Before TV, before newspapers, even before we moved into houses...
the fire ring was the gathering place to tell stories and share
personal experiences.
With so much of the world’s natural habitat being destroyed and
replaced with cookie cutter houses and shopping centers, it is
refreshing to see things moving in the other direction.
Patapsco Valley State Park
in Maryland provides many opportunities to see nature reclaiming
what humans once took away. The park is filled with structures
that were once homes, churches, and factories but they are
now mostly just stone foundations with trees and vines growing
over them.
For this project I will hike all over the park looking for and
photographing the various ruins. If I can find any information
on the history of the structures I will include it.
The first stop on the this tour will be St Stanislaus Kostka Roman Catholic Church...
St. Stanislaus Kostka Roman Catholic Church was built in the 1800s and stood until it was struck by fire and burned in September of 1926. The church and nearby cemetery were left to crumble and now the ruins are a part of the Patapsco Valley State Park in Maryland.
Orange Grove Grist Mill once stood at this location in the Patapsco Valley State Park of Maryland. It was a large five story structure that produced flour sold in large bags labeled "Patapsco Superlative Flour”. Most of the workers lived across the Patapsco River and crossed a suspension bridge every day to get to work. The mill burned on May 1st, 1905 and was never rebuilt. The original bridge is also long gone but a new suspension bridge now stands in the same location for the use of park visitors.
Daniels was a mill town like many others along the banks of the Patapsco River where its residents lived and worked until Tropical Storm Agnes wiped it out in 1972. Originally the town was named Alberton, it had at least 3 churches, many homes, and even a band. In the 1950s the C.R. Daniels Company took over the mill and renamed the town Daniels. Eventually after several floods the C.R. Daniels Company decided it was best to move operations to a new location so in 1968 the town lost its employer, and just a few years later it disappeared from the maps completely. Today if you look closely and know where to hike you can still find the old road through town and a few stone foundations among the trees.
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