Prince George’s County has filed paperwork to demolish the Old Marlboro Elementary School building, to the dismay of Upper Marlboro officials and residents who previously had requested the county either preserve or renovate the building.

In its application, received Jan. 18 by the county Historic Preservation Commission, the county’s Office of Central Services said it wants to tear down the vacant school to build a Family Justice Center on the site. The center would be a one-stop shop for victims of domestic violence to receive services from Prince George’s County Circuit Court, the county sheriff’s office, and other agencies and nonprofits.

The demolition first must be approved by the Historic Preservation Commission, given the site’s historic status, but some members said they were concerned by OCS’ denial of requests by Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission staff to survey the property, a necessity for being able to evaluate its significance and condition.

The commission will hold a hearing, tentatively slated for late February, on the county’s application.

The Old Marlboro Elementary School building, built in 1896, was home to Old Marlboro High School/Marlboro Academy, built in 1921, and used as a school until the 1970s.

The property also is the grave site of Dr. William Beanes, a doctor who treated U.S. soldiers during the Revolutionary War and was captured by British troops during the War of 1812.

Prince George’s County judges are advocating for a new center to better intervene in and prevent domestic violence, but some Upper Marlboro officials, residents and historians say the center would come at the expense of a valuable historic resource.

Prince George’s County Circuit Court judges are advocating for a one-stop-shop facility for victims of domestic violence to more efficiently receive services. But the latest proposals, which are still in the early stages, have the facility tentatively slated to be built at the site of the vacant Old Marlboro Elementary School, which is recognized in a county historic sites registry and is home to multiple historic landmarks, drawing the ire of some residents and historians who don’t want the building demolished.

Bladensburg historians hoping to see the town’s legacy featured in a PBS “War of 1812” documentary were disappointed that the town’s preeminent battle — The Battle of Bladensburg — got decidedly less than its 15 minutes of TV fame.

As the bicentennial anniversary of the War of 1812 approaches, the Bladensburg-based historical preservation Anacostia Trails Heritage Area looks to attract tourists with signage commemorating the event, a guided walking tour and festivals, said Greenbelt resident Aaron Marcavitch, ATHA’s executive director.

Prince George’s County resident, Renatta DeBlase, is pulling back the curtain on her time behind the scenes working with jazz legends including Duke Ellington and Billy Taylor during the racially charged 1960’s in her audio book and ebook “WITH STARS IN MY EYES”. Released in May of this year, the audio version of WITH STARS IN MY EYES is narrated with warmth by the author, now a retired veteran of both the music and publishing industry based in Washington DC.

In the late 1960’s, Deblase was a young white college student from the suburbs who fell in love with the uniquely African-American music emanating from the hip jazz clubs of New York. Soon, she was a valued insider in that world, fighting to bring the music of jazz pianist Billy Taylor and the hugely influential Duke Ellington to audiences, no matter what the color.

On September 24th the Accokeek Foundation’s 11th annual African American Heritage Day will celebrate the region’s history and culture with “Enduring Traditions: Rich Connections to Our Past” at the National Colonial Farm at Piscataway Park. Bring the family for a day full of music, living history demonstrations, children’s activities, fascinating panels, and the best soul food this side of the Mason Dixon line.

The Prince George's County Historic Preservation Commission unanimously approved Tuesday a proposal to add a residential sector of the town of Upper Marlboro to a national list of historic areas.

But residents and officials complained the proposed district should include parts of historic downtown Upper Marlboro.

The proposed district heads to the desk of Prince George's County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D), after which it will be forwarded to the National Park Service for approval for the National Register of Historic Places.

Residents and a Washington-area developer who clashed over a proposal to bring an outlet mall to a historic site near National Harbor in Oxon Hill have reached a deal to move the project forward.

According to The Washington Post, Tanger Factory Outlet Centers has signed a deal with the Peterson Cos., developer of National Harbor, to bring its high-end outlets to the complex. The $100 million development would cover about 40 acres, across the street from the entrance of National Harbor along Oxon Hill Road. The project is expected to be one of the few of its kind in development in the nation.

With some residents set against development on an Oxon Hill historic site, a Prince George's County commission on Tuesday night approved a proposal agreed on by the developer and residents.

The Prince George's County Historic Preservation Commission approved archaeological studies to examine the historical value of the Salubria property, a first step in clearing the site for development.

But the commission rejected part of the proposal by the site's owner, developer The Peterson Cos., to remove the remaining structures on the property and delete Salubria from the county's historic sites plan. The site already is zoned for mixed-use development.

Behind a wire fence not far from National Harbor, the waterfront resort and mini-city in Oxon Hill, are the remains of a once-thriving plantation.

It was called Salubria and was owned by John H. Bayne, a prominent physician and slave owner whose three children were poisoned by a 14-year-old slave named Judith.

When the first gunboats exploded on the Patuxent River, everyone at Mount Calvert heard the blast. It was an ominous sound.

The year was 1814, and the United States was once again at war with Britain. Thousands of British troops were marching through southern Maryland to attack Washington.

At the same time, British ships sailed up the Patuxent River, moving more troops inland while chasing a troublesome collection of U.S. gunboats. Led by the bold U.S. Commodore Joshua Barney, these gunboats had been the only naval force to challenge British invaders on the Chesapeake Bay.

For Temple Hills resident Luther Atkinson, the annual celebration of Black History Month in February is not only a chance to revisit black history nationwide but his personal history as well.

