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| James (left) and Tom (right) on the bridge to Ellicott City |
Our friend James is visiting us from England, and has not toured Maryland and Washington, D.C. before so join us as we share some of our favorite places to take visitors - as we did with James.
FIRST STOP: HISTORIC ELLICOTT CITY, MARYLAND
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| Patapsco River |
Ellicott City is an unincorporated community in Howard County, Maryland. The downtown area is historic and was founded in 1772. It features the
B&O Railroad Museum Ellicott City Station, built in 1830, and a downtown historic district which is a very popular destination among
antiques shoppers, with restaurants, eclectic boutique shops, coffee shops, a tea room and many historic sites.
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| B&O Railroad Bridge With a welcome to Ellicott City |
Joseph, Andrew and John
Ellicott were Quakers who had grown up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. As the boys grew they were
apprenticed to learn the trades that led to their later success in
Maryland.
Lush vegetation and the
swiftly flowing Patapsco River must have captivated the three Ellicott
brothers when they searched for land in the late 1760's. The brothers
had searched throughout Maryland and Pennsylvania for a site where they
could grow wheat and harness water power for a mill. In 1771 the
Ellicott brothers purchased many acres east of the river in the valley
known as the "Hollow." Although the valley was uninhabitable, they were
not alone; other settlers lived along the bluffs overlooking the river.
INDUSTRY IN THE "NEW" TOWN - The Ellicott brothers constructed sawmills, smithies, stables, an oil
mill, a grain distillery, and grain mills. They helped revolutionize
farming in the area by persuading farmers to plant
wheat instead of
tobacco and also by introducing
Plaster of Paris fertilizer to revitalize depleted soil
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| The Old Mill Bakery Café |
OUR TOUR -
We learned that most of the shops were closed Monday and Tuesday, and
we picked a Monday to visit. What was most important was the
architecture of the buildings that still stood from the 1800s anyway, so
it was still fun. We did stop and have a really
wonderful lunch at T
he Old Mill Bakery Café located just over the bridge.
THE TOWN'S HISTORIC FLOODING AND FLOOD MARKERS AT RAILROAD BRIDGE - Just to the left side in the photo of the railroad bridge is a river the flows under the elevated tracks. On one of the support beams are markings with dates that represent floods that hit the town. There were two major floods in recorded history, the first being in 1868
which destroyed the lower end of Main Street, and resulted
in fatalities, and 1972's Tropical Storm Agnes.
NEXT: ELLICOTT CITY'S B&O RAILROAD STATION AND HAUNTS
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