History on tour

Friday, May 9, 2008

Click here to enlarge this photo Submitted photo The Old Bowen Farm is one of the stops on Saturday’s House and Garden Tour in Calvert County. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

The tours will be held in Calvert County from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. May 10,

Calvert County, often referred to as the ‘‘Charm of the Chesapeake,” was established in 1654.

The tour, sponsored by the Calvert Garden Club with the assistance of the Chesapeake Garden Club, will not only give visitors a glimpse into the county’s history through its beautifully restored historic homes, it will also showcase many of the contemporary and traditional homes and gardens that characterize Calvert County today.

The 10-stop itinerary includes impressive farmhouse restorations, historic and contemporary waterfront and woodland homes, and a 19th-century church that miraculously survived the 1882 Prince Frederick fire. Visitors will be able to tour a grand home listed on the Calvert County Historic District register — a house that illustrates changes in Calvert County architectural styles over the past 200 years. Tour sites include Tenebrae, Bittersweet Hill (1902), the Old Bowen Farm at Sandy Bottom, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church (1842), Cedar Wind, Little Cove Farm (c.1700s), New Marsh, a house on Hellen Creek Drive overlooking Tongue Cove, a Hellen Creek Drive house patterned after the 1996 Centennial Home —Southern Living’s ‘‘Idea Home” and Annmarie Garden, a 30-acre sculpture park and arts center associated with the Smithsonian Institution.

Tickets for the tour are $30 if purchased in advance and $35 if purchased on the day of the tour. Tickets may be purchased at all houses on the day of each tour. Each tour participant will receive a pilgrimage tour book, which provides detailed information on routes, parking, background on properties, lunch reservations and costs, logistics and overall event facts.

For more information, call 410-821-6933 or e-mail MHGP@aol.com.