Atkinson, 73, played Negro League Baseball in the late 1950s and 1960s and shared his story and talked about the league's history Friday at Oakcrest Community Center in Capitol Heights. He is scheduled to speak at Suitland Community Center at 6 p.m. Feb. 18.

The town of Upper Marlboro has long touted its historic credentials — from its settlement around 1700 to its selection as the Prince George's County seat in 1721, to name a few — but is now hoping to make it official with a spot on the National Register of Historic Places.

During the monthly town meeting Sept. 14, residents were presented with a proposal to nominate a 99-acre section of town to the west of the downtown area for the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places.

Beneath the waters made murky by recent heavy rains, archaeologists are uncovering remnants of the dramatic events preceding the bloody four-hour Battle of Bladensburg during the War of 1812. Archaeologists from the Maryland Historical Trust (MHT), the US Navy (USN) and Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) are surveying for a War of 1812 shipwreck in the shallows of the Patuxent River upstream from Pig Point (now Bristol), near Upper Marlboro in Prince George's County.

With high-tech equipment, archaeologists are mapping an underwater area thought to be the resting place of the USS Scorpion or other War of 1812 vessel that was deliberately sank or "scuttled" to prevent British capture and use against American forces. First the teams used a magnetometer, an instrument that detects metal objects such as cannons and anchors, to locate the general area of the wreck. Archaeologists then used a more precision-based piece of equipment called a hydroprobe, which pinpoints the wreck location using a linear series of one inch diameter jets of water to further delineate the site.

Momentum to save tobacco barns grew rapidly following the summit and between 2006 and 2008, the state's Tobacco Barn Restoration Fund awarded 35 grants to stabilize and restore tobacco barns in Charles, Calvert, St. Mary's, Prince George's and Anne Arundel counties, Racanello said.

The Prince George's County Convention and Visitors Bureau has recently launched a new website, www.historicprincegeorges.com, in an effort to provide a "one-stop shop" of resources for county residents and visitors alike, said Matt Nietzey, Executive Director of the Prince George's CVB.

The site launched in late May to commemorate Historical Preservation Month, Nietzey said. "We really wanted to do more to promote the historic resources of our county."

When the historic Poplar Hill on His Lordship's Kindness museum in Clinton closed its doors Sept. 30 due to a funding shortage, museum director and longtime historian Bianca Floyd found herself out of a job.

Eight months later, Floyd is still looking for work, but has volunteered to reopen the museum for tours several Sundays a month through the summer to make sure the 18th-century property and its history remain in the public eye.

"I don't mind [volunteering]. ... I loved my job," Floyd said.

Several African American sites in Prince George's County were designated historic Tuesday under a plan approved by the County Council that takes a comprehensive look at preserving the county's rich cultural heritage.

Most of them aren't used anymore, but our region wouldn't look the same without tobacco farms.

Although the region is no longer a tobacco-growing powerhouse, preservationists are working hard to ensure many of the iconic barns in Calvert, Charles, Prince George's and St. Mary's counties are saved.

When Suitland High School opened in the mid-1950s ["Aspiring opera singer finds racial harmony at Suitland High," front page, April 25], it was racially segregated, like all other public schools in Prince George's County. Token integration began with the arrival of three black students in September 1962, and full integration came in the early '70s, following which Suitland became overwhelmingly African American, as it is today.

Even though Dorothy Height was a national figure, her dedication and passion inspired many people in Prince George's County, several of whom recalled her contributions to the historic civil rights movement after her death Tuesday at the age of 98.

Height was born in Richmond, Va., in 1912 and moved to Rankin, Pa., as a young girl. She was the leading woman in the civil rights movement of the 1960s and sat a few feet away from Martin Luther King Jr. as he delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech in Washington, D.C.

Bruce McClure, pastor of Prince George's Church of Christ, said he didn't want to greenlight a so-called chitlin-circuit play for his church. When congregant Brenda Simon proposed featuring "1,001 Black Inventions" for Black History Month in 2002, McClure had to see it himself before making a decision.

"Truthfully, I thought it was going to be one of those productions where everyone and everything is predictable, but it was nothing like that," he said. "I just came with a closed attitude, but from start to finish, it was mesmerizing."

The play, performed by Southeast Washington-based Pin Points Theatre, will be staged at the church for the third time since 2002. The performance highlights inventions by African Americans and showcases what would happen to a typical American family if it had to live in a world without contributions from African and African American inventors.

Speaking at Prince George's County's annual Black History Month celebration last week, former Negro Baseball League player and Temple Hills resident Jimmy Bland fondly recalled the black families in segregated southern communities that housed and fed ballplayers like himself.

"There were a lot of places we couldn't go and a lot of places [where] we couldn't eat, but we had a real good time," he said.

Historic aircraft and spacecraft were exposed to freezing temperatures Wednesday after heavy snow collapsed part of a roof and wall at a Smithsonian Institution storage facility.

No artifacts were thought to be damaged because they are all kept in boxes or protective crates, though some pieces are usually kept at stable temperature and moisture levels, officials said.

The metal building, part of the Garber Preservation, Restoration and Storage Facility in Suitland, Md., houses about 1,500 artifacts from the National Air and Space Museum, including parts of aircraft, spacecraft and about 800 pieces of aviation and space-themed artwork.

"Right now, the building is still standing," said museum spokeswoman Claire Brown, adding that shelving units inside were supporting the structure. "We're confident the portion of the collection that's in there is OK."

