Patapsco: Life Along Maryland's Historic River Valley

Patapsco Book Cover

Patapsco Book Cover

The Patapsco River, the railroad and the bridge to Daniels
Climbing the big rock, Ellicott City
Car in Woods, Daniels
Bike Rider, Ellicott City
Two dogs playing on the lawn. Lawyers Hill, Elkridge
The mill from the Patapsco River, Oella
Abandoned mill race, Oella
Mural shielding fire damages. Main Street, Ellicott City
Workers housing and outhouse, Oella
Country Corner Store with Ed Fisher and George Tucker, Oella
"The Hollow" with church and mill, Oella
Patience Easton, mill worker, on the porch of her home built for mill workers, Oella
Ed Fisher and George Tucker "jawing" on the porch, Oella
Russell Moxley, town policeman, outside his springhouse, Ellicott City
Daniels Band members outside Daniels Church "The town is gone, but the band plays on"
Patapsco Female Institute, Ellicott City
Railroad bridge with flag and view of Oella. Ellicott City.
Marker for Latrobe and the Thomas Viaduct where the north/south railroad splits to go west
Jack Merson with his Louisville Slugger, Elkridge
The Thomas Viaduct over the Patapsco River. Patapsco State Park Relay
Elaine May peeks thru the window of her family home, now part of Patapsco state park
Wrought iron work on house, Relay
Outhouse, Oella
Mother Virginia at All Saints Convent, Catonsville
Nellie Coomes at a July 4th family reunion, Elkridge
Leroy Cole in front of Firehouse Museum Main Street, Ellicott City
Gertrude Caplan, owner of Caplans furniture store, with portraits of herself and husband Sam, and nursing aide, Ellicott City
Charles Wagandt outside his office, formerly Oella Methodist Church
Paul Corum, game butcher, with turtle shell and tools of the trade, Ellicott City
Dorothy Baker with Daisy in her Harwood Hair Studio, Elkridge
Reverend Simms and his Aunt Dorothy Richardson at First Baptist Church, Elkridge
Best friends since childhood, Lenora Reynolds and Flavia Kauffman, Relay
Addison Worthington on dock behind his Cumberstone home, Elkridge
Balden Yates, butcher, at meat counter of Yates' Market, Ellicott City
Paul Corun in his garden, Ellicott City

Text by Alison Kahn and Photographs by Peggy Fox with an introduction by Robert Coles

"To Alison Kahn and Peggy Fox, for giving us Patapsco, we owe gratitude for a splendid, observing effort exceedingly well done, but also for the compelling summons they tender us. Through meeting Marylanders in a valley, we get a boost toward ourselves — our similar journey through time and space in America." Robert Coles, from the Foreword

© 2008, Center for American Places at Columbia College Chicago This book contains 262 pages, 35 color and 67 duotone photographs, and 1 map
Price $50.00 Cloth ISBN 978-1-930066-77-9 $30.00 Paper ISBN 978-1-930066-78-6

In 1997 Alison Kahn writer and folklorist, and I were commissioned by the Patapsco Heritage Greenway to document the lives of twenty five of the old timers living in two small mill towns, Ellicott City and Oella, in the Patapsco River Valley, home of the industrial revolution in Maryland. We captured them with film and words, their environment, stories and portraits and realized we had barely touched the subject. We were then engaged by the Greenway and The Maryland Historical Trust to photograph and document a further selection of people from two more towns, Elkridge and Relay, and to record one final town Daniels, which was destroyed in a flood. The photographs and stories in this collaboration support each other to tell a story of time gone by. The color images all began as black and white photograohs which I colorized digitally to recall older times. The black and white images were made with tri x and infared film.

Buy on Amazon

Buy on Barnes&Noble