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Health & Fitness

Waverly Main Street comes to Merrymans Lane

History of Merrymans Lane News of Waverly Main Street office opening

One of the oldest historic country roads in the village is now home to a Waverly Main Street office at 427 1/2  Merrymans Lane. 

The lane gets its name from a 1688 land grant by Lord Baltimore to Charles Merryman, whose son John built a house and started a farm on an estate called Clover Hill, where today's Episcopal Cathedral is.

According to a Sun account by William Stump dated October 23, 1949: 

Merryman's lane, running past the house (Clover Hill), came into being in 1801 or 1802 when Joseph Meryman sold part of his land to Charles Carroll of Carrollton, who built Homewood as a wedding present for his son. The lane was cut through, another family letter explains, in order to give the Carrolls access to their new property.

Today only one block retains the name of Merrymans Lane - from the old York Turnpike, now Greenmount Avenue, to Barclay at East 33rd. 

From the 32nd Street Farmers Market and the Waverly Branch of the Library the rest of that road is now University Parkway. In the 1800s the lane connected the York Road Turnpike to the Falls Road Turnpike.

The new Waverly Main Street (WMS) office is behind Sea Blue, once a Little Tavern, which remains a fine example of Early Diner architecture. 

In back of the new WMS rented rooms is a grassy field which the landlords have agreed to allow the community to beautify with a garden. Look for an announcement in the fall about a meeting to design and plan this green space. 

Visit www.waverlymainstreet.net to find out when the WMS office will be open or contact WMS Manager Ebony Edwards at 443.838.6271 or heythere@waverlymainstreet.net 

For more history on our commercial corridor, visit the historic marker on the Olmsted inspired green median strip at 33rd & Greenmount. 

Get a free copy of "Village life goes on along Old York Road" self-guided historic walking tour at the Waverly Library.

To revisit the village past, read Waverly's own Lizette Woodworth Reese who wrote about Merrymans, Tinges and Vineyard Lanes in 
"A Victorian Village" and "The York Road" as well as in her many books of poetry. 

Here is one of her poems celebrating commerce in the area:  

The Strange Peddler 

I have cloth as white 
As the apricot, 
Of the kind that blows 
In Camelot. 

Silver and white it is, 
Silver and white, 
Like the seven hounds 
That race through the night. 

Three black candlesticks 
Wrought for a shelf; 
A cool, crooked bowl 
Of pear-green delf. 

Orange neckerchiefs; 
Gilt bands for curls; 
Little fine books, 
Full of dancing girls. 

Come and buy, come and buy, 
Come and buy again:--- 
York Road, Merryman's, 
Tinges Lane!

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