This Place Matters – Presenting New Wayside Interpretive Signs

Greg Mazella, Wylie and Donna Donaldson, Amelia Chisolm, and C. Jane Cox

We’re delighted to highlight an important initiative shared with us by our friends at Anne Arundel County’s Cultural Resources Division as they continue to showcase the importance of preservation and why “This Place Matters.”

In celebration of Preservation Month, the Anne Arundel County’s Cultural Resources team has recently installed the first few of 10 interpretive signs celebrating historic places that matter across the County. This program highlights not just well-known historic buildings, but also seeks to highlight some “lesser-known” cultural resources, historic places, and heritage communities.

The Cultural Resources team were joined by representatives from the Odenton Heritage Society to help with one of the first installations. This sign includes a QR code that links visitors to the OHS Tour of Historic Odenton.

Wilsontown interpretive wayside sign

A sign sharing the lesser known history of Wilsontown, an historic African American enclave founded in the 1870s, was placed near the end of Conway Road in West County, along the WBA trail. Signs have also gone in the round at the Earleigh Heights Ranger Station on the B & A Trail and at Kinder Farm Park in Pasadena.

To see where the rest of these signs are planned County-wide, checkout the Storymap for This Place Matters: Historic Markers & Wayside Interpretive Signs.

Though this storymap, you can explore and visit historic landmarks and heritage sites across the County. With nearly 4,000 historic buildings, archaeological sites, historic districts, cemeteries, and heritage communities, this storymap is designed to raise public awareness about some of the County’s most significant historic sites, and to enrich citizens’ appreciation of the depth and diversity of history that makes up our community. These are just a few of the places that matter in Anne Arundel County, MD.