Tag: maryland
Garrett County's sesquicentennial celebration kicks off
OAKLAND, Md. — A kickoff to Garrett County’s sesquicentennial celebration took place last week at the Garrett County Courthouse.
The 150th anniversary commemorates the incorporation of Garrett County on Dec. 4, 1872. It was formed from neighboring Allegany County and was the last county to be created in the state of Maryland.
The event was held as part of the Board of Garrett County Commissioners public meeting Dec. 6.
The program included a proclamation by the commissioners and special guest speakers Robert Boal of the Garrett County Historical Society and Albert Feldstein, a local historian.
“This is going to take obviously a year to celebrate, so everyone that has had a hand in everything that is going on thus far and moving forward, we appreciate it,” Commissioner Paul Edwards said before reading the proclamation to kick off the year of celebration.
“I am honored to speak on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the county I love and have stayed in for 61 years,” Boal said.
He noted that as far as the creation of Garrett County goes, very little was done before the Civil War.
“There were rumblings of discontent up here in the mountains that we didn’t have enough representation. We were sort of the weak sister, but no movement ever occurred,” Boal said. “With the end of the Civil War, that changed.”
He stated that the region began to boom with the arrival of the B&O Railroad in the 1850s, with agriculture, timber and coal.
“Garrett County felt our wealth and our resources were being taken out of here and we should have more control over all of this,” Boal said.
He mentioned several key players and developers who started the movement.
“It caught on slowly because this was a very remote area,” Boal said. “The awakening in GC started about 1870, and some very powerful locals picked up on it. These men lit the spark that brought the fire.”
He noted that the group started having community barbecues where they met, shared a meal and talked about what this area should be. It turned into a movement that was very strong.
In April 1872, the General Assembly passed a bill to allow for an election, which took place on Nov. 4, 1872. Dec. 4, 1872, was the date set for the county to become the newest in the state.
Feldstein stated that the reasons listed on the petition for creation of a new county included the substantial distance from far Western Maryland to the existing county seat in Cumberland, greater representation in the state’s General Assembly, greater opportunities for local tax revenue and more appropriate expenditures of public funds.
Two possible names were proposed for the county: Garrett and Glade.
He noted that the new county was established by the Maryland State Legislature on April 1, 1872, but it was a requirement that it be left up to the voters.
The vote on Nov. 4 resulted in 1,297 in favor of a new county and 405 opposed.
“Congratulations to Garrett County, and we should all look this good after 150 years,” Feldstein said.
To read the full article click here.
Western Maryland Scenic 1309 receives FRA approval
RIDGELEY, W.Va. — The Federal Railroad Administration Thursday approved Western Maryland Scenic Railroad 2-6-6-2 No. 1309 for service, officials of the Cumberland, Md.-based tourist railroad tell Trains News Wire. The last Baldwin built for domestic service in 1949 immediately becomes the world’s largest operating Mallet on a 17-mile mountain railroad that was once the Western Maryland main line, including iconic Helmstetter’s Curve.
The locomotive will immediately begin its testing and break in period, leading up to its operation on Polar Express trains next month and regular service and special events next winter and spring. The former Chesapeake & Ohio engine only operated in regular service for six years before retirement and was displayed at the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore for years before Western Maryland Scenic bought and moved it in 2014. The engine and three cars were running this morning.
The $3.5 million restoration of the large articulated was a monumental task for a tourist railroad of modest means and working in a former Western Maryland car shop. Workers last December pushed to get the engine to the point where it could move on its own for the first time in 64 years and debuted it on Dec. 31. Since then, the shop crew has been chasing down thousands of final details, rebuilding the stoker, and acquiring parts that were difficult to come by during the Covid-19 pandemic. The railroad, which had not run since the 2019 season, also worked to reopen during 2021, which made No. 1309’s restoration a close but still second priority.
The Mallet, which uses its steam twice, was the fabled Baldwin Locomotive Works’ last domestic product in 1949 and is thus a major landmark in U.S. steam locomotive manufacturing.
Crews from railway preservation came from across the U.S. to assist in the final weeks of reassembly, a painstaking and difficult process for a locomotive that received little maintenance in its working life, spent years on display in a humid environment, and was disassembled by a different restoration crew. Its restoration was slowed earlier by an employee’s theft of parts, significant funding challenges, and the immensity and complexity of such a large locomotive.
steam locomotive outside depot
Western Maryland Scenic 2-6-6-2 No. 1309 begins test runs today following FRA approval of the locomotive after an extensive 7-year, $3.5 million restoration. Here it is outside Cumberland Depot. (Walter Scriptunas II photos)
When it begins regular operations, No. 1309 will be the only articulated rod engine in action in the eastern U.S., and the largest steam power in the East. Union Pacific’s Big Boy operates on UP tracks and is a simple articulated, meaning it feeds high-pressure steam to all four cylinders.
