abundant jobs in the maining leaves, muted by mist.
dam, built to block the Jones Falls, has suburbs. They're also aware that they can Turning north, we head up along the
been declared unsafe; engineers fear that easily be seen as NIMBY s—narrow - deserted path of the Green Spring Valley
a severe storm may cause it to collapse, minded home owners unwilling to make branch of the Northern Central Railroad.
flooding nearby Cross Keys and other personal sacrifices for the greater social The railroad used to carry commuters
neighborhoods. The latest threat to the good, selfish members of a class of downtown from the 1830s to the 1950s,
lake is light rail, the twenty-seven-mile "haves" whose political rallying cry is but was discontinued with the growing
trolley system that the state plans to build, "Not In My Backyard. " popularity of the automobile. A good
linking Hunt Valley with Baltimore- And yet, along with all this social con- mile through the thick woods, we reach
Washington International Airport. scientiousness, there persists the trou- the old forty-foot-high trestle bridge that
Despite an ongoing lawsuit and cost bling thought that standing by and runs over the Jones Falls. Below us, the
overruns so embarrassingly high that watching as the train goes through—or al- water is muddy and shallow. This is a fa-
Governor William Donald Schaefer de- lowing the lake to be compromised in any vorite spot among park aficionados, and
clared a temporary halt on construction as of a number of ways—may not be for the today a couple from Ruxton is playing on
penance, light rail likely will be coming greater good, either. With the environ- the banks with their children and their
through Lake Roland as early as 1991. ment threatened so gravely everywhere, two Alaskan huskies. Rusty cannot seem
Trolleys, some as long as seven buses put there's a new awareness of what will be to get along with the huskies, so we do not
together, will roll through as often as 144 lost if this precious public slice of nature linger.
times a day, at speeds of up to 55 miles per goes. After all, Lake Roland is not just As we head west, the vegetation
hour, over a track that has been empty ex- Ruxton's backyard or Bare Hill's or changes. It's sparser here: long grasses
cept for a Conrail freight train that pres- Woodbrook's, it's everyone's. and rocky outcroppings dotted with
ently chugs along at just 5 m.p.h. three scrubby pine trees. These are the serpen-
times a week. Though the light rail will be tine pine barrens, Adelaide explains. The
B
cleaner and quieter than the diesel, peo- LANCO HAS BEEN LOOKING FOR A underlying mineral, serpentine, inhibits
ple who love the Robert E. Lee Park are walk all morning," says Adelaide the development of topsoil and the
concerned that it will disturb the habitats Rackemann. "He is a very unusual growth of full-sized trees (hence, the
of birds and other wildlife that shelter cat. He walks in the woods with me nearly name Bare Hills). Plants are quite small
there. Because the train will bisect the every day, and he will usually go the here, and some are quite rare: the fame
park, they also worry that it will make whole distance—several miles." flower, for instance, and Arabis. After a
areas of the park inaccessible or reach- She pokes around under some of the
able only by a dangerous crossing of the cat's favorite bushes, but Blanco doesn't The lake, and the Robert E. Lee Park that
tracks. The trolley also will make the area turn up. So we set off on our walk through surrounds it, provide a rare bit of sanc-
more attractive to developers, and once the park with just Rusty the dog for an es- tuary in an area that grows more popu-
that happens, they fear this fragile wilder- cort. lous every year.
ANNEK E DAVIS
40 BALTIMORE MAGAZINEL
rain, the ground here is spongy with blue- long walks with his wife, Pamela, a sec-
green algae, Adelaide says. ond-grade teacher at Grace and St. Pe-
Farther on, we peer into a pool left near ter's school and, of course, with Manto.
the sunken entrance to an old under- His library, well-stocked with natural-
ground mine. Nearby is a deep ravine that ist's books, is a testament to his devotion
was once the country's second largest to nature.
copper mine, after Soldier's Delight in No doubt Macht's creative pursuits
Owings Mills. Standing on the edge of the could keep him happily occupied in this
ravine, watching a dry snakeskin hanging hermit's retreat for years. But the pros-
from the branch of a small tree, we could pect of a commuter train clicking through
be somewhere in Montana.
Indeed, one of the rarest things about
this park is the variety of environments "The Ruxton people
packed within its borders. There is the
hardwood forest, the open water of the
have been pussycats
lake, the wetlands around it, the high on light rail. It's a
chaparral, and now these rocky cliffs.
People have spotted red fox and deer in matter of noblesse
the park, and the place is famous among
bird-watchers for the variety of species
oblige—they're
sighted here—among them wood ducks, afraid to be thought
purple finches, cedar waxwings, and of as protecting their
American bitterns.
Adelaide presses on, the little beads of quiet backyards."
sweat on her forehead are the only testa-
ment to the effort required by the arduous
walk. Her winded companion does not
Lake Roland has him so worked up that he
fare so well. Little wonder. When we fi-
decided to come out of seclusion and take
nally arrive back at her house, we have
logged more than five miles. on the powers that be. Last May, Macht
filed suit in United States District Court
to halt construction of the light rail.
"Light rail will have severe and pro-
S OUTH OF ADELAIDE, BACK IN THE
woods at the end of a narrow, un-
paved road, lives Robert Macht. The
house—designed by his sister Amy and
built by Amy's husband, George Grose—
found effects. It will do irreparable harm;
there will be no possibility of putting it
right," he says.