For the first time in almost two decades, Prince George's County is taking a comprehensive look at preserving its rich cultural heritage, looking to designate more than 130 properties as historic and offering dozens of recommendations for protecting such sites.

Included on the list is John Keiffer's 1830 Vermont farmhouse in Upper Marlboro, accented with handmade doors and double staircases....

He said he is working with the planning staff to make sure sites with African American significance are a part of the county's preservation efforts.

For too many years, the county has ignored African Americans' role in county history, Winston said.

Black History Month officially begins Monday, which means there's a whole slate of programming to keep you educated and entertained all month long. From sit-in tutorials to wax museum scavenger hunts, check out some of these event's happening during the month's first full week.

Prince George's County planners are not doing enough to protect significant historic sites from development or to add historic black communities and schools to their protection, residents said at a public hearing Jan. 19.

At a crowded public hearing at Newton White Mansion in Mitchellville, about 35 residents spoke for two hours about what they want included in the county's new Historic Sites and Districts Plan, which will guide preservation and protection for the next decade.

The public is invited to attend an afternoon presentation and discussion about the past, present and future of the many tobacco barns in Southern Maryland.

The three hour meeting will take place on Sunday, January 31st at the Calvert County Library in Prince Frederick beginning at 1:00 pm. The summit will feature a presentation on the history of tobacco barns, tobacco barn reuse success stories, a showcase of available resources for barns, as well as an opportunity for the public to brainstorm about the future of the barns.

The meeting will be convened by a coalition of representatives from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Maryland Historical Trust, Preservation Maryland, the Southern Maryland Heritage Area Consortium, and Anne Arundel, Calvert, Charles, Prince George's, and St. Mary's counties that was formed to support barn owners in their efforts to preserve, rehabilitate, and reuse these significant landmarks that are now often abandoned and deteriorating due to the significant decline in tobacco cultivation.

A dinosaur park may sound like something you'd see in the movies, with dinosaurs roaming among humans. Rather, it is an area of land where dinosaur fossils have been found that is open for public use.

Dinosaur Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, is a 41-acre piece of land that is open the first and third Saturday of each month, so anyone who has an interest can hunt for fossils.

Gabrielle made her big find on just the second day the park was open to the public.

More than 65 million years ago, before the continents reached their current configuration -- and ages before industrial parks and shopping centers existed -- a warm and swampy swath of what is now Prince George's County was home to dinosaurs.

The creatures' remains in the area have endured weather, erosion, tectonic shifts and modern industry. But their chances of being discovered improved Monday, when 41 acres south of Laurel were dedicated as Dinosaur Park.

The Brandywine company that is trying to redevelop a historic concert venue has filed for bankruptcy protection, but its CEO says its efforts will continue.

The Arthur W. Wilmer Foundation filed Friday for Chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Maryland.

Since September 2002, the for-profit company has worked to build a $200 million housing-retail-entertainment complex on the 80-acre site known as Wilmer's Park, which once hosted musical legends such as B.B. King, Gladys Knight and the Pips, James Brown and Stevie Wonder. Wilmer's daughter, Leslie, started the company after the Brandywine park's entertainment operation shut down in 2001. The park opened in 1951.

Prince Georgians don't have to go far from home to see history with national implications, and plans are being made to highlight local architectural and cultural gems for the upcoming Maryland War of 1812 bicentennial.

Concerned that development could erase keys to Prince George's County's rich cultural heritage, a growing number of African Americans in the county are joining forces to save relics of their past.

A book that outlines the history of Lakeland, an African American community formed about 1890 around the campus that became the University of Maryland, will go on sale Monday.

The book, "Lakeland: African Americans in College Park," is a product of the Lakeland Community Heritage Project, which organized to preserve the history of the northern Prince George's community.

...Also, the last owner will generally be the easiest one to locate. Slavery was abolished in 1865, but the Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves of the south in 1863. The owner in the 1860 federal census slave schedule was, in most cases, the last owner. From the beginning of the Civil War, especially as emancipation approached, slavery as an institution was on tenuous ground, even with its supporters; slaves became difficult to sell. In fact, the 1863 estate inventory of Charles Carroll of Doughoregan Manor in Howard Co., Maryland, grandson of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, valued each of his slaves (and he owned over one hundred) at only $5. The appraisers stated that this was the case because, in talking with area slave traders, no one was willing to buy slaves for any more than that. An 1864 estate inventory in Prince George's Co., Maryland, refused to assign any value at all to the slaves. In general, sales of slaves greatly declined during the War.

The approaching anniversary of the War of 1812, the place of Maryland in history and the predicted return of sunshine are expected to combine in Bladensburg today to give Washington area residents a chance to help dig up the past.

The Maryland State Highway Administration and its partners in archeology are holding an open house today at the Market Master's House in the 4000 block of 48th Street in Bladensburg, a small Prince George's County jurisdiction with a long history.

According to the highway administration, the small house, which remains standing, was built about 1760 and was apparently one of the oldest post offices in the United States.

Free Stater Chris Haley -- yep, that's the nephew of Alex Haley of Roots fame -- has discovered that a branch of his family hails from Scotland....

"It's amazing to grasp how readily the six of us felt comfortable with each other," says Chris Haley, 46, who lives in Prince George's County. "Maybe it was the several familiarizing e-mails and couple of phone calls we traded with each other prior to our meeting, but there was no sense of discomfort or awkwardness that I could detect."

Miller, who said he is currently involved in the preservation of a former all black school in Prince George's County, called Saturday's event "a family gathering [of] people who persevered despite adversity.

