O Say Can You See - - We're Celebrating up in Waverly

Waverly Main Street commemorates The War of 1812 Bicentennial

12 - 2 pm Sun., Apr. 1, 2012 

with a walk through history 

beginning on the site of a former American Revolutionary military barracks

at 3009 Greenmount Ave & Old York Rd, now St Johns in the Village. 

Stops along the way include Waverly Fire House, which has protected and served the village for over a hundred years, old US Post Office Waverly Station, historically renovated for reuse as Ace Hardware, Waverly Historic Marker on Olmsted Green, the Waverly Main Street office and historic marker on Merryman Lane and concluding with a reception outside old Waverly Town Hall, 3100 Greenmount Avenue and 31st Street, a Baltimore Landmark where villagers voted for annexation into the city in 1888.

The new historic sign in front of the town hall telling the story of the building as a community center and its recent designation as a city landmark will be officially unveiled.

Poetry in the Community will recite revolutionary verse including Francis Scott Key's The Star Spangled Banner. The musical group Midway Fair will perform. Baltimore City Historical Society will be represented. Village life historic walking tour booklets will be given out complements of Baltimore National Heritage Area. 

Locally prepared refreshments will be served complements of Baltimore Main Streets. National Main Street Conference delegates in town from around the country will be our special guests.

From Waverly A Narrative of Bygone Years 1731-1960 by John Allen Sipes and Patricia Ann Riggle (Baltimore 1979)

At least one small contingent of the army that wrest the colonies from George III was headquartered in Waverly. On the modern site of Saint John's Church a stone barracks was built to house soldiers of the Revolution. Again during the War of 1812 the barracks served as a rest center for weary troopers. And it was this same barracks that became Waverly's first schoolhouse as well as headquarters for the village magistrate.

General Sam Smith, heroic defender of Baltimore during the War of 1812, chose Waverly as the site for his own lofty estate, Montebello. This architectural gem with its magnificently columned veranda stood at the east end of Thirty-Third Street until its destruction in 1907.

Speakers include:

Jason Vaughan, Baltimore National Heritage Area

Judy Armold, Baltimore City Historical Society

Command Sergeant Major Franklin Wright, National Association of Black

Veterans 

Christos Christou, Jr., War of 1812 Society in Maryland 

Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld, III, Baltimore City Police

Department 

Captain John Parker, Waverly Fire House #31

14th District City Councilperson Mary Pat Clakre

Michael Haynie, Waverl Main Street President

Stacy Montgomery, CHAP

Free food/beverages are coming from Trinidad Gourmet.

The event will go on - rain or shine!

For more information, contact joestewart31947@comcast.net