New Contest
Since the last contest was so easy, I’m starting another one with a completely arbitrary answer that will be determined by me. Please welcome today’s corresponding photographer, Royela. Who offers us these dragon boats sitting out the winter in the beautiful
Today’s contest is to name the dragons.
Go to it.
What’s a bad thing to do when driving over a bridge? Take a picture? I disagree. What if its a really high two lane bridge and you are 1 mile out from land? I say its still not a problem.
Special thanks to corresponding photographer Shelly for today’s photo. (Though let it be known that I will do what it takes to get the scoop for the Maryland Daily Photo Community….tell your friends)
It’s really neat how the motion has created such a strange effect on this photo. It’s as if the whole thing was captured underwater. It’s also amplified by the dusk of an already overcast day, which gives it sort of a creepy overtone.
There’s so much to say about Fort Washington, that its time to write again about it. The park surrounding the Fort is open to the public and I’d certainly recommend going to check it out. Here’s a great shot that shows just a taste of the view that this fort commands along the Potomac. If you were standing at the location where this photo was taken and you looked to the left, you’d see Mt. Vernon in Virginia, home of George washington. The flag that flew over Fort Washington during the Civil War was another one of those comically large flags desinged to taunt the enemy like that which flew over Ft. McHenry. You can tell how close Virginia is in this photo. It’s said that the citizens of Alexandria could see the flag for 10 miles.
In case you are wondering why there was no President’s Day issue of MDDP, its becasue even though some people don’t feel like you should take off in honor of the Presidents of the United States, MDDP does feel like you should. What I did on President’s day (during my lunch hour) was visit this site. I later composed the text below, but I’ve had so many things to post, we’re just getting to it now.
Many of the area’s forts came into and out of service within the same century. One fort stands out as a location that, due to its geography, was built, destroyed, rebuilt, refurbished, and then reused between the early 1800’s and the mid twentieth century.
That fort is
The Fort was never used during the battle of 1812. As the British Army made their way through PG county to take DC, the Navy sailed up the
The brick structure you see was constructed starting less than a month after that. By 1824 it was finished, though the original architect (Pierre L’enfant) was fired and it was finished and built by Walker Armistead.
Later, during the civil war you can imagine the position that the Army was in as they decided what to do with the fort. It was unused for most of the time leading up to the war, but it had guns that faced
Then in the 1880’s concrete weapon embankments similar to these were placed along the outsides of the 1824 fort.
During the Spanish American war, this fort actually commanded the mine fields that were laid in the
Finally some of the guns were taken away as the First World War was waged so that they could be placed further south along the bay in Virginia and other locations. In the 1940’s it was turned into a officer training school during WWII.
Today it is a park, and quite a beautiful one too. It certainly commands one of the best views there is of the
Well congratulations to everyone who figured out that this is the sculpture by the Southwest wing of BWI. To be as accurate as possible, it’s actually the sculpture right outside the ramp from the parking garage to terminal B. That ramp is also where this picture was taken.
Some more fun things about the airport.
It was the first airport with a train station on the grounds
It started out as “Logan Field”
Passenger Service started in the 30’s
After Truman dedicated it, it was called Friendship International Airport.
It was named Baltimore/Washington Airport in 1973
In 2005 it was renamed Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.
Today will be the First Maryland Daily Photo contest day.
I’ll let you know some things about it here and you can guess what it actually is.
The object in this picture is something that many of you have probably seen on more than one occasion but have probably never given too much thought.
Harry Truman was there at the dedication of the place where this object hangs, though that place had served the same purpose in limited capacities prior to the dedication.
It’s only been in this home since around 2005.
It’s surrounded by a 12.6 mile bike trail.
Go on and guess. If you get it, then I’ll um… maybe give you a prize.
Being from Maryland, we are required to enjoy all things that are replicas of others in miniature, so I’m sure you will enjoy this place.
Welcome to Jerusalem Mill Villiage, an area that is being restored to its historic appearance with the help of the state park and the friends of Jerusalem Mills. Their end goal is to turn it into a sort of Williamsburg in miniature.
They have done a really great job of using rather limited resources to create a very authentic feel. The museum in the mill building tells the whole story of the mill and bridge (featured yesterday) and adjacent buildings as well as the efforts being made to save them. If you visit on a sunday you can also enjoy the working blacksmith shop and the general store, which was looted by the confederates during the civil war. The mill building itself has been rebuilt as best as possible to historic specifications and now houses the museum as well as the park headquarters for Gunpowder falls state park.
Here we see the Jericho Covered Bridge in Harford County, just outside Gunpowder Falls State Park HQ near Rt. 1. (Some people say it crosses into Baltimore County, but my map firmly drops in Harford. You can discuss.) The bridge skillfully crosses the little gunpowder falls. It was built just a bit after 1860 and is the last covered bridge still standing in the area, though not in the state. It was renovated in 1980 to handle modern car traffic and to restore some of its exterior features.
You can take a walk along the nature trails near the bridge and the markings on the trails suggest that if you have a horse, you can apparently take it for a walk on the trails too.
Of course, while exploring the bridge, the www.Marylanddailyphoto.com (tell your friends) staff was warned not to enter the bridge as it is supposedly haunted. As this warning was not accepted, it is possible that I have now been haunted, as well as my camera and the website. So I’m just putting that out there as a warning for you.
What’s also interesting about the bridge is that it’s located right next to a cluster of historic buildings in the Jerusalem Mill Village, which you will get to see in tomorrow’s post.
This photo is brought to us by our corresponding photographer, Bryan. Please welcome him to the community.
What you see here is not part of Bryan’s correspondence from the jungle, but rather from south eastern Baltimore County. The history of this site links back quite a ways.
While the British navy was bombarding Fort McHenry, their army was attempthing to invade Baltimore by land. Having sailed up the Chesapeake, the British army landed at what was then called North Point, but is now the site of Ft. Howard. This landing constituted the largest number of troops to ever invade the United States. They made it up along the river and then westward until they were turned back by American forces at Patapsco Park. They returned to North Point and fled south.
In the beginig of the 20th century the Army began to build batteries on this site and multiple sites directly across the river, at the mouth of the Patapsco and just south along the bay, for the protection of Baltimore. Most of the batteries were only in operation through the late 1930’s.
What you see here is one of those batteries as it currently lies, overgrown by Ivy. We’ve got many photos from the site so you have something to look forward to in the future.
There are so many things to say about Fort McHenry that it will have to be covered in more than one photo post. In the mean time I think that this picture says a lot. I love this photo becasue it combines so many facets of the fort’s history into one scene. The cannons in the foreground are located in the middle of the battery that was built during the Civil War, replacing a previous battery located closer to the water. Meanwhile, the flag from the war of 1812 flies from the pole in the background.
If someone has knowlege of what era these particular cannons are from, it would be great to know. I’m sure I could have just paid more attention to the information that is in the area, but I guess I neglected this little fact.