"It's important that we remember where we've been, the shoulders or whom we stand upon and where we need to go," Miller said, adding that he believes that some of the glow he saw in the audience was also a reflection of the election of President Barack Obama.

Prince George 's County Executive Jack Johnson announced that $500,000 in grant money has been approved to help restore 16 of the county's important historic buildings.

"These buildings are precious to our heritage," Johnson said. "And they include a tiny, African American schoolhouse forgotten for generations, three churches badly in need of window replacements, and a number of homes and barns that are important to their neighborhoods. I am proud of the winners for preserving these building for future Prince Georgians."

Sixteen historic properties in Prince George's County are slated for restoration with the recent approval of a half-million dollars in financing by the county's Historic Property Grant Program.

"These buildings are precious to our heritage," County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) said last week in a news release announcing the grants. "And they include a tiny, African American schoolhouse forgotten for generations, three churches badly in need of window replacements, and a number of homes and barns that are important to their neighborhoods."

Prince George's County Executive Jack Johnson announced that $500,000 in grants money has been approved to help restore 16 of the county's important historic buildings.

"These buildings are precious to our heritage," Johnson said. "And they include a tiny, African American schoolhouse forgotten for generations, three churches badly in need of window replacements and a number of homes and barns that are important to their neighborhoods. I am proud of the winners for preserving these buildings for future Prince Georgians."

Glenda West still remembers walking to the small church in Upper Marlboro in the 1940s. It was a one- and a half-mile journey, and she often walked it barefoot. She said she remembers revivals, huge outdoor services and crowds so big that members of the all-black congregation had to stand outside.

...But the church, which is expected to cost $100,000 to renovate, might be among the first sites to get help from a new county organization dedicated to preserving black historical resources in Prince George's County.

..."Black stuff has basically been ignored in the county," he said. "The white stuff was preserved 25 years ago."

Accokeek, in southern Prince George's County, has a dual personality not readily visible from Route 210, a four-lane highway that bisects the community.

Once the domain of the Pomonkey and Piscataway Native American tribes, Accokeek today is an amalgamation of historic sites, run-down shacks, tidy ramblers, grand estates, working farms, small businesses and sprawling nature preserves.

Two College Park landlords are appealing the historic district designation of Historic College Park, saying they should not have to go through the same process to make changes or repairs to a non-historic building in the district as they should for a historic building.

Landlords John Hawvermale and Lisa Miller presented their appeal Tuesday to the Prince George's County District Court.

Centuries ago, people traveled hours by horse and buggy seeking the curative waters at the Spa Springs on Tanglewood Drive in Bladensburg. Today, people travel there to dump sewage from their trucks.

The land is now home to one of three Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission septage dumping sites in Prince George's County. But the Aman Memorial Trust, charged with preserving historic sites in and around Bladensburg, would like to turn the historic site into a park that would commemorate the once-beautiful spa, said trustee Chuck Day.

One of the first visible steps in restoring an historic house in Bladensburg began last week as a team of students conducted an archeological dig on the property.

The 18th century Bostwick Mansion sits on about seven acres of land near Kenilworth Avenue and Annapolis Road. In March, the University of Maryland, College Park's Historic Preservation Program began a partnership with the town of Bladensburg to use the site as a teaching center for anthropology students. The program will also help the town, which owns the property, to restore the site for historic preservation.

The Freedom Schooner Amistad is docked through Monday at National Harbor.

The ship is a re-creation of La Amistad (meaning friendship), a vessel that became a central part of the first human rights case in U.S. courts argued on behalf of enslaved Africans.

In the Amistad incident of 1839, Africans who had been kidnapped and sold into slavery took over the ship as it sailed from one Cuban port to another. After weeks at sea, the ship was seized off Long Island, N.Y., and towed to Connecticut, where the Africans were jailed on charges related to the takeover.

The Ellerslie estate, a 19th-century historic home, stands majestically on Green Grove Place in Upper Marlboro. The home is considered one of the area's best surviving examples of Colonial Revival architecture.

At least, it was.

Ellerslie burned down in April, making it the second historic home in the Upper Marlboro area to disappear this year. Among Prince George's County's 11 most endangered historic sites, four are in Upper Marlboro, according to a list compiled by Prince George's Heritage, Prince George's County Historical and Cultural Trust and the Prince George's County Historical Society.

They are the everyday items of daily life, tossed off or abandoned by people long gone to their graves, that 300 years later have become the stuff of history.

A button, a bottle, a toothbrush and 300,000 other ordinary relics from colonial-era plantation life on the banks of the Potomac are now historical artifacts, to be examined, admired and cataloged by those who take stock of bygone days.

The Maryland Heritage Areas Authority has awarded 58 grants worth more than $3.1 million to nonprofits, museums and governments.

The recipients' projects support economic development through heritage tourism, which the National Trust for Historic Preservation defines as travel to experience the places and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past and present.

The grants went to projects in 11 certified heritage areas. They are follows: Anacostia Trails in Prince George's Co....

July 19 concert kicks off series of public events on Ft. Washington mansion's grounds, but home itself years from reopening

The ''Mount Vernon of Maryland," a dilapidated 18th century mansion on weed-choked land with a view of the Potomac River, is slowly coming back to life.

The National Park Service has been working in recent years with community groups and longtime residents of Fort Washington's Silesia neighborhood to rehabilitate Harmony Hall Mansion, a house that historical documents show was once connected with Mount Vernon by a ferry boat and was occasionally visited by George Washington.