Of the train's $470 million estimated
is unprepossessing from the outside. In- cost, approximately $47 million will
side, however, it's all high ceilings and come from the federal government,
glass and flooded with light. In the great which means an environmental impact
room, the focal point is the grand piano statement must be drawn up on the
and a colorful set of instruments—the project. Such a statement would estimate
gamelan, an Indonesian percussion or- ridership, determining whether the train
chestra—neatly arranged on the floor. is worth the cost; examine alternate
Macht is a composer of contemporary routes, such as along 1-83; and investi-
concert music. He's played the piano gate ways of softening the impact on the
since he was a child, and by the age of 13 environment, through sound barriers and
was composing music with his father, the like.
Robert Sr., who is now retired as presi- But in January 1989, the state of Mary-
dent of Regional Management, a highly land came up with a plan that would allow
successful development company. To- it to avoid any such environmental re-
day, he and his father are still at it. Their view. By saying they would use federal
musical, Circles in Sand, about the forty money only for the four miles at the be-
years the Jews spent in the desert after es- ginning and end of the line, the state
caping from Egypt, will debut this spring would be free to do whatever it wanted on
at the Baltimore Playwright's Festival. the twenty-three miles between the Ti-
monium Fairgrounds and Glen Burnie—
Today, a Saturday morning, the 31-
even though that stretch includes Lake
year-old Macht is padding around the
Roland, the most environmentally sensi-
house in moccasins. Despite the casual-
ness of his clothing, you can tell the man
is intense by his dark, shining eyes. Right, Robert Macht hopes his lawsuit
Through the window, one can see his will block light rail from crossing Lake
enormous German shepherd, Manto, Roland up to 144 times a day. The trolley
sprawled out on the deck in the sunshine, would travel on the very tracks where he
keeping an eye trained on the woods. now stands, accompanied by his German
Macht is a regular in those woods, taking shepherd, Manto.
42 BALTIMORE MAGAZINE CRAIG DANIELS':" • A
tive portion of the line. way. This is the same width. They're his neighbor on Hollins Lane. So she and
"It leads one to the conclusion that the electrically powered trains. They're ex- her friends Dr. and Mrs. George Mirick
Schaefer administration and the federal tremely clean; there are zero emissions. bought a large piece of land that they div-
government are putting expedient con- These are quiet trains. " ided between them, and Taussig—always
struction above any and all environmen- He goes on, making an argument that, a pioneer—came to live by herself in a
tal concerns," says the infuriated Macht. from a state official's larger perspective, small house in the woods.
Along with his mother, Lois, Macht sounds quite reasonable. "What puzzles On the west side of Falls Road is the
historic Scott family settlement, home-
steaded by free blacks who purchased
land here before the Civil War. A bit far-
ther south is the newer black community
In the
of Pleasant View.
fifty years The neighborhood's heterogeneous
she has groups work side by side to defend the
lived beside it, area's special identity, which appears
Rally Dame more threatened every day. Residents are
has watched worried about the development that is
Lake Roland sure to spring up around the light rail sta-
slowly tion planned for just north of the Falls
disappear. Road bridge, and that the resultant in-
crease in traffic will require a widening of
Falls Road. That, in turn, would severely
hurt the historic communities. A special-
ist with the Federal Advisory Council on
Historic Preservation expressed his con-
cern over the fate of those communities in
December, and he warned the Army
Corps of Engineers not to issue the state
the wetlands permit it needs to begin con-
struction.
But if community solidarity can pre-
vent any of these problems, the people
hastily established the Robert E. Lee me about environmentalists is that they here have nothing to worry about. "Bare
Park Defense Fund and hired Philadel- fail to see the environmental [benefits of] Hills is the common thread that brings us
phia lawyer Joseph McGovern. The the light rail. Now everyone will not be together," says Jane Lawrence, who
Machts sought an injunction from the driving on the road. Their cars will be in moved to the area from Boston about
court, asking that the state be required to the garage, not out on the JFX. " twenty years ago with her physician hus-
file an environmental impact statement And yet if you love the lake as passion- band, James. "We might all have lunch
for the entire length of line or forego fed- ately as Robert Macht, his mother, and together to discuss the next move, or
eral money. Manto his dog do, Hartman's reasonable we'll pile into a car and go to the Dulaney
Twice, Judge George Revercomb in arguments all ring false. Valley School or some such place for the
U.S. District Court has ruled against the next public hearing. Once Dr. Davens
Machts, but they plan to appeal. It's vital had everyone to his house for dinner. We
to fight segmentation, Macht believes, T'S A SLICE OF THE MAINE WOODS," had twenty or thirty people. We have the
not just to defend Lake Roland, but to pre- says Realtor Arthur "Otts" Davis. best time together. I will always cherish
vent a dangerous precedent that govern- I "A unique spot that most people don't this," she says.
