On Saturday, Nov. 8, author and historian Marsha Wight Wise will lead a walking tour of Catonsville, to discuss the history of the village known for its historic Victorian homes that once served as vacation homes for wealthy city dwellers.
Wise, 47, has authored books on Catonsville's history and the history of nearby Ellicott City and is a certified tour ambassador for Baltimore Heritage, a nonprofit that aims to preserve and protect Baltimore's history.
She grew up in the Federal Hill neighborhood of Baltimore Cityand Catonsville was her first "introduction to the suburbs."
"It's really held its historic integrity over the years — you have this beautiful parade that comes through every year, you have shops, you can walk up and down and people go to schools where their parents went," said Wise, 47, who resides across the city-county line in Hunting Ridge.
Wise said the city neighborhood where she grew up, in, Federal Hill, has become more transient since her childhood.
"I think that's why I like Catonsville — people stay," she said.
Wise said the tour will begin at the Catonsville Library, 1100 Frederick Road, and will meander through the historic area near Frederick Road.
Proceeds from the tour, which costs $15 for Baltimore Heritage members and $25 for non-members, will go to the nonprofit. Funds from such tours account for about 50 percent of their funding, Wise said.
Highlights of the tour will include the Summitt Mansion on Stanley Drive, built between the 1850s and 1860s for Charles and Margaret Koefoed, now used as an apartment building.
The home, where Union Army troops were believed to have camped during the Civil War, was built by the couple so that their sons could attend St. Timothy's School for Boys and their daughters could attend the Patapsco Institute in nearby Ellicott City, Wise said.
Also on the tour is the history of the hall on the corner of Beaumont Avenue and Frederick Road that was built as a country house by Edwin J. Farber in 1866 and is now used by the Knights of Columbus Patapsco Council No. 1960.
The tour will stop at a water tower on Melvin Avenue, a domed structure of "buff brick with limestone Art Deco trimmings," built in 1937 to replace a reservoir built by the Catonsville Water Company in 1894. It has the capacity for 6,000,000 gallons of water, Wise said.
She will also travel to the dwelling at 1300 Summit Avenue, known as "Oakwood." The lot was purchased in 1894 by August H. Brinkmann, president of the Baltimore Corset and Novelty Works, where he built a summer home the following year, she said.
The tour ends with a visit to the Catonsville Room in the library, which contains historical information about Catonsville.
It is normally only open from 2 to 5 p.m. Thursdays and from 7 to 8:45 p.m. the first Wednesday of the month.
For information about the tour go to http://www.baltimoreheritage.org or call 410-332-9992.