No. 1309 will be operated on 17 miles of the former Western Maryland Railway main line from Cumberland, Md., via famous Helmstetter’s Curve, to Frostburg, Md.
Stalled for funding at the end of 2019, the project was at a standstill. In February 2020, Trains Magazine launched the “Steam the Last Baldwin” campaign to raise money to restart the project. Readers responded with more than $275,000 in donations, and the John Emery Rail Heritage Trust made a special mid-year grant of $50,000 to keep work moving forward. The engine was set on its drivers in June 2020, and final reassembly began.
You can read about the final restoration efforts in our special edition, “Steaming the Last Baldwin,” and a companion DVD. Both are available online at the Kalmbach Hobby Store.
Board of Public Works Approves Community Parks and Playgrounds Funding
Maryland Department Of Natural Resources
The Board of Public Works today approved the last of 31 Community Parks and Playground projects for this fiscal year, totaling $5 million in grants for new and upgraded outdoor facilities in communities across Maryland.
Governor Larry Hogan’s Fiscal Year 2022 Budget included funding for these projects, through which the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) provides flexible grants to municipalities to rehabilitate, expand, or improve existing parks, create new parks, or purchase and install playground equipment.
“The Community Parks and Playgrounds Program funds important investments across Maryland,” said Maryland DNR Secretary Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio. “These projects create greater access to outdoor recreation including nature trails, accessible playgrounds, skate parks, splash pads, and gathering spaces that connect us with our community and our natural surroundings.”
The following Community Parks and Playgrounds Projects were included in the Fiscal Year 2022 budget and have now been approved by BPW:
Allegany County
Barton
Meadow Park Pavilion
$80,000
Cumberland
Allegany College Outdoor Volleyball Courts
$98,000
Frostburg
East End Park
$26,250
Midland
Church Street Playground Improvements
$185,000
Lonaconing
Town Parks Improvements
$80,310
Calvert County
North Beach
Wetlands Overlook Park Nature Center
$110,000
Caroline County
Denton
Fourth Street Park
$197,262
Carroll County
Hampstead
War Memorial Park Revitalization
$245,050
Manchester
Christmas Tree Park
$52,000
Mount Airy
Watkins Park Playground Phase II
$172,949
New Windsor
Town Park Renovations
$50,825
Dorchester County
Cambridge
Cornish Park Revitalization
$343,784
Hurlock
North Main Street Park
$253,300
Vienna
Vienna Playground Upgrade
$137,040
Frederick County
New Market
New Market Community Park Basketball Court Renovation
$31,450
Thurmont
Woodland Park Playground Replacement Phase 2
$160,000
Garrett County
Mountain Lake Park
Leo Martin Memorial Park
$252,469
Oakland
Broadford Park Multi-Use Trails/Stage Amphitheater
$275,000
Harford County
Aberdeen
Rock Glen Park
$400,000
Bel Air
Office Street Pocket Park
60,464
Kent County
Chestertown
Wilmer Park
$209,394
Galena
Galena Elementary School Walking Path
$90,000
Montgomery County
Rockville
Potomac Woods Park Playground Replacement
$185,000
Prince George’s County
Cottage City
Cottage City Tot Lot
$50,000
Riverdale Park
Field of Dreams Park
$177,750
Upper Marlboro
Upper Marlboro Community Playground Phase 2
$199,000
St. Mary’s County
Leonardtown
Leonardtown Alley Network
$225,000
Washington County
Hancock
Widmyer Park Splash Park
$200,000
Williamsport
Byron Memorial Park Interactive Playground
$202,000
Wicomico County
Salisbury
Salisbury Skate Park – Final Phase
$162,801
Worcester County
Berlin
Stephen Decatur Park Restrooms
$99,000
Since its inception, the Community Parks and Playgrounds program has provided more than $79 million in grant funding for about 800 projects.
Garrett had only growth in Maryland tourism during pandemic
McHENRY — While Garrett County has experienced a boom in tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic, the rest of Maryland is struggling to recover.
While the state’s tourism industry as a whole experienced a 64% decline during the pandemic, Garrett County actually posted a 36% increase from pre-pandemic levels, according to Liz Fitzsimmons, managing director of the Office of Tourism for the Department of Commerce.
“Garrett County was the anomaly,” Fitzsimmons said. “The only region, the only county that was able to do this.”
In 27 years with the Office of Tourism, Fitzsimmons said the Office of Tourism never had to go before any group and say that there were decreases. That changed in 2020, when the industry was dealt a severe blow.
Sales figures for overnight stays in hotels, motels and rental units are key indicators of the state of tourism, she said, as those visitors spend money in other areas, such as food, entertainment, recreational activities and retail items.
