The Steppingstone Museum is a non-profit educational and cultural institution on the Susquehanna River, northwest of Havre de Grace, Maryland, whose mission is to preserve and interpret the rural heritage of Harford County, Maryland. [1]
The museum displays and preserves the private collection of 7,000 tools and artifacts amassed by J. Edmund Bull along with later accessions. The Bull collection was first displayed at his home, which he called Steppingstone. [2] In 1979, the museum relocated to the former Gilman Paul property, an 18th-century farm now in Susquehanna State Park, and the museum was expanded to include demonstrations of various trades commonplace in rural America of the 19th century. Barns and farm buildings exhibit the work of broom makers, blacksmiths, stone cutters, masons, and other tradesmen. [3]
The museum programs special events relating to 19th- and early 20th-century history.
The display barn at the Steppingstone Farm Museum in Harford County burned to the ground on the afternoon of June 2, 2024. [4] This barn was not open to visitors at the time of the fire.
No lives were lost. The barn was valued at roughly $200,000 and the Fire Marshal reported that the value of the historic artifacts stored in the structure could not be assessed at this time.
The cause of the blaze is under investigation.
Harford County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 260,924. Its county seat is Bel Air. Harford County is included in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA Combined Statistical Area. The county is part of the Northern Maryland region of the state.
Havre de Grace, abbreviated HdG, is a city in Harford County, Maryland, United States. It is situated at the mouth of the Susquehanna River and the head of Chesapeake Bay. It is named after the port city of Le Havre, France, which in full was once Le Havre de Grâce.
The Thomas J. Hatem Memorial Bridge is a road bridge in northeast Maryland that crosses the Susquehanna River between Havre de Grace and Perryville via Garrett Island. It carries U.S. Route 40. It is the oldest of the eight toll facilities operated and maintained by the Maryland Transportation Authority, and the southernmost automotive bridge across the Susquehanna.
Darlington is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in northeastern Harford County, Maryland, United States. The population was 409 at the 2010 census. The center of the community was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Darlington Historic District in 1987. Median household income is $66,563. The percentage of people in poverty is 5.3%.
Churchville is an unincorporated community in Harford County, Maryland, United States, situated between the county seat, Bel Air, and Aberdeen, where Aberdeen Proving Ground is located.
The CSX Susquehanna River Bridge is a railroad bridge that carries CSX's Philadelphia Subdivision across the Susquehanna River between Havre de Grace and Perryville, Maryland, via Garrett Island. It was built in 1907-10 by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) on the same alignment as an 1886 B&O bridge. Like its predecessor, it was the longest continuous bridge on the B&O system.
Conowingo is a community in northwestern Cecil County, Maryland, United States. The community replaced a previous one that was inundated by a reservoir.
The Mason-Dixon Trail is a 193-mile (311 km) hiking trail that begins at the Appalachian Trail in south-central Pennsylvania, continues through northeastern Maryland and northern Delaware, and re-enters Pennsylvania shortly before ending at Chadds Ford. It is named for the historic Mason–Dixon line, which it crosses twice. About one-third of the route follows roads through rural areas, but the rest is on traditional footpaths. The trail also traverses many tracts of private land, at which passage for hikers has been arranged with owners. This results in occasional relocations. The trail takes hikers through a variety or rural and semi-urban landscapes, with most of the route in Pennsylvania featuring farmlands and forested areas, and most of the route in Maryland and Delaware featuring historic sites and small towns.
Susquehanna State Park is a public recreation area located on the banks of the lower Susquehanna River north of the city of Havre de Grace, Maryland. The state park's main area is on the west bank of the river; the park also manages land on the river islands and east bank. The park offers fishing, boating, camping, and trails for hiking and equestrian use. It is managed as a complex with Rocks State Park and Palmer State Park by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
Blackacre State Nature Preserve is a 271-acre (110 ha) nature preserve and historic homestead in Louisville, Kentucky. The preserve features rolling fields, streams, forests, and a homestead dating back to the 18th century. For visitors, the preserve features several farm animals including horses, goats, and cows, hiking trails, and a visitor's center in the 1844-built Presley Tyler home. Since 1981, it has been used by the Jefferson County Public Schools as the site of a continuing environmental education program. About 10,000 students visit the outdoor classroom each year.
Concord Point Light is a 36-foot (11 m) lighthouse in Havre de Grace, Maryland. It overlooks the point where Susquehanna River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, an area of increasing navigational traffic when it was constructed in 1827. It is the northernmost lighthouse and the second-oldest tower lighthouse still standing on the bay.
The Mill Green Historic District is a National Register of Historic Places listed community located in Harford County, Maryland. The district consists of a small cluster of privately owned historic homes and buildings including a historic mill. The district is located at the junction of Mill Green Road and Prospect Road. Broad Creek flows through the district. The historic district designation was established in 1993.
Havre de Grace High School is a four-year public high school in Havre de Grace in Harford County, Maryland, United States. The school is located near the southeast corner of Harford County where the Susquehanna River meets the Chesapeake Bay. The school motto is "Enter to Learn — Leave to Serve."
The Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal between Wrightsville, Pennsylvania, and Havre de Grace, Maryland, at the head of Chesapeake Bay, provided an interstate shipping alternative to 19th-century arks, rafts, and boats plying the difficult waters of the lower Susquehanna River. Built between 1836 and 1840, it ran 43 miles (69 km) along the west bank of the river and rendered obsolete an older, shorter canal along the east bank. Of its total length, 30 miles (48 km) were in Pennsylvania and 13 miles (21 km) in Maryland. Although rivalry between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Baltimore, Maryland, delayed its construction, the finished canal brought increased shipments of coal and other raw materials to both cities from Pennsylvania's interior. Competition from railroads was a large factor in the canal's decline after 1855. Canal remnants, including a lock keeper's house, have been preserved in Maryland, and locks 12 and 15 have been preserved in Pennsylvania.
Old Harford Road, one of the oldest continuously used rights-of-way in central Maryland, United States, is a southwest–northeast thoroughfare in northeast Baltimore City and eastern Baltimore County.
Maryland Route 155 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known for most of its length as Level Road, the state highway runs 9.06 miles (14.58 km) from MD 22 in Churchville east to U.S. Route 40 and MD 7 in Havre de Grace. In conjunction with MD 22, MD 155 serves as the main highway linking Bel Air and Havre de Grace in eastern Harford County. The state highway also connects Havre de Grace with Interstate 95 (I-95) and Susquehanna State Park. The first portion of MD 155 near Havre de Grace was built by 1910; the remainder of the highway east of Hopewell Village was completed in the mid-1920s. The Churchville–Hopewell Village portion of the state highway, originally designated MD 156, was built in the mid-1930s. MD 155 received its present designation over its western half in 1952 when MD 155 and MD 156 swapped paths.
The Page Farm & Home Museum is a museum on the campus of the University of Maine in Orono, Maine. Its mission is "to collect, document, preserve, interpret and disseminate knowledge of Maine history relating to farms and farming communities between 1865 and 1940, providing an educational and cultural experience for the public and a resource for researchers of this period." The University of Maine was founded in 1865 as the "Maine College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts". The centerpiece of the museum is the Maine Experiment Station Barn, a 19th-century barn, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, that is the last standing agricultural building on the campus.
Level, Maryland is a small unincorporated community in Harford County, Maryland.
The Havre de Grace Colored School Museum and Cultural Center is located at 555 Alliance Street, Havre de Grace, Maryland, in the buildings of the former Havre de Grace Colored High School. The buildings have been partially restored and in 2022 donations were being sought to complete the work.
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