ments throughout the country could use even know exists. I'd say the people who Sarah Lord echoes that thought. "Jim
to sidestep their responsibility to the envi- live here are a group of individual charac- Rouse can spend his life developing com-
ronment. ters who love the outdoors. " Davis, pres- munities with a range on the socioecon-
"If we lose this case, we will have ident of Chase Fitzgerald Realtors, is omic scales, with a racial mixture. But we
turned on the ignition on the bulldozer to referring to the Left Bank of Lake Ro- have it all right here. "
destruction in a way we haven't yet land. The Left Bank is also home to Edith
seen," Macht says. "The area has always attracted people Hooper. A lifelong devotee of the park
For their part, state officials say Macht of individualistic makeup," agrees Ed- and Lake Roland, Hooper is elderly and
is exaggerating the damage the train will ward Davens, a sprightly, elderly gentle- ailing now, unable to give an interview.
cause. "The route skirts the park," says man with snow white hair and brilliant Her house, however, is one of the most
Ronald Hartman, of the Maryland Tran- blue eyes. For the last forty-five years, superb residences in the Baltimore area.
sit Authority. "The only place it really Davens has lived near Hollins Lane in an Designed in the international style by her
goes through the park is over the bridge. area accessible only by a road just wide friend, the famous architect Marcel
We're using the same right-of-way the enough to allow one car to pass at a time, Breuer (who also designed the Whitney
freight trains use today . " and not served by municipal water or Museum in New York), it sits solid and
But Macht doesn't buy that. "That's sewer lines. Formerly a public health low, in harmony with its wooded sur-
like saying, 'Here's a dirt road, let's put physician, Davens was an associate of roundings. Built around a central court-
in an interstate! ' " he exclaims Helen Taussig who developed the famous yard filled with trees and boulders, it is
"There's no analogy," Hartman re- "blue-baby" open-heart surgery at constructed entirely of stone and glass. In
joins. "This is not an interstate. We're Johns Hopkins Hospital. In the 1940s, fact, the house has such great expanses of
completely on the right-of-way, all the Davens encouraged Taussig to become window that when you are inside, you
CRAIG DANIELS
44 BALTIMORE MAGAZINEstill feel as if you were in the woods. Be- into a quiet wilderness. There's only one munity that she's been a part of all her
cause Hooper had grown up with horses problem: The train tracks are less than life. The first story she tells is a tragic
and wanted her three daughters to ride, fifty yards away. one. Her sister was coming home in a
she had Breuer design stables in her cel- Well, they can move, after all. They canoe from St. John's Church in Ruxton
lar. Davens remembers seeing the Hoop- have friends throughout the world. There when the canoe tipped and she drowned.
er girls riding through the park in full are projects and opportunities elsewhere. "The two boys she was with couldn't
dress riding outfits. And with their itinerant backgrounds, save her, and she couldn't swim," says
Heiress to the Ferry Seed fortune out of they're hardly tied to one house, one city, Josephine. It was her sister's sixteenth
Detroit, Hooper has been a generous sup- one country even. Carl insists they're not birthday.
porter of St. Paul's School for Girls, the NIMBYs, that their travels have given Bare Hills looked quite different when
Bryn Mawr School, and the Baltimore them a larger view. "I saw, during the Josephine was growing up. Cows grazed
Museum of Art. In the past, there had years I worked with Unicef and the World here, and there were wide, rolling fields
been speculation that Hooper would be- Health Organization, that population of corn where now there are woods.
queath the house to the BMA. More re- pressure leads to the destruction of the en- "That's the way I liked it," she says.
cently, there was talk of plans to turn the vironment. That's when you become des- "Now with all the trees, you can't see
house over to the Irvine Natural Science perate. In China, they treasure the little who's coming.
Center for a portion of its appraised val- pieces of park they have; they use them so "Daddy would tell us to pick the corn,
ue. As W.T. Dixon Gibbs Jr. , executive intensively. You can see what this means and we'd cook it in a big pot. After din-
director of Irvine, recalls, "A deposit to them, " he says. "The best protection ner, there was a dance floor and music
was put down; we were waiting for her for this park is letting it alone. Just let it and everyone would dance.
signature, but at the last minute, she was alone." "Every week we'd catch the train ride
advised not to do it. She is quirky. She had Sleigh bells jingle at the back door. down to the Bel Air market. It would take
wanted to preserve the park and was wor- "Oh, that's Josephine," says Mary. Jo- twenty minutes to get down to the Calvert
ried that her children would develop it sephine Fenwick, the 91-year-old black Street Station. We looked forward to it.
into lots." The latest reports are that the woman who lives next door, is a frequent We knew all the butchers," says Jose-
house will stay in the family. One of her unannounced visitor at the Taylors' . She phine. Other times, "My Daddy would
daughters is married to a builder. Who lives, as she has all her life, in a little old hear the train and he'd say, 'Here it
knows? Hooper's fears may ultimately be shack with no running water or indoor comes! Hurry up!' We'd get our pails and
borne out. plumbing in the woods next door. Since run down to the train. They'd slow down
Carl and Mary Taylor have just built a the Taylors moved here, she's been very and toss coal out to us. "
house in Bare Hills. Mary, 72, is an edu- much under their wing; they give her a
A
MID ALL THE FUSS ABOUT HOW
trains will ruin Lake Roland, it may
Carl come as a surprise to learn that the
and Mary railroad was actually here before the lake.