U.S. Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.) visited the Bladensburg Waterfront Park in Prince George's County last week to announce a $100,000 grant to improve access and signage at waterways that will become part of the new Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail.

The trail will follow the route of the British invasion of Virginia, Maryland and Washington in 1814, by land and water, and is intended to be done in time for the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812.

Cardin joined Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) to announce the grant at the waterfront, which is near the historic site of the Battle of Bladensburg. In the 1814 battle, the British smashed a U.S. militia force, leaving the capital open for attack.

Peeling paint and crumbling plaster are among the poor conditions at Prince George's County's Harmony Hall, built along the Potomac River in the 1730s.

The Prince George's County Board of Education will conduct a public hearing at 7 p.m. today about a site for a Hyattsville area elementary school. The session will be at Hyattsville Elementary School, 5311 43rd Ave.

There will be another hearing at 7 p.m. Monday regarding the site for the new Ridgley bus lot. That hearing will be at Hyattsville Middle School, 6001 42nd Ave. Those interested in speaking must register by 4:30 p.m. the day of the hearing by calling 301-952-6308.

State champion trees are historical relics, a source of pride for residents

''It never hurts to call. You never know, you may have found the next champion," he said.

Garrett, a senior ranger with the Prince George's County Department of Parks and Recreation, is in charge of the county's catalog of big trees — a list of the individual specimens that are the largest known examples of their species.

While bereaved rioters razed the District's U Street corridor after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in April 1968, Ronald Anderson was preparing for his graduation from Howard University's medical school a few blocks away.

The news of King's death left the young, black doctor more determined to walk boldly through doors that King and the civil rights movement had pried open. Like many in his class, Anderson, an ophthalmologist, would become the first African American hired for many of the jobs he had throughout his medical career.

Broad Creek conservationist says development that respects the county's 350-year history can help lift Prince George's to forefront of nation's historical landscape

David A. Turner walked through a tract of his land into a small clearing with a flowing creek.

'I wanted to leave this as undisturbed as possible," Turner said of the property he owns in the historic Broad Creek community in Fort Washington. ''This is the way to preserve historical land and still be able to live on it."...

June Dillard, president of the Prince George's County NAACP, said Turner helped get funding for an initiative to document the oral histories of prominent black residents and for the African American Heritage Trail, which opened April 18 with 20 interactive sites around the county.

Like Indiana Jones, you can help find lost archaeological treasures -- and you don't even have to leave the state

...
Prince George's County offers the Mount Calvert Historical and Archaeological Park, a site that features continuing historical and archaeological research. First a 1,000-acre plantation and later a town that served as the county's first seat of government, the site represents "a confluence of three cultures - an early Colonial town, American Indian life and the plantation's enslaved Africans," says Don Creveling, manager of the archaeology program that hosts volunteers every Saturday between April and October.

...Carolyn Rowe of Fort Washington and Beverly Woods of Accokeek, past presidents of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, dispelled impressions that tracing family histories through slavery was impossible — a notion first challenged by Alex Haley in ''Roots."

Rowe and Woods, who with Jane Taylor Thomas of Fort Washington authored ''Black America Series: Prince George's County, Maryland" in 2003, said they researched their own families as far back as their great-great-grandfathers despite starting from scratch.

...BLACK HISTORY TRIVIA CONTEST, for ages 6-12, compete for prizes; plus refreshments. 4-6 p.m., Kentland-Columbia Park Community Center, 2411 Pinebrook Ave., Landover. Free. 301-386-2278.

...BLADENSBURG HISTORY PROGRAM, for all ages, learn about the contributions made by African Americans in the economic development of Bladensburg and Washington through a skit and presentation, West African refreshments provided. 10 a.m.-noon, Bladensburg Waterfront Park, 4601 Annapolis Rd. Free; reservations required. 301-779-0371....

The Hilltop Manor Apartment Complex in Bladensburg is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, Prince George's County Executive Jack B. Johnson announced yesterday.

Hilltop Manor is a 150-unit, eight-building garden apartment complex on approximately seven acres at 5302 Annapolis Road in Bladensburg, was placed on the national register on Dec. 21, 2007 as a significant representative of the county's mid-20th century history and development.

"This National Register listing is a notable example of the historically important growth and development of Prince George's County before and after World War II," said Johnson, who concurred with the unanimous recommendation of the county's Historic Preservation Commission.

...Seat Pleasant Mayor Eugene Grant said the fact Brown, an African-American woman wrote the play, reminded him that Seat Pleasant was once closed off to the county's black population and none were in positions of authority—unlike today where the City Council is all African-American.

''I think what's more important is the fact that a person from our center wrote it, directed it and produced it and the contributions [of] Dr. King gave African-Americans opportunity to do that in a community that was once separated."

Remembering His Legacy

Prince George's County

CULTURAL PROGRAM Dramatic readings, music, dance and more. For all ages. 1 to 4 p.m., Evelyn Cole Senior Center, 5720 Addison Rd., Seat Pleasant. Free. 301-386-5525.

...This year we will have elections — don't forget that primary elections in Maryland are scheduled for Feb. 12 and the general election will be Nov. 4. It's important that we all participate no matter which political party we belong to.

By exercising our right to vote we move forward to execute changes in our society. You cannot effect a change if you do not take the time to register to vote. Your application must be postmarked by Jan. 22 to be eligible to vote in the primary election and Oct. 14 to vote in the general election.

