Elkridge Heritage Society - Special Event, July 17th

On July 17th, at 7pm, we are very happy to be able to hold our meeting at the Hamel Builders office spaces, at the former location of the Davis & Hemphill Factory (5710 Furnace Ave). Mr. Ed Hamel has done an amazing job with the transformation of the building, and he will tell us all about the renovations, and something about the history of the site. We are hoping that some of the former Davis & Hemphill factory employees will be able to attend and see how things have changed. You may have caught a glimpse of the long building with the row of skylights from Race Road. It looks very intriguing from the outside, and we can't wait to see the inside! Everyone is welcome. Refreshments will be served. We will also be holding elections for officers of the society, so please come and get involved! See the attached image for directions, a little map and other information.

The Elkridge Heritage Society has been working very hard to draw new members, preserve its collection at the Brumbaugh House, maintain the Brumbaugh House itself, and hold gatherings with presentations that are meaningful to the community. We have toured Grace Episcopal Church and learned all about its past and how the parish had to rebuild several times because of the proximity to the train tracks. We had an extremely well-attended presentation about sports in Elkridge, and shared many fond memories about Bob Smithson, Johnny Merson and other well-known baseball players from the area, other baseball and football stories, and the beginning of lacrosse at Howard High. Thanks to Cynthia Garner (our youngest member) and her family, we also held a very successful family event, "Elkridge Day," where many people came to learn about the history of our town.

We have a lot of opportunities for volunteers to become involved. We really need a gardening committee, so if you want to help, and have a green thumb (unlike the author of this post!) please contact us. Cynthia has been coordinating some of the yard work as a project for 4-H, but we need more help. Also, we need help with house-cleaning, preservation of our collection, digitization of some of our cherished documents and photographs, data-entry of collection items into our new Collection database, coordinating meetings and refreshments, and fund-raising, to name a few things. It can actually be overwhelming to think of all the work, but little by little, with more community involvement, we can make it all happen.

For more information, email us at info@elkridgeheritage.org or visit our website at www.elkridgeheritage.org. We will be unveiling a modernized website with a link to some of our collection later this summer.