Remembering Ellicott City

Abolitionists, Patriots and innovators have all carved indelible marks on the granite crags of Ellicott City. With wit and determination, they established a tightly knit community that has thrived upon the rocky banks of the Patapsco River for over two hundred years. Janet Kusterer and Victoria Goeller bring together a fascinating history of their beloved city with colorful firsthand accounts by local residents. These beguiling vignettes paint the portrait of a city and its people, from early African American inventor and author Benjamin Banneker to the "Crime Stopper Bunny." Catch a glimpse of a community that is fiercely proud of its history as Kusterer and Goeller invite their readers into the heart of historic Ellicott City.

In this comprehensive compilation of ghost stories and local legends, Shelley Wygant explores the history and horrors of a village that somehow lives on. Beginning with its founding in 1772, Ellicott City endured an endless procession of tragic deaths. As a result, this eighteenth-century mill town is packed with restless spirits and unexplained supernatural occurrences. A mysterious artist haunts Castle Angelo and threatens to throw residents into the river below. Many of the temporary occupants of the former Easton and Sons Funeral Home seem to have remained, and the ghost of Annie Van Derlot still inhabits the ruins of the Patapsco Female Institute.

Black Georgetown Remembered is a compelling journey through more than two hundred years of history. A one-of-a-kind book, it invites readers to consider how the unique heritage of this neighborhood intersects and contributes to broader themes in African American and Washington, DC, history and urban studies. -- "Washington Post Book World"

The history of the Enchanted Forest is one of magical beginnings. When it first opened in 1955, Ellicott City's storybook land became the first children's theme park on the East Coast. Young visitors could climb aboard rides like the Little Toot tugboat, Mother Goose and Ali Baba or encounter animals like peacocks and burros. Upon its closing in 1989, Marylanders who cherished memories of the Enchanted Forest were deeply disappointed. However, many of the park's beloved figures were moved to nearby Clark's Elioak Farm, where they were restored and displayed to the delight of new generations. Even today, the farm is a popular destination that evokes the whimsical spirit of the iconic park. Local author Janet Kusterer and Martha Anne Clark of Elioak Farm trace the park's history through vintage images and interviews with the Harrison family, former employees and visitors. Join Kusterer and Clark to rediscover the magic of the Enchanted Forest.

Volume 2 of 8, pages 505-1212. A genealogical compilation of the descendants of John Jacob Rector and his wife, Anna Elizabeth Fischbach. Married in 1711 in Trupbach, Germany, the couple immigrated to the Germanna Colony in Virginia in 1714. Eight volumes document the lives of over 45,000 individuals.

Corrosive greed, public corruption, and environmental degradation intertwine in small, historic Ellicott City, on the Patapsco River that feeds into the Chesapeake Bay. Jack Tasker is a typical thirteen-year-old, save for being the nephew of a not so typical uncle, Ben Tasker, a loving surrogate dad though an irascible newspaper man. When the skeletal remains of a young girl, over a century old, surface at the reportedly haunted Patapsco Female Institute, the police are compelled to search the grounds for more bodies. Surprisingly, they find a newly murdered John Doe. Immediately Ben and Jack are also on the case. While the two pursue clues on the Institute grounds, an apparition surreptitiously leads them to discover a backpack in the hollow of a tree. Ben and Jack realize they have opened a Pandora’s box that could jeopardize forever the health and well-being of millions who rely on the Chesapeake watershed.

This book examines violence. It looks at the nature and types of violence, the causes of violence, and the emotional wake left by violent episodes. In the twentieth century, the world experienced two world wars and countless other wars. Many millions died violent deaths from murder, death squads, purges, riots, revolutions, ethnic cleansing, rape, robbery, domestic violence, suicide, gang violence, terrorist acts, genocide, and in many other ways. As we entered the twenty-first century, we experienced 9/11, the Red Lake School deaths, suicide bombers, and more mass death brought about by the actions of governments, revolutionaries, terrorists, and still more wars. The need to better understand violence, both lethal and non-lethal, to become aware of the many forms of violence, and to learn how to survive in the aftermath of violent death are the focus of "Perspectives on Violence and Violent Death."