If you are unsure about registration procedures check with a house of worship in your community.

I was happy to see a decrease in crime statistics in 2006 and dismayed to see it on the rise again in 2007. We must continue to teach our children to respect themselves and others and to value life.

For those who plan to welcome 2008 in a house of worship, Watch Night services are being held at churches around the area.

There is a wonderful history to the Watch Night services. Its origin can be traced back to gatherings held on Dec. 31, 1862, also known as ''Freedom's Eve." On that night, Americans of African descent came together in churches, gathering places and private homes throughout the nation eagerly awaiting news that the Emancipation Proclamation had become law.

Many Americans celebrate their African heritage through dance, music

...'Movement and music allow people a channel for self discovery," said Deal, a Hyattsville resident.

This year marks the 41st year in which Deal will celebrate Kwanzaa, a holiday created to celebrate African heritage.

As the county revels in its renaissance, it must preserve its history.

Among her Washington area neighbors, Prince George's County resembles the family aunt living with old furnishings in the original homestead. Surrounding jurisdictions opted for high-rise condos, Tysons Corner shopping and McMansions jammed onto historic farmland. For decades, these sibling jurisdictions tossed out the old-fashioned goods and built modern.

But as in "Antiques Roadshow," the old gal who didn't update the goods gets the last laugh. Gracious structures and open vistas are the county's building blocks to a grander future. Protecting more fragile, historic properties are the key to a comeback that will transform Prince George's into the region's next premier place to work and live.

As the weather starts getting colder, motorists who pull off Route 301 to fill their gas tanks at the Cheltenham Service Center can stay warm inside their cars. The two-pump gas station is one of a few full-service stations left in Maryland, and drivers only need to pop their gas tanks open for attendants to pump for them.

Anacostia Trails Heritage Area, Inc., in conjunction with the Prince George's County Executive's Office, the Oxon Hill Bicycle and Trail Club and others, will host the Anacostia Trails Fall Foliage Bike Ride & Tour on Saturday, October 27, 2007, from 8:30 AM to 2:00 PM. The event will begin and end at the historic Bladensburg Waterfront Park.

The ride offers a 10, 14 or 32 mile courses to accommodate all skill levels.  The tour route takes participants through 300 years of Prince George's County history with planned stops at Riverdale Mansion, Lake Artemisia, College Park Aviation Museum, Greenbelt Historic District, Beltsville Agricultural Center and Montpelier Mansion.

Gathering to focus on the Jews of the Southby

What do Harry Golden, Hurricane Katrina and the city of Greenbelt have in common?

Not much, except that each has played a role in the evolving story of Jews in the South, a region not often identified with a people who are nearly synonymous with the urban North.

Although they have never been particularly populous below the Mason-Dixon Line, Jews have nevertheless been an integral part of Southern life from Colonial times until now, according to several experts associated with the Southern Jewish Historical Society.

Community activism thwarts developer's plan to build homes on the Fort Washington site

For Rico Newman, it was a journey back in time Saturday: The Native American belonging to the Piscataway-Conoy tribe remembers his boyhood days when he hunted rabbits on the calm, scenic tract of land overlooking the Potomac River in Fort Washington.

Don't call him the Maryland Goatman. Around these parts he's known as the "Prince George's Goatman" or, more formally, the "Goatman of Prince George's County."...

The book is not entirely Goatman-oriented, however. "The Real Story Behind the Exorcist" mainly concerns the 13-year-old Prince George's County boy who was the true-life inspiration for the devilishly possessed child in William Peter Blatty's bestselling novel and Hollywood blockbuster, "The Exorcist."

Historic mansion receives $3 million renovation

Food from 14 area caterers and a cultural show of colonial splendor marked the reopening of the Oxon Hill Manor in Oxon Hill on Sunday after a five-year, $3 million renovation project that was disrupted by an accidental fire in 2004.

The redevelopment of a played-out clay pit in Prince George's County will include an unexpected bonus for paleontologists and school kids: a dinosaur park.

The developer of an industrial park on the site has donated 7 1/2 acres of the 700-acre Muirkirk property for a public dinosaur preserve, complete with ancient tree species and an exposed layer of clay that has yielded up bits of dinosaurs for more than a century.

One of the latest finds - kept quiet for almost a year while the land was transferred to the government and fenced - was the 2-foot-long leg bone of a still-unidentified plant-eater. It's one of the largest and most complete dinosaur bones ever unearthed in Maryland.

...In the late 1970s, after the NAACP filed a lawsuit challenging the timeliness of desegregation efforts in Prince George's County, he was a mediator between police and education officials and community leaders. In 1992, he was named an honorary police officer in Prince George's....

Bremer, who had been stalking the candidate for weeks, was a 21-year-old loner from Milwaukee. Rejecting his insanity defense, a Prince George's County jury sentenced him to 53 years in prison.

He is scheduled to walk out of the Maryland Correctional Institute at Hagerstown in December, after serving 35 years of his sentence. A case management manager, Leonard Vaughan, said that Bremer is to be released under a state program that reduces the prison time for inmates who have a prison job and maintain good behavior.

In 1957 the Accokeek Foundation was built on a hope that new development would not chase out history in southern Prince George's County and that vision has carried the environmental preservation group far beyond the shores of the Potomac River.

Now in its 50th year, the foundation — a non-profit that seeks to protect and educate people about the rich land resources in the area — will celebrate its growth during a series of events this month.

