Field Trip This Weekend to Frederick Historic District

For November, we’ll visit the Historic District of Frederick, MD; it consists of a 50-block area, stretching from Bentz Street in the West to East Street, and from 7th Street in the North to Maryland School for the Deaf. It is the core of the city and contains numerous styles of residential, commercial, religious, and industrial buildings dating from the late 18th century to the mid-20th. There are also beautiful waterways, including a park area alongside Carroll Creek. And at various places in the Historic District, especially near Carroll Creek, you can find very good examples of "trompe l’oeil" i.e., painted areas that create an optical illusion.

This field trip can be a one-day or two-day event. Participate in as many parts as you like. The part that has the most in common with other field trips for this club year is on Saturday afternoon. We’ll collect in front of Tourism Council of Frederick County, at 19 East Church Street. It’s located next to a parking garage where we can leave our cars for the afternoon, the Church Street Parking Deck, at 17 East Church Street.

Optional Part: Saturday Lunch. If you arrive well before the group begins its photo tour, and wish to have lunch with others in the group, let’s collect at Vignola Market, 9 East Church Street, between the parking garage and Market Street.

Main Part: Saturday afternoon. Starting at 2:00 from in front of the Visitor Center (19 E. Church Street) we can photograph our way through various parts of the Historic District, until about 5:00, when we’re back at our starting point on East Church Street. Anyone who then wishes to return to his/her home city can do so.

Optional Part: Saturday Dinner. Those who remain can have dinner; there are many restaurants in that neighborhood. During the afternoon we can decide which to go to. If you get separated from the group, call me on my cell phone (see the "Contacting me" paragraph) or call someone else in the group.

Optional Part: Night Photography. The light after dinner will be much dimmer than before. You might want to take pictures for March’s "Night" contest, or for other reasons. We can revisit some of the same locations we walked through in the afternoon, or try different areas. Someone in the Tourism Council office told me that while the Historic District is not a high-crime area, it’s a good idea to act with caution: staying with a group, staying in lighted areas, and so on.

Optional Part: Staying Overnight. As I write this, about a month before November 6, it’s not possible to gauge how many in our field trip will want to stay overnight in Frederick. But if you’d like to, please let me know ASAP, so I can gather information about hotels/ motels, locations, prices, and so on, and relay the information to the group.

Optional Part: Sunday Breakfast. This will also depend on the number who stay in Frederick overnight. Please let me know if you plan to. On a couple of photo field trips in recent years, I enjoyed meeting with others in our group for breakfast, and I assume that you will, too. If you let me know early enough, I’ll gather information and relay it to you.

Optional Part: Sunday Morning Photography. There are two possibilities I know of. First, for early risers, there’s a ten-mile race that starts at 6:30 from Tenth and Market Streets; here’s the Web address: / www.active.com/running/frederick-md/frederick-ten-miler-2010Second, a destination Steve Bruza suggested, which he’s enjoyed visiting: it’s historic, but not in the Historic District; it’s the Rose Hill Manor, which features an elegant manor house and other buildings, www.rosehillmuseum.com. Admission is no more than five dollars.

Contacting me. Because of the complexity of this field trip, I’ll need to know, well in advance, if you’re planning to participate. Please get in touch -- C: 240- 486-1317 / mlaster@smart.net-- and let me know which part(s) you’d like to do.

Traveling to Frederick. Driving time from Bowie to our starting point in Frederick is estimated by Google Maps at approximately an hour 20 minutes. Let me know if you need help with the route.

ICE / Release Forms. If you expect to take part in this field trip or others, please complete one of the new "B-CCC In Case of Emergency" forms, if you haven’t already; then submit it to Warren Wilson, the club treasurer. This supersedes what I wrote last month about whom to give the ICE form to.