Baltimore County, MD smARTS, 6 Sep 2017

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From YouTube: smARTS Fall 2017: Patapsco Heritage Greenway

Description

Discover Patapsco’s history, ruins and the Guinness taproom.

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( ♪♪♪ ).

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For more than 200 years,, the patapsco valley has been.

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The focal point for historic events and scientific discoveries.

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That have transformed maryland and the nation.

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joining me on smarts is mary, catherine cochran,, executive, director of patapsco heritage greenway, to tell us more.

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Good to see you. thank you. thanks for having me here.

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I'm going to ask a really basic question.

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Sure., can you describe to me the location of the patapsco valley and that area?.

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Sure. well,, the patapsco valley, is formed by the patapsco river,.

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And it's about 39 miles long, and it extends from the confluence.

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Of the south and north branches in marriottsville,, and then it goes all the way to what we know as the inner harbor,, which is the mouth of the patapsco river. so,. The heritage area is a portion of that,, and that goes from the daniels area. All the way down to relay.

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So,, it's one subset of a larger watershed., oh. okay. great.

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Well, now I'm glad to know about that. so,. The whole valley, though, has a pretty interesting history.

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It's a great history, and it actually goes back thousands of years,.

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Because, before the european settlers,, we had native populations.

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Like the algonquins and the piscataways that used it as a fishing and hunting grounds.

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And in 1608, the first european explorer,, which was captain john smith,,.

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Came up the river and documented the area.

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And shortly thereafter, in the 1700s,, the settlers came in,.

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And they started to harness the power of the river to build their mills,, and it really is the--.

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It's the cradle of the industrial revolution..

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You might have learned that was in new england when you were in high school, but it's really right. Here..., it's right! Here.

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...In the patapsco valley. exactly., exactly., all right. and then even more recent history,. I know that it has a great railroad, history..., oh, yes.

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Adult beverage history... yes, it does.

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and then also science, history. yes.. Let's talk about those three. so,, the b&o railroad came through the valley.

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It followed along the river, and it was really built to help the millworkers and the farmers export their goods. Out, back out,.

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And it started, of course, in baltimore., if you've been the roundhouse, you've seen it there.

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Black-Sotir: sure. absolutely.

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Cochran: and then it comes through, across the amazing national landmark thomas viaduct bridge,.

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Which is part of the patapsco state park.

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and comes to the first railroad station,, which is the ellicott city, railroad, station.,.

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So, we have the first rail station.

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And the first really connection in the united states,.

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Right here in the patapsco valley. and we're going to get ready to celebrate our 200th anniversary in just 10 years.

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That's big. yeah., that's very big.

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We're going to be-- you're going to be learning a lot more about the railroad.

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well, see, people always learn a lot on this show.

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( laughter, ) there's a lot. I'm learning today.

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Tell me about what we call the adult beverage history of the area.

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Well,, that's an evolving history, because in the area.

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Of where the thomas viaduct, is—, elkridge and relay and st. dennis,.

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Route 1 area...

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we're going to have a new brewer coming to town..

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It's actually a very old brewer,, which is guinness, who brews on the river liffey in dublin., now, they're, going to be brewing on the river patapsco in relay.

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The sister river here in the states.

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The sister river. that's right. and we're really excited to have them here, and they're, taking over space. That was the old calvert distillery.

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and so, they're reusing a space. That's always created.

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And distilled liquor in maryland.

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So, that history is there. and in anticipation of their coming,, because they're going to bring thousands of visitors to the area,.

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We're working with the public history department at umbc,.

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And their students are cataloging, the history of relay and st. dennis and elkridge,.

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And they're going to share that with the baltimore heritage, app.

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so,, if you're sitting and enjoying an adult beverage at guinness,.

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You'll be able to look up on your phone and really learn about the history of the area— that the tom thumb race was here,.

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That relay was the first railroad town in america or the thomas viaduct is the national landmark.

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all while enjoying a big cool one there.

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Exactly. exactly. right. right. tell me a little bit about the connection with the patapsco and benjamin banneker.

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Well, so, benjamin banneker was one of our foremost scientists..

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He was an astronomer, and he wrote an almanac,.

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And he conversed, and we have letters that he wrote back and forth.

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To thomas jefferson. he was a free african american..

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His father was a slave.. His mother was a free white woman.

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and he was raised right outside of oella in baltimore county,.

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And there's an amazing little museum, there called the benjamin banneker historical park and museum.

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and they have a cabin. That's a reproduction of the cabin that he grew up. In.

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They have great demonstrations, and there's a lot of wonderful stuff to see at that museum. black-sotir:, okay., all right.

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Now, one thing I didn't know about,, and we talked about it before coming on air,- was that it was the first maryland state park.. Is that right?.

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It is. yes., that's right., yeah. good for you.. The patapsco valley state park was the first state park,.

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And it actually was the cradle of conservation.

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And the cradle of forestry in the state of maryland.

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so,, it's an amazing park..

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It has over 200 miles of trails.

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Oh, terrific. and it's wonderful., but it's full of history, because it runs along the river.

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Where the mill towns used to be,, but the floods over the last few hundred years knocked them out.

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so, the park is full of, sort, of, ruins and archeological areas.

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And so last year, backpacker magazine named the patapsco.

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One of america's best state parks... really?, and they called it a-- see if I can get this right.

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A history nerd's paradise.

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So, because you walk along the trails, and then you find these great...

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so,. Can you look for artifacts and things as you walk along?.

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Sure., as you walk, you'll, see the old railroad, bridges, and you'll see the actual railroad tracks, you'll find.

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in the old days,. You know how they used to make-- you know,. When you picture railroad tracks,, you picture the wooden cross, ties?

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well,, they didn t have a lot of wood.. They used granite., they used-- so, the--. These granite stringers.

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So,, you can walk along the trails, and you'll, see the old granite stringers.

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That are just sort of strewn along the pathway or the foundations of the mill buildings.

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or there's a lot of wonderful history in the park.

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Well,, it sounds like it's something for all ages and all interests..

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You do just about everything— get outside...

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and it's a great family. Experience.

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And we're not just about the park and the trails.. We're also focused on the towns, like catonsville and relay and ellicott city and oella,.

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And we encourage people to visit the main streets and.

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And all those little towns you mentioned have great arts,, great stores...

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Live music., it's just wonderful. absolutely.

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well,! Thank you! So much. sure.

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Come and visit us., I know where I'm going, next. so,. Thank you so much,, mary catherine cochran., you're, welcome., history,, arts, and a beautiful valley. come on., get out, and discover patapsco.

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and I'm carolyn black-sotir,, and this is smarts,.

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The baltimore county arts and culture show.