Taylor The Baltimore and Susquehanna Rail-
have lived road predated the lake by twenty years
all over
and ran along the very tracks that will
soon carry the light rail, as well as along a
the world
spur that skirts the western part of the
but chose to
lake.
settle on
Even before there was a lake, there
Lake Roland's were NIMBYs who opposed the railroad.
Right Bank. It was Valentine's Day in 1832 when a
jury of twenty Baltimore County men
gathered on Solomon Bowen's farm be-
neath a pewter sky. They were there to as-
sess damages Bowen might incur when
the railroad started chugging through his
property on its run between Baltimore
and York, Pennsylvania. Bowen feared
the trains would disturb the tranquility of
the valley and interfere with the produc-
tivity of his livestock. As it happened, the
jury found that the railroad would actual-
cational consultant in children's litera- hot meal every day. She goes with Mary ly enhance the value of his property: He
ture, and Carl, 73, is chairman emeritus on errands, to business meetings, and to would have easy access to markets in the
of the department of international health meetings about Lake Roland, where city, and his travel time to Baltimore
at Johns Hopkins. He has worked in fifty- she's now a familiar fixture. She's frail, would be cut from nearly four hours to
four different countries; together the but her face is remarkably free of wrin- one.
Taylors have lived throughout the world. kles, and she looks pretty much the same By 1838, the railroad was in full swing.
A grand piano and a golden harp, which as she did some thirty years ago when she A spur, the Green Spring Valley Branch,
one of the three grown children plays worked in the dining room at the Roland diverged from the main line at Hollins
when she comes to visit, grace their living Park Country School. Station (near the end of Hollins Lane) and
room. The house is situated on a knoll, Josephine has vivid memories about ran to Westminster. Changing its name
and from its wide deck one looks deep Lake Roland, and the historic black com- to the Northern Central in 1855, the rail-
FEBRUARY 1990 45m
RUXTON RD r-
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RUXTON MALVERN
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CITY LINE
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road became a supply and troop carrier worth remembering that Lake Roland and suspected it as the source of typhoid
during the Civil War. On November 16, was built for practical, not aesthetic pur- fever outbreaks that ravaged Baltimore.
1863, Abraham Lincoln—in the compa- poses—to supply water to a city that was By 1880, when the larger Loch Raven
ny of John Garrett, president of the Balti- growing, ironically, mostly because of Reservoir was built, the lake no longer
more and Ohio Railroad, and J.D. its railroads and streetcars. In 1862, it served the city's water supply but re-
Cameron, president of the Northern Cen- was renamed Swan Lake, after Mayor mained as a backup until 1915. The Bu-
tral—traveled on the Northern Central to Thomas Swann. By 1871 it was again reau of Water Supply owned Lake
dedicate the Gettysburg National Ceme- called Lake Roland after the Roland Run Roland until 1943, when it turned the
tery. As he headed out of Baltimore, Lin- that fed it (the stream in turn had been property over to the Department of Rec-
coln no doubt looked out of his car and named after Roland Thornberry,, a Brit- reation to be used as a fishing ground and
saw the newly created reservoir that ish gentleman who in the seventeenth picnic spot. The park was named after
would come to be called Lake Roland. century owned a large tract of land where Confederate General Robert E. Lee, as
Perhaps he even found some inspiration the Valley Country Club is today). per the wishes of Elizabeth Garrett
there as he jotted down on the back of that Keeping the lake a lake was a problem White, who left the city $80,000 for the
famous envelope his finishing touches to from the start. Erosion and siltation were purpose.
the Gettysburg Address. at work, and the lake began to fill in. Ev- Few who lived in north Baltimore can
In light of the present situation, it's eryone knew the water was contaminated forget June 22, 1972, the day tropical
46 BALTIMORE MAGAZINEstorm Agnes ripped through town. Flood northwest of the city in the early part of time spirit of the Maryland Republican
water on Lake Roland crested to four and this century. Party. Three years ago, Earl Linehan,
five feet above the spillway, building up A magnificent stone mansion, Tyrcon- president of Meridien Nursing Homes,
pressure on the granite dam and threaten- nell was built in 1919 by John Gibbs, a and his wife, Darielle, moved here from
ing to wash it away. Amid severe flood prominent Baltimore businessman who Winding Way in north Baltimore. Dar-
warnings, about one hundred families managed the successful Gibbs Canning ielle Linehan, whom neighbors describe
and businesses in Lake Falls and the Vil- Company founded by his father, as an el- as "ultrasophisticated, very New
lage of Cross Keys prepared to evacuate. egant showcase for the eighteenth centu- York," has been renovating house and
The dam held, but seven years later the ry Maryland furniture he collected. grounds ever since.
Army Corps of Engineers confirmed that Gibbs commissioned Henry White, de- After Woodbrook comes Brightside
it was inadequate in severe storms. signer of many of Guilford's finest Road, with its beautiful homes like En-
"The worst scenario would be that the glish country manors sans the well-tend-
front abutment would collapse," says ed gardens. A split-rail fence running
Gennady Schwartz, chief of capital de- As he put his along the road gives the neighborhood a
rustic feeling. Near Lindsey Lane is the
velopment in the city's Department of
Recreation and Parks. "But studies say finishing touches on Harvey family compound—home of the
three Harvey brothers: Robert, formerly
that the sides are more undermined than
the front." He points out that the areas
the Gettysburg chairman of Maryland National Bank; F.
threatened would be those of the Falls Address, Abraham Barton, formerly managing partner of
Road corridor; the JFX would be under- Alex. Brown; and Alexander, chief judge
water. Schwartz says that the city, the
Lincoln may have for the U.S. District Court for Maryland.
county, and the state of Maryland are now found some One of the three Harvey sisters also lives
there—Ellen Harvey Kelly, a historic
joining forces to share the estimated $7
million tab to repair the dam. inspiration in the preservationist and environmentalist
who was a key player in Congress's deci-
newly built Lake sion to save one hundred million acres of
Roland. wilderness in Alaska.
