Regarding the products and services offered at The Kellogg Collection, custom designer Ashley Dickinson said, “We are a home furnishing retailer that also offers design services for clients who want something more customized. Customers come in asking for help with projects they might have, and we are constantly bringing out accessories and filling in wherever little holes come up and working together with our other stores to keep them fresh.” 

The Kellogg Collection, which has a Baltimore location on Falls Road near Lake Roland park, offers high-quality and antique furniture, lighting, upholstery, home accessories and more. In addition, The Kellogg Collection’s custom design services offer an individualized approach to creating your dream interior. The Kellogg style is warm, fresh and uplifting, with roots in the traditional English Country home. When you enlist the help of the Baltimore designers at The Kellogg Collection, Diane Litz and Ashley Dickinson, you are guaranteed to receive personalized expertise that reflects the Kellogg philosophy. The dedicated designers at The Kellogg Collection make it a mission to serve their community with integrity, passion and friendliness when helping their customers choose the home pieces that are perfect for them.

The quaint charm of the Lake Roland and Falls Road community was a perfect fit for The Kellogg Collection’s Baltimore location. Ashley Dickinson said, “Lake Roland is a fantastic little area because everyone knows each other, it is very close-knit, and everyone is very friendly. Our customers are great to work with.”

The development team at Bluestem is honored to be a part of the Lake Roland community, which is home to devoted businesses like The Kellogg Collection and many more. To learn more about the services and amenities offered at The Kellogg Collection, visit their website today. We are proud of the many unique businesses that help Lake Roland continue to be one of the best communities to live, work and play.

The “Scott Settlement” was Established Around 1830

Aquila Scott, the ancestor of a freed slave from St. Mary’s County, was a blacksmith and Methodist preacher who arrived in the Bare Hills area around 1830. In 1833, he and several others were named trustees of the congregation of Bethel Episcopal Methodist Religious Society in a deed from Mary and Elijah Fishpaw. The land given to them in the deed was used to build St. John’s Church, a church that served as the religious and social hub for the area’s primarily black congregation.

Aquila Scott also purchased a parcel of land abutting the Falls Turnpike, where he settled with his family and constructed a blacksmithery. As his family grew, his children settled with their own families on the property, which came to be known as the “Scott Settlement.” Aquila Scott died in 1858 and is buried on his Bare Hills property. 

The Remains of the Scott Settlement are Still Visible Today

While the original log cabin church where Aquila Scott preached burned down in 1876, the St. John’s Church still stands today, and is a beautiful example of African-American church construction in the late 19th century. The remains of several 19th-century frame houses that Scott and his descendants built still stand on the former Scott Settlement property. The descendants of Aquila Scott continue to live in the Bare Hills community, and four of Scott’s ancestors continue to live in original homes on the settlement property. The remains can be seen on the west side of Falls Road, south of Clarkview Road.

There are Other Historically Freed African-American Communities in Baltimore County

While one of the oldest, the Scott Settlement is not the only freed African-American community in Baltimore County. East Towson was settled in the mid-1800s by freed slaves a plantation known as the Hampton Mansion, which is now a historical site and originally owned by Captain Charles Ridgely. After his death, his slaves were freed, as per his wishes in his will, and created their own community in East Towson. Of note is the Jacob House, where some of the founding freed families lived. While the home burned in 1999, the original log cabin built on the property survived, and it was saved from demolition and reconstructed on a new property in 2010. The Jacob House now serves as a museum that provides a glimpse into the life of freed slaves in East Towson.

Respecting the Past While Looking Towards the Future

While the Bare Hills community has undergone many changes since the days of Aquila Scott, the entrepreneurial and community-oriented mindset of the people living in Bare Hills remains the same. It is the goal of the team at Bluestem to honor this mindset by developing a mixed-use space that is thoughtfully planned and populated with locally-owned boutiques and restaurants. It is our hope to develop a diverse space that integrates with the surrounding community, instead of pushing against its original fabric and character. To learn more about Bluestem and the steps our development team has taken to successfully integrate within the Bare Hills community, click here.  

