Celebrating Our Local “Best of Maryland” Preservation Maryland Winners

Preservation Maryland’s Best of Maryland Awards shine a spotlight on the tireless work of volunteers, architects, artisans, and legislators doing the essential work of protecting the places that make Maryland such a special place to live, work, explore – and celebrate.

We’d like to especially recognize the awardees located within the Four Rivers Heritage Area!

The Maryland Department of General Services – Winner of the Stewardship Award. Under the direction of the Maryland Department of General Services, one of Annapolis’s historic post offices just underwent a world-class and comprehensive adaptive reuse program to restore the deteriorated Georgian Revival architecture and to convert its interior space into the governor’s office of community initiatives and the governor’s legal office. The Best of Maryland Stewardship Award recognizes the Maryland Department of General Services for envisioning and financing this iconic $15 million project on Annapolis’s Church Circle.

Historic London Town & Gardens – Winner of the Community Choice Award. Historic London Town & Gardens in Anne Arundel County is a long-established living history site tackling everyday and extraordinary challenges head-on. Recently, the team led by Rod Cofield and Lauren Silberman embarked on recreating the tavern bar in the Brown House and instituted an LGBTQ-inclusive array of characters and experiences in their interpretation practices. They also plan to utilize a Maryland Heritage Area Authority grant to build a new education pavilion on the site.

Although not located within the Four Rivers Heritage Area, we’d also like to extend our congratulations to the Odenton Heritage Society for also winning the Community Choice Award. Recently the all-volunteer group, led by President, Wylie Donaldson and Roger White, Curator, completed the transformation of the town’s ca. 1912 Old Masonic Hall to serve as the Odenton Heritage Society Historical Center, a local history museum, public archives, the Society’s office, and a community meeting place. The group is also responsible for the restoration of the stone building at the Odenton stop of the MARC train.

Congratulations to all the winners! We’re proud of the hard work and contributions you make to Maryland’s heritage and preservation community.