Speaker: Susan Soderberg

This PowerPoint presentation tells the story of how the coming of the railroad changed the face of Montgomery County forever.  Featured are the railroad stations designed by Francis Baldwin, extraordinary feats of engineering such as the curving trestle over Little Seneca Creek and the Bollman Truss viaduct over the Monocacy River, and new suburban and agricultural towns spawned by this catapult into the Industrial Age.  The talk explores how this branch line became the mainstay of the B & O Railroad and evolved into the current commuter and freight line.  This presentation is based on Susan’s book The Met: A History of the Metropolitan Branch of the B&O Railroad,  published in 1998 by the Germantown Historical Society.

Join us for coffee at 3:30 p.m. with the program starting at 4:00 p.m.  in the lower level of Kensington Town Hall at 3710 Mitchell Street.

 Learn about his connection to the historic Newport Mill in the Ken-Gar Palisades Local Park, not far from the Town of Kensington.  This event, celebrating Black History Month, is from 4 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, February 24, at the Kensington Town Hall, 3710 Mitchell Street in Kensington.  Refreshments served at 3:30 p.m.

Montgomery Parks staff retrace Henson’s steps from enslavement on the Isaac Riley plantation to escape on the Underground Railroad to freedom in Canada.   The presentation will highlight the exciting historical and archaeological findings which reveal much about Henson’s life and slavery in Montgomery County.   Hear about plans to convert the plantation site and historic buildings to a visitors center and an interpretive program.   

Our speakers are Heather Bouslog, Senior Archaeologist & Shirl Spicer, Museum Manager, of the M-NCPPC Montgomery Parks Department.  The event is free and all are welcome.

UPDATED 2012 Concert Series Line-Up

Make sure to come back and check them out then!

2012 Concert Series Line-Up

The concerts are held at the Howard Avenue Park across from the Farmers’ Market at the train station.

Performing June 2nd at 10am will be:

The Old School Bluegrass Band who enjoys ”reforming” the old traditional Bluegrass and Country music.  We know you will enjoy listening to it!

Join us for a  vivid account of the most dramatic series of events in American history

Anthony S. Pitch is the author of a number of books including the recently published “They Have Killed Papa Dead!” – The Road to Ford’s Theatre, Abraham Lincoln’s Murder, and the Rage for Vengeance, described by Harold Holzer, co-chairman of the U.S. Commission on Lincoln’s Bicentennial, as “a perfect storm of a book.” Publisher’s Weekly hailed it as “a real page-turner…No reader will come away unmoved.” The book received the Arline Custer Memorial Prize for best book of 2009 from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference.

Another of his books, The Burning of Washington: The British Invasion of 1814, was a selection of the History Book Club, winner of the Arline Custer Memorial Prize for best book of 2001 from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference, and recipient of the Maryland Historical Society’s annual book award. The White House announced that President Clinton took this book on vacation. Movie rights were optioned by National Geographic.

On the anniversary of Lincoln’s assassination Pitch was invited to speak in Ford’s Theatre. He has appeared numerous times on C-Span TV, most recently in Washington Journal and in its documentary on the White House.

7:00pm Town Hall

The cost of the garden tour is $10 per person for reservations received by Friday, May 18, 2012.  Checks made payable to the Kensington Historical Society should be sent to KHS, P.O. Box 453, Kensington, MD, 20895.  The cost will be $15 per person on the day of the tour for individuals who have not reserved in advance.  Questions should be directed to Detta Voesar at (301) 949-1059.