MFI Realty’s role in the Bluestem project will be to attract and form relationships with potential tenants so as to populate the development with locally-minded, boutique-style retail and eatery offerings. The firm believes that the Bluestem development has great opportunity to become a hotspot within the Baltimore County area which will provide community members with an upscale destination for shopping, living, playing and working.

MFI Realty is honored to be involved in the Bluestem project and looks forward to supporting the growth of the project by assisting tenants through the leasing process. To learn more about Bluestem’s commitment to considering community concerns, click here. To learn more about Bluestem’s focus on local development, click here.

Alexander Design Studio’s role in the Bluestem project is to design the site plan as well as the residential building. The firm plans to create an interconnected and mixed-use community that provides all the best of a “surban” living environment while respecting the integrity of the natural landscapes surrounding the property.

Construction will be progressive and designed with efficient energy consumption in mind. All of the apartment units will have an outdoor experience so that residents can have a physical and emotional connection to the surrounding environment.

Alexander Design Studio is honored to be involved in the Bluestem project and looks forward to developing a community that functions in tandem with the local environment. To learn more about Bluestem’s commitment to innovative design, click here. To learn more about Bluestem’s focus on local development, click here.

The landscape architects and land planners at Human & Rohde have had the privilege of working on several projects within the confines of Lake Roland Park in the past. Their firm played an integral role in the development of the boardwalk that connects the MTA station with the park, ensuring that the design would not prove detrimental to the well-being of the wetlands within that area of the park. They also helped to design the dog park and various other amenity improvements.

Human & Rohde have played an integral role in ensuring the Bluestem design exists in harmony with the local environment. They have created a landscape design, in collaboration with Plusen Landscape Architects, that incorporates native plantings—such as bluestem grass—and a sizeable forest buffer. They have also received inspiration from the unique rock formations throughout Lake Roland Park and have incorporated rock elements into their landscape design. Finally, the incorporation of a trailhead access point at the back of the Bluestem development will allow residents and community members access to the “Orange” trail within Lake Roland Park.

Human & Rohde is honored to be involved in the Bluestem project and looks forward to creating a space that is aesthetically appealing and environmentally friendly. To learn more about Bluestem’s commitment to environmental friendliness, click here. To learn more about Bluestem’s focus on local development, click here.

A Brief History of Accessibility Improvements to Lake Roland Park

After oversight of Lake Roland Park passed from Baltimore City to Baltimore County in 2009, and with the help of state and county grant funds, a series of significant improvements were made to the park’s infrastructure, many of which sought to improve the issue of accessibility. By the time the park reopened in 2011, the bridge leading into the park from the main entrance was replaced, and a pedestrian boardwalk was created to allow pedestrians access to the park from the MTA parking lot. While these and other changes made to the park at the time were highly beneficial, certain challenges still exist.

Challenges That Impede Accessibility to Lake Roland Park

There are several challenges park-goers face when parking at or around Lake Roland Park that make accessing the park difficult or dangerous. The parking lot on Lakeside Drive, while safer than other parking options, is small, making it unable to accommodate the majority of Lake Roland park-goers on average or above average capacity days for the park. The MTA parking lot at the end of the boardwalk access point provides a larger amount of paved parking, however this space is shared with community members who are accessing the Light Rail.

There are also several makeshift parking and access point options that park-goers utilize that prove hazardous to park-goers and community members alike. One such location is the Greenspring Branch Entrance, which is located on Falls Road northwest of Lake Roland in between Ruxton Road and Old Pimlico Road. While a popular access point for the park’s Red Trail , there is no formal parking in the area, and park-goers currently park alongside Falls Road. The Greenspring Branch Entrance lies at the conclusion of a sharp curve in Falls Road, and it is directly on this curve where the majority of park-goers utilizing this access point are currently forced to park.

As the main thoroughfare through the Bare Hills community, Falls Road is a busy street that sees a high volume of traffic throughout the day, particularly during rush hour. Park-goers who are forced to park along Falls Road run the risk of injury to themselves, their vehicles or other property, their pets and their families. They also pose a hazard to community members driving on Falls Road. This hazard is compounded by the fact that there are a multitude of unsignalized access points into the park, which increases congestion and the level of hazard for community members traversing Falls Road.