T
HOSE WHO LIVE ON LAKE ROLAND'S
Right Bank are well-to-do and in- Kelly notes a few little-known bits of
tensely private. You don't see their local history from the 1870s, when the
names cropping up in a Laura Charles area was not a posh enclave but a hard-
column. "There are lots of old Baltimore homes, to strip away most of the original working mining town. "Where Bellona
families here, and the property doesn't Tyrconnell, built nearly a century earlier Avenue makes a big turn at the bottom of
turn over much," says Realtor Otts by the O'Donnell family and named after the hill was a place called Betty Bush's
Davis. a kingdom in ancient Ireland. Tavern," she says. "Betty Bush was a
Most of the homes built on the wooded The house is approached by a long rough-and-ready woman who owned this
embankment near the southern end of curved drive leading to a circular cobble- tavern when they were mining near here.
Lake Roland are relatively new and ar- stone courtyard surrounded by a high It must have been a marvelous tavern!"
chitecturally interesting. This is where stone wall. The magnificent gardens Kelly's own interest in the environment
James Grieves, the prominent Baltimore were created around 1920 by the famous was spawned in these woods. "As chil-
architect who designed the aquarium's landscape architect Arthur Folsom Paul. dren, we would walk all around the lake
new marine mammal pavilion and the "Mrs. Gibbs must have been quite a with our dogs," she says. After living for
contemporary addition to the Brandy- woman," surmises Darielle Linehan, some years in Roland Park, she chose to
wine River Museum in Chadds Ford, who occupies the house today. "She was move back here, into a house designed by
Pennsylvania, chose to build his home. quite taken with the Tivoli Gardens in Ita- her architect husband, W. Boulton Kelly.
Its airy, open kitchen, with its stunning ly and wanted to replicate them here. The
view of the Lake Roland dam, has often topography is very good for a terrace/wa-
I
been the scene of "Take Five," a cook- ter garden, which is what she eventually F IT IS HARD FOR HUMANS TO KNOW
ing course created and taught by his wife made of it. " Indeed the north vista was what their right relation to nature is, it
Anne, former head of the Baltimore Visi- inspired by the magnificent gardens at the is even harder to know what their right
tors Information Center. Villa d'Este, which Ethel Dixon Gibbs relation to a step-child of nature, such as
Farther on is the house philanthropist and her husband had visited. Cedars Lake Roland, would be. Unlike other nat-
Henry J. Knott owned until recently. Da- pruned to a tall, thin shape to resemble the ural preserves, protecting this lake does
vis reports that the twelve-acre ranch has cypresses of Italy rise from a series of not just mean leaving it alone. If left
been zoned to six lots, which may be de- flagstone steps, each bordered by lush alone, Lake Roland will slowly revert
veloped. mountain laurel and rhododendron. Wa- back to the meadow Solomon Bowen
Then comes the good part: Wood- ter trickling through stone fountains sug- farmed in 1830.
brook. As far as Otts Davis is concerned, gests the famous waterworks displays at According to Hally Dame, it's already
this community off Charles Street, cen- Tivoli, commissioned by a sixteenth cen- happening. For the past fifty years, Dame
tered around Woodbrook Lane, is the tury cardinal to celebrate the discovery of has lived on L'Hirondelle Club Road—in
most desirable neighborhood in the Lake hydraulic power. a house she and her late husband, Paige,
Roland area, and perhaps in all of Balti- When John Gibbs died in 1953, his es- bought before the war for several thou-
more. The grandest house of all is Tyr- tate was valued at more than $3 million— sand dollars, but that she now estimates
connell. Surrounded by some twenty- at the time the second largest estate ever might fetch nearly a half million.
four acres, this is the largest and best pre- probated in Baltimore County. Tyrcon- When their children were young, the
served example of the type of formal es- nell passed to a distant relation, D. Luke Dames kept a little sailboat tied up in the
tates built in the "golden triangle" Hopkins, the bank president and long- Roland Run out behind the house. (Ev-
Continued on page 110
FEBRUARY 1990 47convenience, moving around planets and not in very high demand," he says. The eroded and will be completely gone. The
stars the way we now dam a river or cut institute has set up an elaborate video lab geometrical skill that was developed to
through hills to build a highway. and other programs to share the tele- put them up will remain. "
Ultimately, a Type Four civilization scope's discoveries with the public, but As Giacconi readies for the launch of a
might arise, one that would be sophisti- Giacconi admits he would find it difficult telescope that will itself become the sec-
cated enough to manipulate the fate of the to explain to the average Joe Taxpayer ond brightest starlike object in the sky
cosmos itself. why spending $6 billion to put a telescope each night—brighter even than Jupiter—
"It is an interesting thought," says in space is so important. he muses on how the turbulent violence of
Giacconi. "I feel it is physically possible. "I will tell you my own crazy point of his Brave New Universe is really, well,
There is nothing from the point of view of view. We should be allowed to [put up a comforting in a way.
