February « 2009 « Maryland Daily Photo

February, 2009

Another Historic Structure

Since there has been so much positive feed back about the historic structure posts, here is another structure of historic interest.

This is one of the doors to the Nassawango blast furnace, which was built in 1829. This was the work arch of the furnace, were workers would forge the iron. On the opposite site a mechanical bellows blew air into the furnace, powered by water run from the Nassawango creek. So, if there were guys making iron here, and the other side was occupied, where did the fuel and iron ore enter ther furnace?

The answer is obvious if you click this thumbnail:

From the top. That ramp was a charging ramp, used to roll raw materials up to the furnace in carts.

Somewhat visible at the top of the furnace from the full picture are pipes that were used to reciculate hot air from the chimney back to the air intake, making this a hot blast furnace which is much more efficient. This was a change made to the Nasswango furnace about a decade after it was built.

This is a part of the “Furnace Town” site now in Worcester, where it is accompanied by a number of living history exhibits, describing the life of a town built around a blast furnace. These are opened seasonally. However, the site contains many nature trails, maintianed by the nature conservancy, which are opened year round. You can tell it was winter when the picture was taken by the tiniest bit of snow sticking to the arch of the furnace.

For more info you can go to www.furnacetown.com.

Or for more info about blast furnaces: http://www.furnacetown.com/The%20Blast%20Furnace.pdf

Anne Arundel — 1 Comment
11
Feb 09

Shiplap

Thi is the Shiplap house in Annapolis. It is one of the, if not the absolute, oldest buildings in the historic downtown area. It was built in 1715 and named after the material useed to side sailing ships and which was used to side part of the house itself. Appropriately, the man who used to live there, cut lumber for ships and also ran a tavern out of the house.

It has changed hands a few times and is now home to a the Historic Annapolis Foundation.

Baltimore County — 6 Comments
10
Feb 09

Saters Church

The weekend before I took yesterday’s picture, I had snapped this one in Baltimore County. It was one of the few opportunities I had that week to go out and take pictures in the snow. As you can tell, I got there at dusk. The building itself is around half a mile off the main road, where a modern chuch sits with a historic road marker.

The marker reads, “On land granted by the Fifth Lord Baltimore, Henry Sater, gentleman planter, founded this first church of Baptists in Maryland. To the congregation he deeded a plot and chapel ‘forever to the end of the world.”

Howard County — No Comments
8
Feb 09

columbia snow

This is Wilde lake in Columbia. Like all lakes in the state of Maryland, it is man made. This one was built by the Columbia association, along with others, to add some scenery to the consistent landscape of Howard County.

I set out at lunch the other day to take a picture before all of the snow melted away. Unfortunately everywhere I went was free of snow. Until, I stumbled upon this like with its frozen surface and with snow still laying on top of that layer of ice.

Columbia is a place where things stay hidden. The biggest gripe of visitors to the area is that no one can find a gas station. There are plenty of them, but most of them are below the sightlines of a common traveller. This lake is also hidden. It’s right next to two major roads, but you’d never know it until you saw it on a map. It’s also bordered by those apartments on the far side and by some absolutely huge homes on the side of lake where the picture was taken.

In general I think it’s a bit odd that Columbia’s planners went out of their way to hide the pretty parts of town and the necessities like gas stations, and then they put industrial parks and retail strips within sight of every road. However, I never thought of it from the perspective of people who live there. For example, I bet the people who live by this lake enjoy its lack of popularity.

Uncategorized — 2 Comments
6
Feb 09

Last Regret

To finish off the week of photos that didn’t quite make the cut, we have this picture. This guy sits above the state house. He is one of two figures on either side of the shield in the state seal. He, his friend, and the full shield were put to the side in favor of the larger picture of the state house, here. I also like the larger version of this picture in the thumbnail below.

I especially like this picture becasue you can clearly see the protective screen and the repair work to the face. I feel as though, with all of these “other pictures I’ve cut” posts, I’ve been taking the act of choosing pictures a bit too seriously. I hope you all don’t think this has been like one of those extra DVD’s full of commentary tracks that nobody ever watches.

Montgomery County — No Comments
5
Feb 09

Monocacy River

Admitedly, this site has hosted almost too many pictures of the Monocacy river. However, its hard not to want to share such a beautiful place. I have found that, unlike the land around the bay, much of the land along the potomac is fortunately open to the public. However, little of it is as welcoming to sit and watch a sunset as the Monocacy aqueduct. This is due to the fact that it bridges the Monocacy river around 100 to 200 feet away from where it joins the potomac. This seemingly small distance is actually quite significant in that it allows you to move far enough back to see the sunset through the trees and over the neighboring shore.

This picture has nothing to do with that though. It looks decidedly upstream and to the east, but it picks up the light from the sunset and I like it.

We are also looking at the stone that marks the comemoration of the Monocacy aqueduct.

Allegany — 1 Comment
3
Feb 09

County Courthouse again

Thanks to everyone who commented yesterday for MDP’s first year celebration. I really enjoyed reading all of those comments. It’s funny becasue I was really stressed out about what to post yesterday. After putting three or four new photos up and then taking them down, I finally decided on another take of the original MDP. It seems silly now, but at the time it really bothered me.

However, it made me think of all the other times I’ve chosen one photo over another.

On the rarest of rare occasions, there are actually two good shots of the same thing. With that thought in mind, today’s photo is from the opposite side of another recent post. This one was taken in B&W film on the opposite side of the county courthouse in Cumberland. It was a tough call to choose which one to originally use.

Maybe I’ll devote the rest of this week to the forgotten bretheren of posted pictures. Like a directors cut of sorts…but not really at all like that.

Uncategorized — 16 Comments
3
Feb 09

One Year

This is the One year anniversary of MDP. Since the first post, there have been 255 Maryland photos posted. We’ve explored 15 of the state’s counties, spanning the mountains in the west and the oceans in the east.

We’ve seen lighthouses on the bay, and buildings in the city.

We’ve traveled often by train, but also by boat and plane.

We’ve seen historic homes, and civil war forts.

I’ve also done a lot of moving. I started the year working in Prince Georges county, and then I moved to Baltimore for a job that envolved entirely too many hours. (Thanks to that job, the location within MD that has the most MDP posts is Baltimore City, with 67 photos.) Now I’m in Howard county, which makes the job of hunting for photos a bit more difficult as the most interesting sites in the county are no longer a simple walk or a short drive from the office.

It’s not just me though. We’ve had many contributing photographers, and most have contributed more than once. In alphabetical order: Adam Brett Bryan Chris Guy Lauren Royela Shelly Trish

So, thank you to all the readers, commenters, and contributors. This has been a great experience for me, and I appreciate everyone who has become a part of the MDP community.

Today’s picture is just another cut of that first post.

Montgomery County — 1 Comment
2
Feb 09

Sugarloaf 2

Here’s another picture of Sugarloaf mountain. This is one of the picnic areas located around half way up the mountain. Much like the joy that comes from climbing a mountain, tomorrow’s MDP will celebrate the accomplishment of a very important goal.

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