While Cecil County once had dozens of one-room schoolhouses to serve rural areas and small villages, these institutions started disappearing in the 20th century as the county modernized its educational system. Pleasant Hill, Liberty Grove, New Valley, and Pilot were the only remaining one-teacher buildings by 1947.
Today it’s fascinating to drive country roads looking around for these places. Many are dilapidated. Others have been luckier, for owners have remodeled them, putting the structure to other uses.
These days the remaining buildings are disappearing fast. This one, the old Cherry Grove School near Sylmar, will be demolished shortly. Built about 1881 for $680, it closed on October 24, 1931 when the pupils were transferred to Calvert. For years it served as a private dwelling.
The Cherry Grove School was near Sylmar shortly before demolition in 2010.
At the Head of the Bay, a Cultural and Architectural History of Cecil County.
A second edition of At the Head of the Bay: A Cultural and Architectural History of Cecil CountyMaryland by Pamela James Blumgart is finally back in print. This sought after hardcover title, which was originally published in 1996, is available from the Historical Society of Cecil County for $75.
This well-illustrated volume interprets the incredibly diverse stock of historic buildings in Cecil County for local history buffs and architectural historians alike. Beginning with the prehistoric period and continuing through the mid-twentieth century, the authors offer a history of the county as a context for its architectural heritage, as well as a detailed discussion of the style and form of houses built by county residents during the past 300 years. These insightful discussions are followed by an inventory of county buildings, both prominent and ordinary, that gives the reader a sense of the wealth of history in the county. Photographs, maps, floor plans, and paintings, many of them historic images, illustrate both the history and the buildings.
One of the authors of a newly published Johns Hopkins University title, the War of 1812 in the Chesapeake, will be the guest speaker for the annual Historical Society of Cecil County meeting on October 18th. Dr. Ralph Eshelman spent years investigating sites connected with the conflict in Maryland so as the bicentennial of this chapter of our past nears, we’re pleased to have the opportunity to hear the distinguished historian.
His presentation will focus on the campaign in Maryland and our general area. “No state has more battlefields, graves or sites associated with the War,” he noted in a Washington College lecture. “Elkton and St. Michaels share the distinction of turning the British back twice.”
Dr. Eshelman was the director of the Calvert Marine Museum in Maryland from 1974 to 1990. In 1974 he received his Ph.D. in geology and vertebrate paleontology from the University of Michigan. He’s now a research associate at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. He is widely published and lectures on maritime and military history, popular exploration and paleontology. In addition he also served as a consulting historian on the War of 1812 on the Chesapeake for the Maryland Historical Trust and the National Park Service.
The evening program will be held at the Chesapeake Inn in Chesaepake City, MD, start at 6:00 p.m. with dinner on Oct. 18th. Watch for additional information on the evening’s arrangements soon, but keep this important date on your calendar. The author’s book will be available for purchase at the special discounted price of $60.00 and he will be happy to autograph your copy. He accepts cash or check.
The cost of the dinner is $30.00 per person for members of the Historical Society of Cecil County and $35.00 for non-members. You may select between Crab Cake or Chicken Marsala. Your meal will include salad, coffee or tea and dessert.
Please send your reservation to Paula Newton, HSCC, 135 E. Main St., Elkton, MD 21921. Make your check payable to the Historical Society of Cecil County and be sure to include your meal selection. The deadline for reservations is October 8, 2009. This is a catered dinner making it impossible for us to take late reservations or walk-ins.
We’re always pleased when we discover creative musical pieces about Cecil County. Well after the piece on “Our Lady of the Highways” went up on the blog, a reader pointed out a song about this Cecil County landmark by American songwriter Zoe Mulford. Her 2006 CD, Roadside Saints, contains the track about the “stone lady,” a shrine that encourages prayer for the safety of travelers. You may want to click on over to Zoe’s website to check out the talented musician’s work, as well as the tune and lyrics of this song and others on the enjoyable album.
Words & Music by Zoe Mulford
Our Lady of the Highways stands on the right side of northbound I-95 just south of the Delaware border. She is especially beloved of truck drivers and traveling musicians.
Thank God for the radio and convenience-store coffee
Three hours you’ve been on the road, and it should have been dawn
North-bound to Delaware, you’ll pass the temple where
Our Lady of the Highways stands looking on
. . .
Hear the swish of the wiper-blades, rain on the windshield
Passing exit 100-A to the town of Rising Sun
Black sky fading into blue – clouds shift and the sun peeks through
Our Lady of the Highways welcomes every dawn
“The times in these parts has been troublesome,” wrote one Cecil County soldier in describing the War of 1812 on the Chesapeake Bay. And no wonder: Frenchtown in flames, Redcoats on the Sassafras, an attack on Elkton. As we approach the bicentennial of this often-forgotten conflict, local author David Healey will introduce us to the War of 1812 history that’s literally in our own backyards. Registration required.September 15, 2010 at7:00pm
Saving Family Treasures, will be the subject of a program at the North East Branch Library on Sept. 18, 2010 from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.