physics which tells you this cannot hap- telescope]," he continues, "because it is "All these explosions, noise, terrible
pen . . . you can imagine intelligent life the only important thing we do. The rest stuff . . . to me, give a feeling of the ra-
actually playing a role in the physical ev- has no meaning. tionality of it all," he tries to explain,
olution of the universe, which would be "If you think about what it is that we again gesturing wildly. "Well, you say it
very interesting." leave . . . Suppose you died now, what is an explosion. I say, Jesus, I've got in-
would be left next year, the year after side me the fossil remnants of the hydro-
0 F COURSE, ACCORDING TO THE
theory, we could just as easily prove
to be a species that is too violent or
too stupid, and destroy ourselves. Giac-
coni is aware, naturally, that while he's
next, a hundred years, a thousand, ten
thousand? It's not obvious, except civili-
zation. That is, there are things that we as
mankind have gotten—the wheel, fire—
by observing natural phenomena. The
gen that comes straight from the big bang.
The iron in me comes from a super-
nova . . . So I feel I am a part of it all.
There is all of this birth and death, and so
forth, but we are sharing in this.
looking up at the stars, many of the rest of idea of regularity, of time. Some impres- "That' s not disorderly. That's nice. It
us seem to be trying to slouch back into sion of where we are in the universe . . . fits. It's okay. " •
the caves. these are the only worthwhile things that Patrick J. Kiger is a senior writer of BALTIMORE
"Right now, truth and rationality are will remain, when the pyramids will have Magazine.
Lake Roland Continued from page 47
erybody had sailboats in the 1950s; the contingent from L'Hirondelle Club ried that dredging will mean tearing down
fleet was dubbed the "Ruxton Navy..") Road, there are assorted Ruxtonites, a trees for a haul road, and for a field to dry
In those days, the lake came right up to few from Bare Hills, and a smattering of out all the silt that's removed. "I under-
Dame's yard, and you could ice skate on public officials. The men are still in their stand you've got a lot of handsome trees
it clear up to the L'Hirondelle Club Road business suits, the women turned out in in there," says Philip Powell, a Club
bridge. Few who grew up in the suburbs their Talbots best. Through the years, Road denizen. "But you've got a lot of
of north Baltimore don't remember skat- they've become sophisticated environ- junk trees in there, too. "
ing on Lake Roland and building bonfires mentalists discussing what it means to be "There's no such thing as a junk tree!"
on the lake near Bellona Avenue. It was in right relation to Lake Roland. They've retorts Anneke Davis, an environmental
one of the big social events of winter. come to accept the paradox that in this activist from Mount Washington. "Ev-
Today, from Dame's sunroom win- case, saving nature requires committing ery tree supports a colony oflife!"
dows, you can't even see the lake. In- an unnatural act—namely, dredging the People shift around in their chairs un-
stead, there is marshland and slender, lake. comfortably.
scrubby trees, sprouted mostly within the The lake was dredged a dozen times "Someone should have brought along
last twenty years. "First we saw the little between 1877 and 1902, and then a last the gin and tonics," one woman mutters
grasses peeping above the surface. The time in 1955. By 1974, the lake held 180 under her breath. She has the jaded look
next year, they were taller; then there million gallons of water, down from four worn by many here tonight, for whom
were little trees and rushes. We watched hundred million when it was built. this is all so much "deja vu."
the lake disappear," says Dame, 75. In March of the following year every- Then a woman in Barbara Bush blue
"Nowadays they call this the 'wetlands.' thing was set to dredge the lake once stands up. It is Elaine Freeman, doyenne
But I think the wetlands occur naturally more. But at the last minute, a local envi- of the Johns Hopkins office of public in-
around a delta. This is just land that's ronmentalist, Julia Metcalf, stepped for- formation, a Ruxton resident in her other
waiting to dry up . " ward and argued that dredging would life. "No one wants to see the same thing
Today, silt clogs the Roland Run, harm wildlife in the area, and dredging that happened years ago happen again
causing flash floods on the L'Hirondelle plans were abruptly shelved. here. You saved money and gave us a lake
Club Road bridge during storms. Be- Now, fifteen years later, William that lots of us have seen destroyed, all in
cause the bridge is the only access to the Stack of the city's Department of Public the name of preservation. "
hill, residents are stranded several times a Works tells the group at Riderwood A smattering ofhearty applause.