For the category of hotels, motels, apartments and cottages, sales figures for the 2021 fiscal year totaled $56.05 million — a 56% drop from pre-pandemic 2019’s $128.6 million. For hotels and motels selling food, the results were even worse: from $35.4 million in 2019 to $10.7 million in 2021. That constitutes a 69.7% drop.
The Garrett County Chamber of Commerce hosted its annual tourism update Tuesday morning at its Business Before Hours meeting, hearing from state officials just how hard the pandemic hit Maryland recreation.
“I last attended this meeting two years ago,” said Tom Riford, assistant secretary of the Department of Commerce’s Division of Tourism, Film & the Arts. “What a different world it was two years ago to today. Just totally, totally different.”
Riford said tourism is the fourth-largest industry in the state, employing people, providing tax revenue and helping the quality of life.
“Maryland’s tourism industry was especially hard-hit in March of 2020. And the last 20 months has seen the tourism industry working together to move forward to get to the other side,” he said. “I’m very proud of what was accomplished in this county in 2020, and in 2021. You led the state.”
The Wisp Resort’s ski school in 2021 had its best year since it opened in 1955, he said.
In continuing with the Autumn Glory Festival through the pandemic, Garrett County “has shown many other jurisdictions that it can move forward, and move toward a positive tomorrow,” Riford said.
Garrett County’s accommodation sales would have been even higher, but Gov. Larry Hogan had ordered the closing of hotels and motels at the start of the outbreak. When they were allowed to reopen, rooms and houses throughout the Deep Creek Lake area were rented almost immediately. Many were people who were seeking to leave areas of Maryland and Virginia that were experiencing early rises in COVID-19 cases.
That has spilled over into the Garrett County real estate market, where home sales have been strong for months, with houses now averaging $431,461.
However, those same eager visitors now have other options, Fitzsimmons said, with borders reopening and international travel now possible.
Six of the 10 richest counties in the United States are located in Northern Virginia, she said, and those are the customers that Garrett County needs to continue to attract — even as options such as Europe are now available again.
“They are the people who helped drive these increases,” Fitzsimmons said, encouraging business owners to reach out and continue to develop the relationships they’ve developed with visitors during the pandemic.
Deep Creek Lake Water Levels for the Winter 2021/2022
Brookfield Hydroelectric facility has agreed to lower the Deep Creek Lake water levels near the lower end of the “Rule Band” for several month during this winter. The lower rule band lake level for December and January is set at 2,455 feet.The lower lake levels during the winter months will have the following benefits:
- allow Garrett County Department of Public Works – Public Utilities Division to install pipes for the McHenry to Thayerville water connection project,
- provide opportunities for lake property owners to conduct maintenance on shoreline stabilization projects,
- potentially reduce nuisance or invasive submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) in shallow habitats by exposing the plants to freezing temperature.
Deep Creek Lake Rule Band for monthly water levelsInformation on the Deep Creek Lake water level “Rule Band” can be found at the following Department of the Environment website: https://mde.maryland.gov/programs/water/water_supply/pages/deepcreeklake.aspxand on the Department of Natural Resources website: https://dnr.maryland.gov/pprp/Pages/DeepCreek/results.aspx
'State of the Lake' address announces $2.2 million for dredging
From The Garrett County Republican
McHENRY — During a “State of the Lake” address on Aug. 25, Maryland Department of Natural Resources Secretary Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio announced $2.2 million in additional funding for dredging.
She reported that Gov. Larry Hogan just released the money in new funding for pilot dredging projects in Deep Creek Lake.
“I’m … really pleased to announce today that Gov. Hogan has … committed an additional $2.2 million for the dredging project at Arrowhead Cove, so this is hot off the presses,” Riccio said. “New news today, and again, thanks to the help from our senator and the county and all our partners, pushing the importance of that. So that’s really exciting that we can get that pilot program underway.”
The presentation was organized by the Deep Creek Watershed Foundation. It was intended for homeowners, officials and stakeholders with interest in Deep Creek Lake at Garrett College. Riccio discussed the state’s long-term commitment to water monitoring at the lake, ongoing efforts to prevent and combat aquatic invasive species, and work to protect and expand the lake’s freshwater fisheries.
The secretary commended the partnerships among the state and local stakeholders and elected officials that support these efforts and help advocate for the resources to achieve these goals.
“We’re so happy to take an opportunity to talk about all the great work that’s happening around Deep Creek Lake, not just from our team but also from all the partners that we work with,” Riccio said. “So we’re grateful for the opportunity to be here.”
She reported that monitoring indicates that the lake is healthy, with low nutrient levels at mainstem sites and clear water throughout.
The state continues to follow the comprehensive watershed management plan for Deep Creek Lake, developed in 2015 by DNR and Garrett County to recommend guidelines to protect the popular area, balancing environmental and economic needs.