''It's very relaxing. It's gorgeous," said Julie Brunton, spokeswoman for the foundation, adding that the group's site near Piscataway Park offers an intensive enrichment.

''It's an afternoon well spent. Kids don't even realize they're learning until it's too late."

Throughout the week of June 18, a series of events are scheduled to celebrate the anniversary. A Native American workshop will be offered to children ages 8 to 12. On June 21, the Captain John Smith shallop, a recreation of the explorer's 1608 expedition, will dock near the foundation's center to offer information and kayak trips to interested residents. Trips will be offered hourly on June 21 with a sunset voyage planned and hourly on June 22. At 3 p.m. on June 24, Gabrielle Tayac, a member of the Piscataway Nation, will give a lecture about the history of Native Americans.

The Accokeek Foundation was originally created as a response to development in southern Maryland.

''It was created to protect the view [of Mount Vernon] so they would see what George Washington presumably would have seen," Brunton said.

And so far, the organization is blazing a clear trail along the continuum of its vision.

''The original idea was established because they had originally talked about building a power plant over there," said Kathy Talbot, special events coordinator for the foundation.

''People on this side of the [Potomac] river decided they don't want to live with a power plant in the area."

Now, the foundation is steward to 200 acres of land in Piscataway Park where it hosts the National Colonial Farm, a recreation of a working middle-class tobacco farm, an eight-acre ecosystem farm where farming hopefuls can learn how to plant while protecting the land.

''It's a bit of living history, how people lived off the land, then how we're using the land today so that it will still be around, so that it will not be depleted," Brunton said.

Although the ecosystem farm is not in action for this season, the foundation is getting the soil ready for next year and just had a wind tunnel greenhouse built on the grounds.

Organic vegetables including garlic, figs, squash, eggplant, lettuce, tomatoes, carrots and asparagus are grown on the property and are given to a group of people who financially support the growth.
This year's anniversary celebration will also showcase a set of new interpretive signs located around a landscaped area near the site's visitor's center, said Wilbert Corkern, the group's president. The markers will give the history of the area including the story of natives such as Turkey Tayac, a Piscataway chief who is buried near the foundation grounds.

''This is really intended to be an initiative, not just a celebration," he said. ''It's really the incubation of new ideas...[for] our sites."

{Excerpt] Invitations for Thomas to speak are now carefully vetted. He has discovered that saying yes to an offer also could mean signing up for public humiliation: name-calling, pickets, boycotts. The mere announcement of a Thomas visit is apt to trigger a controversy. In the most famous such episode, the superintendent of the Prince George's County, Maryland, school system disinvited Thomas from speaking at a middle school in 1996 after several black school board members complained and threatened protests. The school board overruled its schools' chief, and the show went on — demonstrations and all. (Later, a law clerk gave Thomas a placard that he proudly displayed in his chambers as a kind of combat medal. It read: "Banned in P.G. County.")

The Tuskegee Airmen were called racist and hurtful names as they became the nation's first black military pilots during World War II.

Yesterday, they were called heroes.

About 300 airmen, widows and relatives sat in the Capitol Rotunda as the Tuskegee Airmen received the Congressional Gold Medal - the nation's highest civilian honor - and a salute from President Bush.

The award is recognition of the airmen's role in fighting two wars: one against America's enemies abroad and another against ignorance and racial intolerance at home.

"The Tuskegee Airmen helped win a war, and you helped change our nation," Bush said. "And the medal that we confer today means that we're doing a small part to ensure that your story will be told and honored for generations to come."

The award isn't enough to atone for the "unforgivable indignities" and the unreturned salutes the airmen endured from white servicemen, Bush said.

Putting his hand to his head, he told them, "On behalf of the office I hold and a country that honors you, I salute you for the service to the United States of America."

Several airmen, some of whom entered the Rotunda with the aid of canes or wheelchairs, stood and returned the salute.

Marylanders receiving medals yesterday included LeRoy A. Battle, a resident of Harwood in Anne Arundel County who flew bombing missions in Europe as a second lieutenant and navigator.

"It was a bittersweet thing because it took 60 years to do it," said Battle, 85, who was one of 100 black officer trainees arrested in April 1945 at Freeman Field in Indiana during a civil rights confrontation over the use of the officers' club.

"We stuck together," he said. "We banded together."

Battle, a New York City native who has lived in Maryland since 1950 and taught school in Prince George's County, said he plans to display the medal on his coffee table for his three grandchildren to see.

The youngsters - ages 9, 8, 5 - are learning about the history of the aviators, he said. The oldest told his teacher that he wanted to portray a Tuskegee Airman during a Black History Month event this year.

"It's hitting home," Battle said. The airmen join George Washington, Rosa Parks, Jonas Salk, Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela, Charles Lindbergh and the Little Rock Nine as Congressional Gold Medal recipients.

Another recipient, former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, attended yesterday's ceremony and thanked the airmen, saying, "You caused America to look in the mirror of its soul, and you showed America that there was nothing a black person couldn't do."

"We are so overjoyed at the reception of the Congressional Gold Medal," Roscoe Brown, an airman from New York City, said on behalf of the group.

"Because of our great record and our persistence, we inspired revolutionary reform in the armed forces that led to integration in the armed forces ... and provided a symbol to America that all people can contribute to this country and be treated fairly."

The Army Air Forces began training black pilots at Alabama's Tuskegee University in 1941 under orders of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Army officials were skeptical of the skills of black pilots, largely basing their assumptions on a 1925 military study that concluded that black people lacked the courage and technical aptitude to be counted on in combat.