year. Plans to build a new, higher bridge School the effects of that decision: Lake By the end of the meeting, some head-
are in the offing, but for now, Club Road Roland is now 75 percent filled in; it may way is made. There is talk of removing
residents have learned to live with their be completely filled in as early as 2019. forty thousand cubic yards of silt from the
condition. Often when it's been raining Thus, the lake that people have waged northern end of Lake Roland. The silt
hard, Dame's long-faithful maid calls her lawsuits over, attended evening meetings would be dried on the rugby field off Bel-
up before coming to work and asks, "Is about, petitioned their legislators for, and lona Avenue (created, incidentally, as a
the bridge flooded?" feuded with their neighbors over, will result of dredging circa 1900) and then
That's the reason—the flooding and simply . . . disappear, like something out transported down to Middle Branch Park
the filling in of the lake—that Dame and of legend. to cap eight acres of contaminated materi-
her neighbors are assembled tonight at A small but vocal knot of purists want al at the bottom of the river. No one in
the Riderwood School. Besides the small to let nature take its course. They are wor- Ruxton wants the smelly, possibly poi-
I 10 BALTIMORE MAGAZINEsonous stuff to sit around for very long. insist. On the contrary. Like the famed and Parks, even had a golf course slated
"Is there some kind of machine that designer of urban parks, Frederick Law for the park.
you can use to squeeze all the water out?" Olmstead, Hildreth and Lawrence firmly Some fear that the city may eventually
asks Amy Grose. believe that those who dwell in the city sell bits of the park off for development.
"If you find one, give us a call, " says a can survive only if they can enjoy large "Nothing is sacrosanct," says Ellen Kel-
county official. open spaces. "This is a facility that ly . "Certainly not a park. "
"Just put it on the light rail," quips should be used by inner-city people," Realtor Otts Davis disagrees. "I'd say
Nancy Horst, of the Ruxton-Riderwood says Hildreth, 51. "A place where people the probability of change is low. Today,
Association, "and it'll be dry by the time can come after working at a drudge job more and more attention is being paid to
it gets downtown!" down in the city and find peace. There are environmentalists, and anyone in office
who is not aware of the public outcry at
0 NCE EVERY SUMMER, WHEN LAKE taking park land is just not politically
Roland is at the peak of its glory, the One of the rarest savvy.
"Plus, there's neighborhood opposi-
members of its various communities
come together to celebrate the lake with a things about the park tion," he goes on. "They're sharp, sav-
vy, and they know the way to kill a project
dinner party held alfresco. The hostesses
are Louise Hildreth and Jane Lawrence,
is the variety of is to stall for time and money. In the fu-
from Right and Left Banks respectively. environments ture, we'll have not only the [community
They do all the cooking for the party out groups] but the environmental groups.
of Hildreth's Ruxton kitchen, boiling within its borders: The Sierra Club will be here, Green
dozens of potatoes for potato salad, mari- hardwood forest, Peace will drop in . . . If Lake Roland
were deep enough, we'd have Save the
nating hundreds of stalks of asparagus,
rinsing thousands of strawberries and open water, Whales."
Others are not so optimistic that the
blueberries. All this—plus big hams and
turkeys and a caterer-made cake—they
wetlands, and pine communities around Lake Roland will
lug down to the lake and set up under a barrens. exert their political will. People here are
patrician, overwhelmingly Wasps, bred
tent supplied by the Department of Recre-
ation and Parks. The company is good, more for good manners than for confron-
and beer and wine—not in short supply— tation. And with the light rail question,
help everyone forget the thorny issues no ball fields. No lights. Just complete it's not just the old-money aversion to
that have sometimes divided them. For tranquility." publicity that keeps them from fighting,
once, they just sit back and enjoy the "One of the nicest memories I have of but a conflict in their consciences. As one
splendor of their beautiful backyard. the park is, in spring or summer, seeing observer noted, "While other communi-
In 1983, noticing that the park was suf- city families with a picnic, a cloth spread ties—Thornleigh , Riderwood, Luther-
fering from neglect, Hildreth and Law- out on the ground, the children having a ville, for example—have been outspoken
rence founded the Robert E. Lee wonderful time," Lawrence adds. on light rail, the Ruxton people and the
Conservancy. They started collecting But, while Hildreth and Lawrence be- people around the lake have been pussy-
dues, which they used for landscaping lieve the park should be accessible to peo- cats. They see their opposition to the
and general cleanup, as well as to pur- ple, they do not believe the best way to project as opposition to progress. It's a
chase trash cans and attractive signs urg- make it so is by running a train through it. matter of noblesse oblige—they're afraid
ing people to use them. Both women have That is the philosophy of the MTA, how- to be thought of as protecting their quiet
spent countless hours lobbying on behalf ever, which has proposed locating a light backyards."
of the park, working out of the old care- rail station in the park for just that pur- Lois Macht worries that this concern
taker's house by the Lake Roland dam pose. for appearances may ultimately cause a
that is their headquarters. "This is a park; it should be used by great treasure to be lost. "They're such
They are a team, always together—at people. The park is owned by the city; nice people, but nice people have inhibi-
town meetings, at public hearings, and in city tax dollars are supporting it," says tions you can't imagine. They see that
district court. On this day, a fine fall af- the MTA's Ronald Hartman, in response they have everything," and they're re
ternoon, they are sitting on a bench out- to community protests about the station. luctant to come out in public and say that
side their office. Into the park come "We were going to have trains stop there they want more, she says.
young fathers with toddlers, bikers and only on Sundays. We thought: Isn't this Now at day's end, in front of the care-
joggers, and people walking dogs—plen- great, now city people will be able to get taker's house, the endless parade of peo-
ty of dogs. An Asian family of five, all there. They're paying for it, after all." ple continues to pour into the park.
