Monument City » Clifton Park

Mother’s Garden (Baltimore, MD)

admin — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:59:45 +0000

Location

Harford Road & E 32nd Street (Street View)

GPS: 39° 19′ 37.64″ N 76° 35′ 1.89″ W

History

The Board of Park Commissioners dedicated the garden to all the mothers of Baltimore in 1926. Two years later a tablet was fitted to a stone and placed at the site, marking the memorial. Mayor William Donald Schaefer rededicated the garden, in 1984, to his mom Tululu Schaefer. In recent years, the Coldstream Homestead Montebello Community Corporation introduced a plan to improve the facilities of Clifton Park, including Mother’s Garden. Once the summer home of Johns Hopkins, Clifton was the intended site for the hospital bearing his name, but was deemed too far from the city’s core. Instead, the land was turned into a municipal golf course and community park.

Notes

At the northern tip of Clifton Park, the memorial is a strangely peaceful place. A small domed edifice surrounded by benches sits on top of the hill, and a pedestrian bridge crosses a forgotten pond. Situated between Harford Road and the golf course’s 5th hole green, Mother’s Garden is across the street from Montebello Elementary School.

Nearby

Links

On Panoramio & Flickr

Martin Luther Monument (Baltimore, MD)

admin — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:48:10 +0000

View Larger Map

Location

Hillen Road & E 32nd Street (Street View)

GPS: 39° 19′ 39.52″ N 76° 35′ 19.59″ W

History

Unveiled on October 31, 1936, the Martin Luther Monument is the work of Baltimore’s Hans Schuler. After studying under William Henry Rinehart, Schuler traveled to France with fellow artists Edward Berge and J Maxwell Miller to continue his studies. In 1901, he won the Salon Gold Medal in Paris, the first American to do so. One of the city’s premiere sculptors, Schuler was director of the Maryland Institute College of Art from 1935 to 1951, resigning a year before his death.

A gift of a prominent local jeweler, Arthur Wallenhorst, the 18-foot tall statue of Luther once greeted visitors at the Mount Royal entrance to Druid Hill Park. In 1959 it was moved to it’s current spot over-looking Lake Montebello. A second statue of the German protestant, also by Schuler, was erected in 1947 at the The Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Notes

Situated in a small park slightly south of the lake, Martin Luther’s likeness gestures sternly with right hand raised. Two benches once flanked the statue, but only their supports remain. Baltimore’s Commission for Historical & Architectural Preservation, or CHAP, has been maintaining the monument since 1980.

Nearby

Links

Columbus Obelisk (Baltimore, MD)

admin — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 15:38:48 +0000

View Larger Map

Location

Harford Road & Walther Avenue, just northeast of Lake Montebello (Street View)

GPS: 39° 20′ 10.82″ N 76° 34′ 28.74″ W

History

To commemorate the three-hundred year anniversary of Columbus discovering America, a forty-four foot obelisk was erected in Charm City. Made of brick with a stucco finish, the monument to Columbus is the oldest in the country, and world, that is still standing. Originally it was placed on the estate of French Consul to Baltimore, Charles Francois Adrian De Paulmier, Chevalier d’Anmour, and was moved to its current location in 1964. Rumor has it that one evening De Paulmier was entertaining guests, which he did frequently, and they started discussing the great men of the western world. It was mentioned that there was not a single monument to Christopher Columbus in America. De Paulmier promised to change this fact, placing the monolith on his property shortly thereafter.

Notes

Directly across the street from Herring Run Park, northeast of Lake Montebello on Harford Road, the memorial is tucked into a wooded corner. A well-trimmed hedge and garden encircle the obelisk and enormous aged trees tower around the structure. The park surroundings are as tranquil as any in the city, making this one of the finer environments I have found a monument in. The inscription on the front reads: Sacred to the Memory of Chris. Columbus Oct. XII MDCC VIIIC.

Nearby

Links

On The Trail Statue (Baltimore, MD)

admin — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 05:05:29 +0000

View Larger Map

Location

N Rose Street & Indian Drive in Clifton Park (Street View)

GPS: 39° 19′ 18.54″ N 76° 34′ 55.30″ W

History

A fine example of Edward Berge’s numerous pieces erected in Baltimore City, On The Trail displays his realist style. Berge was one of William Henry Rinehart’s original seven students at his school for sculpture along with friend and colleague Hans Schuler. Standing over seven feet tall the Indian statue gazes steadily over Clifton Park, a terrain once owned and farmed by Johns Hopkins. The land housed National Guard Troops during the riots that followed Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination in 1968, and over a century before was a staging ground for Union Generals during the Civil War. The sculpture garden and lake no longer exist, however, rolling hills and majestic antique buildings still dominate the landscape, and On The Trail remains, more than one hundred years since its installation.

Notes

The monument stands just south of Lake Montebello between the 8th and 9th holes of Clifton Park Golf Course. You might not notice it at first glance, but this monument has an inscription at its base which has been covered up by a bush. However, if you crawl head-first under the bush, you’ll be able to read the plague beneath which bears the official monument title, “ON THE TRAIL,” along with artist info and dedication dates.

Nearby

Links