[We Dig Hampstead Hill] Volunteer to help process artifacts from Patterson Park

Our archeological investigation in Patterson Park this spring surprised almost everyone with the great number and diversity of artifacts we recovered. Over a thousand artifacts from 1814-era musket balls to left-over animal bones help us learn more about the history of Patterson Park and the people of Baltimore.

This summer, Archeological Society of Maryland is continuing its generous support for We Dig Hampstead Hill by taking on the laboratory processing of the archeological materials at their volunteer lab in Crownsville, Maryland. If you thought archeology was all about digging, this is your opportunity to experience the next phase of archeological discovery!

When can I volunteer?

Volunteer opportunities are available most weeks Tuesday and Wednesday between 9:30am and 3:30pm. Processing the Hampstead Hill collection is expected to continue from August through September. Volunteers are welcome to sign up for a few hours or for a full day. After the conclusion of this project, additional volunteer opportunities will be available at the lab on most Tuesdays to process artifacts from a contact-period Native American archeological site.

Where is the lab located?

Maryland Historical Trust
100 Community Place
Crownsville, MD 21032

How can I sign up?

To volunteer, contact Greg Katz at gkatz@louisberger.com. Seats in the lab are limited and will be filled on a first-come-first-served basis.

Processing includes washing/cleaning, drying, labeling, identification, cataloging, data entry, and packaging for long-term care. No prior experience or training is required to get involved with this stage of the project! Volunteers will work alongside lab director Louise Akerson, retired Director of the Baltimore Center for Urban Archaeology, and Fieldwork Director Greg Katz and his team from the Louis Berger Group. Cleaning artifacts is a great way to learn more about conservation and artifact identification.

Photos: 2014 Preservation Awards Celebration at the Baltimore Design School

Thank you to everyone who joined us last month at the Baltimore Design School for our annual Preservation Awards Celebration. Special thanks to Melissa Gerr who volunteered to capture a few great photographs of the evening. Enjoy!

Welcome to the Jenkins House

New tours! Join us at Jenkins Mansion and along the Jones Falls

In July of 1814, Captain Henry Thompson reported that this month began with sultry mornings and showers in the afternoons. The weather hasn’t changed much even 200 years later but we’re rolling through the height of a sultry Baltimore summer with some new tours.

For the casual bicyclist, we have a new tour of historic mills in the Jones Falls Valley, where you can roll down hill then take the light rail home! For anyone curious about Baltimore’s elite in the Gilded Age, we have the chance to look inside the Jenkins Mansion in Mount Vernon, one of the city’s most gilded and best preserved residences. Please join us!

Interior photographs courtesy Julie Canard/MRIS.

Behind the Scenes at Locust Point's Immigrant House

Come on a tour this summer in Locust Point or Station North!

After last week’s 2014 Awards Celebration, I want to again congratulate everyone who won an award and share my sincere thanks with everyone came out and helped make the evening a success. Take a look at our list of 2014 award recipients and you are sure to share our excitement about the future of preservation and revitalization in Baltimore. As we head into July, we have an exciting line up of new tours and returning favorites.

Don’t miss our tour of the “Immigrant House” – a new museum in the making in Locust Point! We are glad to share a fun event from the Archdiocese of Baltimore as it celebrates its 215th Anniversary with a day of open houses of Catholic heritage sites downtown. Finally, if you have family in town this month, we have plenty of cheap and free tours to show off our city’s historic landmarks including Looking Up Downtown and free Station North by Foot tours at Artscape!

Photograph from Book of the Royal Blue, 1904.