Nearly 1,000 black pilots earned their pilot's wings in the Tuskegee program from 1942 to 1946. They flew more than 15,000 sorties over North Africa and Europe during World War II, destroyed more than 250 enemy aircraft on the ground and 150 in the air, and were so proficient at protecting American and Allied bombers that squadrons requested that the pilots escort them.

Though their exploits were chronicled by the black press at the time, the Tuskegee Airmen's contributions weren't widely known. Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, and Rep. Charles B. Rangel, a New York Democrat, pushed legislation through the House of Representatives and Senate to give the airmen the medal.

The airmen were greeted as heroes as they arrived at the Capitol for the ceremony. Tourists applauded and stopped the airmen, who were wearing red or blue jackets, to pose for pictures with them.

"It's wonderful, and I do mean wonderful," said Clayo Rice, an 83-year-old airman from Wilmington, Del. "I have nothing sarcastic to say about the time, how long this took or anything."

Few of the airmen were able to parlay their wartime flying into postwar work because commercial airlines wouldn't hire black pilots. Several current black airline pilots attended the ceremony to pay their respects to the Tuskegee Airmen.

1927 Site That Served African Americans Is Among 11 Statewide Listed as Imperiled

Mae Williams grew up in rural Polk County, N.C., yet the Ridgeley School in Capitol Heights reminds her of her youth -- the three small classrooms, the bank of windows that lets in sunlight, the playground out front.

"The one I attended was very similar, and it looks so much like it," the 62-year-old Mitchellville resident said. "I can visualize the school so well."

Ridgeley is one of about 5,000 "Rosenwald schools" in the South built in the 1920s and '30s for African American children before public schools were integrated. Williams attended a similar Rosenwald school in North Carolina.

Built 80 years ago on Central Avenue, the Ridgeley School is one of 11 sites identified as Maryland's most endangered historic places in a recent campaign by Preservation Maryland, a nonprofit organization.

The "Endangered Maryland" list is the first statewide catalogue of threatened historic properties. Preservation Maryland plans to publish such lists annually, modeled after the National Trust for Historic Preservation's yearly list of the most endangered historic sites nationwide.

The Maryland list includes four sites in the Washington region: the Ridgeley School; Comsat Laboratories in Montgomery County; the Bond-Simms tobacco barn at Greenwell State Park in St. Mary's County; and Doughoregan Manor, a colonial plantation in Howard County.

Kristen Harbeson, education and outreach director of Preservation Maryland, said all these sites face "immediate threats."

"A lot of these sites suffer, there are pretty significant challenges facing them, but there is a solution that's possible," Harbeson said. "We're hoping that through educating people about what sites are out there and what challenges they're facing, there might be different solutions. . . . Sometimes it's a matter of money or getting political support. Sometimes it's a matter of encouraging the owner to do something."

The Comsat Laboratories building, along Interstate 270 near Clarksburg, is a space-age building made of aluminum and glass that was designed in 1969 by Cesar Pelli, the Argentine American architect.

The building is considered a significant example of Pelli's early work in the post-World War II era. Pelli later designed airport terminals and skyscrapers across the United States, as well as Malaysia's Petronas Twin Towers, which were the world's tallest buildings when constructed in the 1990s.

Preservation Maryland says the Comsat building could be substantially altered or destroyed by its owners' intentions to develop the campus.

Doughoregan Manor, built in the early 1700s, has been occupied by members of Founding Father Charles Carroll's family for centuries. It is historically significant because it is the only home of a signer of the Declaration of Independence still in his family's hands.

Charles Herbert Flowers remembers how excited he was to begin his training as a pilot in the Army Air Corps in Tuskegee, Ala. He grasped at the opportunity to enroll in September 1941 after being told that for the first time, the Air Corps was accepting blacks into its cadet program.

Two days after he completed his training in May 1942, Flowers was asked to stay on at Tuskegee to be a flight instructor. He would provide primary-level flight training to cadets joining the program.
Flowers became known as a Tuskegee Airman.
He was among scores of African Americans who broke the flight barrier to become America's first black military airmen, according to the Tuskegee Airmen Inc. Web site.
''Those who possessed the physical and mental qualifications were accepted as aviation cadets to be trained initially as single-engine pilots and later to be either twin-engine pilots, navigators or bombardiers," the Web site states.
Flowers, 88, who lives in Glenarden, has racked up several firsts since his aviation days, and in honor of his achievements, Prince George's County named one of its schools — the Charles H. Flowers High School in Springdale — in his honor in 2000.
Flowers was the first student government president at North Carolina Central University; he was among the first round of cadets that graduated from Tuskegee; and he became the first African-American, military-trained flight instructor for the Tuskegee Airmen.
''I still feel like I'm going to wake up and find out it was all a big dream," Flowers said of having a school named after him.
Boyd Poole, a member of Ebenezer United Methodist Church in Lanham, which Flowers attends, said he played a role in the school-naming process. Poole said that around 1997, he learned that Flowers was a Tuskegee Airman only after he saw a display about him at the church.
''The man doesn't talk about himself. What a gentleman he is," Poole said.
Poole, a special assistant to state Sen. Nathaniel Exum (D-Dist. 24) of Capitol Heights, said he showed some of the exhibits to Exum, who was a state delegate at the time. Exum then got the General Assembly to recognize Flowers as the state's black history representative during Black History Month that year, Poole said.