holding hands, heads across the bridge in (Whether the MTA still plans to place a "If the light rail system goes in, our
front of the dam. A Rastafarian, his head station in the park is not clear; like many worst fears would be realized," says
wild with dreadlocks, strolls by after other details about the trolley line, it is Hildreth. "The land might be made avail-
them, trailing his voluminous clothes. shrouded in mystery .) able for commercial and residential de-
"This is really one of the jewels in Bal- What will the future hold for Lake Ro- velopment. There would be people, no
timore's crown," says Lawrence. "Our land? There have been many suggestions, grass left. Birds here now would be re-
hope was to educate the public so that they ranging from pulling the plug on the lake placed with sparrows and pigeons. It
would understand that. There are recrea- and running all the water out over the would become an urban area."
tional parks around Baltimore, but this is dam, to donating the land to nature con- Her partner, Jane Lawrence, pauses a
a wildlife refuge, and we thought it could servancy. Others have wanted to make moment. "I think people will look back
be cultivated as such. We had such high the place a recreation mecca: someone on the park and remember it with sad-
hopes for it. " wanted to open a concession for paddle ness.",
Keeping the park a wildlife refuge does boats; and Douglas Tawney,, former head Anne Bennett Swingle is a free-lance writer living
not mean keeping people out, the women of the city's Department of Recreation in Guilford.
FEBRUARY 1990 111LEI I ERS
LETTERS
Serve
1924 The Fishmarket (January) would have entailed a delay of several
years.
What is it about the human species that The state EIS published in December
delights in the apparent failure of those of 1988 is a document of three hundred or
among us who dare to take risks? The arti- four hundred pages comparable in many
cle about the Fishmarket is yet another ways to its federal counterpart. It covers,
example of that. The Monday morning for instance, wetland mitigation, sedi-
quarterbacking of the reporter as well as ment control, historical and archaeologi-
that of the small-minded little people who cal sites, etc.
added their negative comments belies the Quoting from page 5-69 of the state
fact that without people such as William EIS, "Alternative alignments were de-
Donald Schaefer, Jack Luskin, and Frank veloped [to avoid the park] as summa-
McCourt, we would never have progress rized in Section 3.2.6. The alignment
in our society. along the existing railroad right-of-way
Everything that these people said about was selected due to cost and service con-
the Fishmarket could have been said siderations. " It seems unlikely that any
about Harborplace, if that had failed. If alternative route could have less impact
all people were like the timid bureaucrats than one already occupied by a railroad.
and doomsayers interviewed for the Fish- Light rail transit is a part of the state's
market article, not only would we not plan for meeting federal requirements for
have a man on the moon, we wouldn't reduced hydrocarbon emissions, and it
even have the ability to put one on top of can help the bay as well, since petroleum
the USF&G Building. products entering the storm water system
as runoff are by far the largest contributor
Stephen L. Miles to water pollution.
Baltimore Many people have forgotten the differ-
—ooper pro- ence between streetcars and buses. Mod-
atters that
appraisal to
ern light rail cars are much quieter, emit
real estate Pam Shriver (January) no exhaust (they are powered by quiet
o the selec- electric motors), and glide over welded
)ur superb Though I haven't played tennis since I rail. Unlike roadways, crushed rock and
pository of was 17 (I'm now 70) and all I can recall concrete ties entail no damage to the eco-
'passed col- system. Light rail offers huge savings in
arpets. You
about the game is the word "love," I was
fascinated by the beautiful cover picture energy and land resources.
tnd browse.
of Pam Shriver and didn't hesitate to pur- Traditionally, parks and streetcars in
)nsignments for chase BALTIMORE Magazine. The story Baltimore have been close friends, and no
is of fine furniture, was written wonderfully, with a warm doubt they can be again. The decline of
elry. Sellers who
and wistful feeling and an underlying sad- Baltimore's park system can be traced to
Bruce P. Levinson
intment. ness that many "famous" people experi- the demise of its streetcars, which used to
ence. Money is a marvelous possession, start and end their routes in parks. A park
fame is fantastic and thrilling—but the which is a popular attraction is less likely
1204 biggest gift is inner peace. I do hope this to be taken for other purposes.
lovely, precious young lady achieves it—
but then again, how many do? Kevin Zucker
Baltimore
Rae Miller Heneson
Baltimore Correction
'eriors Lake Roland (February)
February's photo caption of winners in
BALTIMORE Magazine's reader restaurant
- 423-1236
poll should have stated that Tom McDon-
Your article leaves readers with the ald is one of the owners of the Brass Ele-
hcock impression that serious environmental phant.
damage will accrue to the lake and its sur-
len roundings due to light rail. The fact that We want to hear from you. Send us your
isonSquare the state chose not to produce a Federal thoughts about BALTIMORE Magazine (please
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) type). Names and addresses may be withheld on
Fel Lamps does not prove that the light rail project request but must be included, along with a day-
per Lamps would fail federal environmental stan- time telephone number, for venficationputpos-
es. The editors reserve the right to edit letters for
kong others dards. In fact, the state did produce an
space and clarity. Address to Letters Editor, BAL-
EIS that addresses every category of en- BALTIMORE S
TIMORE Magazine, 16 S. Calvert Street, Balti-
vironmental impact, but a federal EIS HUNT VALLEY
more21202.You can also read
