Earlier this month, Preservation Maryland was recognized by Baltimore Heritage, Inc. for managing the creation and installation of eight interpretive signs along Baltimore’s Jones Falls Valley.
In 2016, Preservation Maryland received grant funding from the Baltimore National Heritage Area to develop signage to support heritage tourism and provide context to the redevelopment efforts of the many historic mills along the Jones Falls in the Hampden and Woodberry neighborhoods of Baltimore City.
Over the course of the two-year project, Preservation Maryland’s Director of Communications, Meagan Baco, worked with historian Nathan Dennies of the Baltimore Architecture Foundation, and designer Paula Bogert of PJ Bogert Graphic Design, to research, design, and install eight signs. Naming the initiative a Six-to-Fix project, Preservation Maryland supported the expansion of the project to include marketing, lectures, and tours.
Each sign includes a detailed history of the mill district of the area and its rise to prominence as a national hub for manufacturing, as well as, profiles of industrialists and laborers. Archival insurance maps, factory floorplates, and historic images richly illustrate the scale of these massive mills and their lasting impact on the creation and development of the surrounding neighborhoods.
Today many of these historic mills have been adaptively reused and now house workshops, restaurants, residences, and offices. While the clientele has changed, the mills of the Jones Falls remain active centers of craft and commerce. Each of the eight interpretive signs was installed in late 2018 for maximum visibility and will be seen by thousands.
In June 2019, the board of directors of Baltimore Heritage, Inc. presented a 2019 Heritage Preservation Award for Heritage Preservation to Preservation Maryland, Nathan Dennies, and Paula Bogert at a reception in the active-preservation site of the Hoen & Co Lithograph Building.