Family treasures are often neglected, frequently tucked away in drawers, trunks and attics. Preserving these heirlooms – items such as marriage certificates, family Bibles, letters, journals, and photos – is important, for they tell us about the past and connect the generations. During this talk historian Mike Dixon introduces caretakers to basic methods for preserving and protecting family relics, photos, and papers. Click here for more information. Registration is requested. Telephone 410–996-6269
While a family enjoys the cooling waters of Holloway Beach in the midst of the Great Depression, they take time to mail a postcard home to Lancaster, PA. It was 1938, an era before air conditioning so the beaches of Cecil County were popular for folks from nearby cities trying to escape the oppressive heat and humidity of urban areas.
As speeding vehicles dash across Cecil County on I-95, Our Lady of the Highways watches peacefully over the hectic scene from a tranquil hillside in Childs, MD. The guardian of travelers, a 14-foot high white marble statue of the Virgin Mary, was placed there by Oblates after a massive pileup took three lives one foggy October morning in 1968.
Hearing crash after crash, seminarians, brothers, and priests from the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales who were starting their morning routine rushed toward the Interstate. The first outside aid to reach victims, they tended to the injured and dying while waiting for emergency crews to make their way through the darkness. Moved by the sad tragedy that took place that unforgettable autumn day, the Oblates erected the shrine on the grounds of the novitiate in 1973. In addition to serving as a memorial for the three victims, the patron of travelers reminds people to drive safely and say a prayer before heading out on a trip.
Here is the story of that dreadful day. Thick fog made travel hazardous in the pre-dawn hours of October 2, 1968. As drivers on the John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway made their way carefully across the top of the Chesapeake, they suddenly encountered treacherous conditions about a mile west of the Elkton exit. A swath of almost impenetrable, unmoving mist hugged the ground creating havoc as it cut visibility to 10- to 12 feet. Vehicles rushing into this dangerous spot suddenly started braking, but one car hit the bridge abutment. That triggered a chain reaction as 20 vehicles quickly piled up in the northbound lane about where it crosses Blue Ball Road. Several of the crumpled cars were smashed between tractor-trailers.
Rosemary Culley dispatching from fire headquarters in 1967
Cecil County Fire Headquarters received an urgent call from the Oblates, and the alarm went out on the public safety radio system at 6:20 a.m. While they waited for fire and rescue services seminarians and priests comforted the injured and dying. Once the first arriving emergency responders assessed the carnage, a general alarm was issued for all available Cecil County ambulances and nearby Delaware units. Fourteen tractor-trailers and at least six cars were strewn across lanes of the toll road while police found the fog so thick that they had to probe for victims. Four rescue units and four engines also sped to the wreckage to extricate trapped victims, support EMS crews, and suppress any fire.
When word of the accident was flashed to Union Hospital, Rusty Brandon, the night supervisor, activated the disaster plan. Since this was the era before advanced life support, shock trauma centers, and helicopters, all the injured were routed through the local emergency room. Extra doctors and nurses rushed to the medical facility to help the night-shift cope with the disaster. Before the last injured person entered the door at 8:30 a.m., the medical staff treated eight patients.
Three people died on that stretch of the turnpike before the sun came up at 7:03 a.m. that dark Cecil County morning. It was later reported that the discharge from a nearby paper mill contributed to the sharp, sudden drop in visibility. As for Cecil County Emergency Services, they were ready when the call about an accident on the turnpike required massive use of manpower and equipment from all areas of the county and nearby points. The central control system for dispatching police, fire, and EMS was just six years old, but it proved vital in coordinating the joint effort to such a serious accident.
The Oblates erected the memorial, Our Lady of the Highways, in 1973. Drivers who happen to glance over toward the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales may wonder about the “stone lady” as truckers call her. She is the patron of travelers, watching over the Interstate.
For additional photos visit on Cecil County History page on Facebook by click here https://www.facebook.com/pg/cecilcountyhistory/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2163312793933636&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARAQrBVJkxih0SDUsYzGpIM2oHXHz4W94goruscZu-0HIaINan-IE29jxT9K5V_QpipvqH8wZsbKlk9HUrAbVNZ6yP1IDT9RhOy1rBSg-AiMm7k2npskPBD35qpdZcBOioTg8vWPuJr8Mnhbr0FbR8J72E1zX3QNSAU1tEbieQ-C9kdYnnDnisBs-zb_MGtSdqSwY5IJJQk&__tn__=-UC-R
We’re always pleased when we discover creative musical pieces about Cecil County. Well after the piece on
