A few old relics from the county’s past are biting the dust this week in Cecilton as a wrecking crew goes about the task of demolishing three 19th-century houses.
Late this afternoon, one of old place fell to the swing of the arm of an excavator while a small backhoe and workers rushed here and there tidying up the piles of splintered wood. Standing silently next to the creaking, groaning walls as they fell is another structure from the late 19th century. When this especially attractive Victorian comes crashing to the ground in a pile of rubble, and it’s all done, Cecilton will have lost three special properties. Architecturally, they created a graceful, unique streetscape that is hard to find in the 21st century. All evidence of this charm in the heart of the rural community will have been erased.
They say the loss of a part of the community’s cultural legacy is in the name of progress. The old first district commercial center that served as an agricultural market town for so long will have another modern convenience store. What it is losing are three irreplaceable pieces of architecture.
The town had 103 of these major contributing assets from the past lying along Main Street, Bohemia Avenue, and Church, Wilson, and Richards Streets, according to the Maryland Historical Trust. These survivors from another century indeed added greatly to the charm of the town, which is located on a scenic Maryland Byway.