Riccio provided numerous updates to the activities at Deep Creek Lake, including:
• The State Lakes Protection and Restoration Fund, approved by Gov. Hogan in 2018, provides $1 million a year for three years for state-owned lakes including Deep Creek Lake.
To read the full article click here.
Missing chair returned at Deep Creek Lake
From The Garrett County Republican
DEEP CREEK LAKE — While at Deep Creek Lake last month, the Guyton family had an experience that they feel shows the goodwill of people in the area.
One of the family members looked out the window to see that one of their deck chairs was missing from the dock. The family decided that they should call the Garrett County Sheriff’s Office to report the missing property so they would have a record of it.
Family members were amused when deputies arrived in full uniform to investigate the missing chair.
As they chatted, the family noted that they thought they saw a mirage over the deputy’s shoulders as they observed the missing blue deck chair coming across the lake on a paddleboard pulled by a kayak.
The family staying across the lake had noticed the chair in the woods, partially submerged. They pulled it out of the water and decided to try to locate the owners.
Crawford named sales manager at Taylor-Made
From The Garrett County Republican
McHENRY — Taylor-Made Deep Creek Vacations & Sales has announced that its real estate division has a new leader.
Recently, Terah Crawford was named sales manager. She is also the future broker, and is actively working toward her license.
After the untimely passing of the company’s former Broker, Bob Carney, Crawford stepped in to fill this role. For the past six years, she has been a sales agent serving the Deep Creek Lake area.
She has a background in real estate, marketing and graphic design.
“Having been a member of the Taylor-Made sales team since 2018, I’ve been part of some incredible things that this group has achieved under the leadership of Bob Carney,” Crawford said. “Working alongside him daily, I learned more than I could have possibly anticipated. I will carry those lessons with me as I begin the journey of leading the sales team as authentically as he did.”
In April, Deep Creek Lake was recognized by the National Association of Realtors as one of the top 10 locations for vacation home sales. In the past 12 months, Taylor-Made’s roster of more than 25 agents produced sales volume exceeding $219 million.
Their success can, in part, be attributed to their “one stop shop” service. Sellers can expect not only a dedicated agent, but they also have access to housekeeping, lawn care, maintenance, and marketing professionals that will keep their home showing ready. Real estate services are complemented by the company’s robust vacation rental division that partners with more than 450 second homeowners.
To read the full article click here.
Sock monkeys are a labor of love for Ida Maust
Gradually, she began making more for birthdays and other gifts as needed. Then she started teaching the nursery-aged Sunday School class at her church about 30 years ago. She started making sock monkeys to give to her students on their birthdays, and continued this for as long as she taught the class.
Maust said she’s not sure how many monkeys she has made over the years, but estimates that it is somewhere between 400 and 500.
“I don’t know how many I made each year,” she said. “I know one year I made 80, when I gave each of my children and grandchildren one for Christmas, but that’s been a good many years ago now.”
She has been trying to make one for each great-grandchild when they turn 2 (which included three last month.)
The current count is nine children, 36 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren, with three more on the way.
Maust and her husband, Elmer, were married 47 years before he died in March 2002.
In the early days, she bought the socks locally, but then wasn’t able to find them at stores. She used regular socks that didn’t have the red heels for awhile until she was able to get them again. Today, she buys them by the box online.
“Sometimes I just got socks that were brown or gray or something that would look nice for a monkey,” she said. “I like these better because it’s what they were intended for.”
She said she doesn’t feel bad about cutting the socks up to make monkeys for children.
“I still get a lot of socks and give them to organizations when they need them,” she said.
Maust slowed down on the sock monkey making during some years, especially when she was busy with Garrett County Hospice, working as the volunteer coordinator.
Now 86, Maust went through some changes in her life in the last two years. It began with a knee replacement in July 2019.
To read the full article click here.
Garrett County permits vacation rentals to reopen
OAKLAND — Garrett County officials on Thursday lifted the order that closed vacation rental properties, but with a number of restrictions and warnings.
Following Gov. Larry Hogan’s Wednesday announcement of the first phase of his reopening plan, the county commissioners voted to amend their state of emergency declaration to allow the use of rental units effective immediately.
County Health Officer Bob Stephens also rescinded his March order on the rental units.
“Garrett County has been very blessed to have low numbers of infections, and we are in fact the lowest … in the state,” Stephens told the commissioners. “We are all still at some risk. There will be new transmissions from time to time. Our goal in all of this is to limit the spread of COVID-19.”
Commission Chairman Paul Edwards said the reopening of rental units comes with orders for both property owners/managers and the guests.
“The county, in consultation with the Garrett County health officer, have agreed that the order the health officer of March 27, 2020, closing all TVRU (transient vacation rental units) and vacation rental properties … is hereby rescinded, and that is subject to the provisions of the executive order and guidance of the office of legal counsel,” Edwards announced.
To read the full article click here.
