THE OLD STONE HOUSE

There is an old stone house in Severna Park, Maryland, that is older than the state of Maryland. Here's how to find it.

Depart Macey's Corner northbound on Ritchie highway and turn right on Baltimore-Annapolis Boulevard. You will drive right past it.

You may have eyes like an eagle and see it through the bushes. Slow down and turn in at Berrywood West and drive one block on Wilett Court, then turn right on Evon Court and drive down to the circle. You'll be really close to some important Maryland history.

Stop your car. Get out. Look through the wooden fence and neat gate. There it sits. No. Don't say that, not all. It's more than an old pile of rocks.

Those stones are as old as the world, I will agree. But they have been serving a noble purpose. Built sometime around 1709, it looks like a splendid English country cottage.

This place is called simply The Old Stone House. It has walls two feet thick. They have kept families warm since the stones were gathered from a tract of 1160 acres called Huckleberry Forest along the south shore of the Magothy river. It is recorded as belonging to Richard Beard as early as 1687.

You stand there and look at the stones and wonder what was happening in 1687, more than three hundred years ago. The house still stands. Those stones aren't going anywhere, anytime soon.

Maryland was not yet a state back then. Huckleberry Forest was part of a charter granted by King Charles I in 1632 to Lord Baltimore. And Richard Beard surely could have voted in this territory. He was one of the few who could. In 1670, an argument was raging because Governor Charles Calvert didn't want anybody to vote unless they owned 50 acres.

A little earlier, in 1685, Lord Baltimore lost an argument trying to hang onto land that later became the state of Delaware. His boundary dispute finally led to Mason and Dixon spending three years making their famous survey, during the years 1763-67.

You've heard about it, because living below the Mason-Dixon line identifies you as being "Down South." It is the line separating Maryland from Delaware and Pennsylvania.

James II was King of England in the years 1685-1688, when Beard owned the land where this stone house sits. When it was built around 1709, Anne was Queen of England. She reigned 1702- 1714.

Roads and bridges have been built while The Old Stone House was suffering bitter winters and enjoying beautiful springs. You may drive on past it with your tires singing their happy road song, but think how folks traveled when James II and Lord Baltimore were in charge.

Most people did not vote. There was very little indoor plumbing. A horse and wagon took you to the next town. Sailboats provided intercontinental surface travel. Flying through the air was a concept that might get you sternly lectured. And do not even think about picking up the telephone the year The Old Stone House was built.

If you carried on an international chess match, you would wait seasons for the next ship to arrive, very likely losing interest entirely in your Rook and Pawn. Of course, you could have probably used homing pigeons between The Old Stone House and Philadelphia. But I doubt it.

I am indebted to Nelson J. Molter for his splendid writing about the history of Severna Park. He reports some well-known family names lived in this house. Robinson bought the property from Beard in 1702. We assume he built the house. Robinson Road is named for him.

His grandson, Elijah Robosson was a Colonel in the Revolutionary War and misspelled the name. He married Mary Warfield.

John Tydings bought the property in 1837 for $2,000. His son, John Lewis Tydings married Laura C. Robinson. The property was left to their daughter, Mrs. Garcelon, who sold the house to Wilson and Elsa Evitt in the 1960s. They had lived in it since 1928.

Hammond (Skip) Carr was a beloved and influential resident of Severna Park who passed away recently. Skip and his family lived in The Old Stone House for several years.

There is a well-tended cemetery behind the house. It is surrounded by an iron fence and has several gravestones.

You may want to slow down and look with reverence into the underbrush the next time you are driving past Berrywood West. Fine people have lived there, better than I am. That's because I don't ever want to gather all that many stones and build a house that lasts forever and ever.

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