It is clear that many of the accessibility challenges for the park go beyond mere inconvenience, as several of these challenges pose a fundamental threat to the safety and well-being of park-goers and the community at large as they travel around and through the Bare Hills community. The question is, how can these challenges be mitigated or even rectified in order to ensure Lake Roland Park can be visited in both a convenient and safe manner?         

How Thoughtful Development Can Help Mitigate Some of These Challenges

One of the many goals the Bluestem development team had in mind when creating the plans for the multi-use space was to ensure that the development would not place an unmanageable burden on the local traffic patterns and help to mitigate some of the parking, safety and accessibility concerns the park currently faces. It was only after Vanguard commissioned a feasibility plan for Bluestem to ensure the development’s impact would not overwhelm surrounding infrastructure that they then commissioned a full traffic impact study, the results of which indicated that Bluestem would meet or exceed county regulations.

After completing this preemptive planning, the Bluestem team committed to several developmental additions that would enhance accessibility and safety for park-goers. All driveable access points to the park will now be controlled by a traffic signal at Clarkview Road. An exclusive left turn lane will also be created to provide safer access to the Bluestem development. The Bluestem parking lot will also provide additional safe, convenient parking for park-goers and an access gate to the park will be installed at the back-end of the Bluestem property to facilitate access to Lake Roland’s “Orange” trail.

There has been talk, both in the city and the county, of “needing more parks.” But, there are already a plethora of parks in Baltimore City and Baltimore County, and Lake Roland park in particular offers a bounty of amenities and opportunities to those in the Bare Hills community and beyond. The focus should not be solely on the development of new parks and recreational spaces, but rather on the optimization of parks that are already well-established within their respective communities. By thoughtfully developing infrastructure that creates safer access points and parking areas for Lake Roland park, park-goers can continue to explore and enjoy a unique and well-loved green space.   

This past winter, volunteers from Lake Roland Nature Council and the Maryland Native Plant Society initiated a test plot to attempt to clear invasive Virginia Pine from the Park’s serpentine barren. Thanks to the Society for allowing us to reprint the article below from the Spring 2013 issue of their journal, the Marilandica.

There has been much activity at Lake Roland since 2010 when Baltimore County took over stewardship of the park and a group of citizens formed the Lake Roland Nature Council. The park’s infrastructure has been improved, including repair of the old railroad trestle across Jones Falls, and a new boardwalk, picnic pavilion, and dog park. Heavily used by dog walkers, Lake Roland is now the only park in the county that employs rangers to enforce park rules, including leash laws. Several local garden clubs are planning to install a native plant garden in an area close to the Lake Roland dam. With advice from MNPS, they have compiled a list of suitable species and expect to begin planting this year.

From a naturalist’s perspective, the park’s most interesting features are the wetlands around Lake Roland, beloved by birders, and the serpentine barren, home of several rare and uncommon plant species including Phemeranthus teretifolius (Fameflower). Over the last several decades, this grassland/prairie community has been impacted by the spread of Virginia Pine. With the full support of park staff and the Nature Council, a project has begun to find out whether quality prairie community can be expanded by removal of pines. This project is under the leadership of Dwight Johnson of MNPS and the Lake Roland Nature Council, Charlie Davis of the Natural History Society of Maryland, and paleobotanist Bill Hillgartner, who has maintained a serpentine study plot in the park for over 10 years. They selected an experimental area of about one acre that still retains a healthy prairie plant community despite scattered trees. This spring, members of the Nature Council Trails Committee will cut the trees in that area and they will be removed by a group of boy scouts as part of an Eagle Scout project. The hope is eventually to expand this quality area outward. The preferred tool would obviously have been fire as is used in Soldiers Delight, but that is not possible given the proximity to a residential area. Dwight, Charlie and Bill plan to perform a complete biological survey of the experimental area this year, and then to observe changes over the next several years.

Starting in 2012 Dwight Johnson is conducting a plant survey of the entire park, which includes over 320 species so far. Participants in MNPS field trips will undoubtedly add to this list.