West Annapolis Heritage Partnership

Welcome

The West Annapolis Heritage Partnership is a joint effort by the West Annapolis Civic Association, the Wardour Improvement Association, and the West Annapolis Business Affiliation to utilize the community’s natural and cultural heritage for the benefit of residents, West Annapolis Elementary School, and the businesses along Annapolis and Forbes Streets and Ridgely Avenue.  Our mission is:

Participate in Partnership Activities

    By living or working in West Annapolis, including Wardour, you are automatically a partner.  If you wish to be an active partner, please consider:

If you are interested in participating or in discussing the activities of the West Annapolis Heritage Partnership, please contace Ginny Vroblesky, Chair of WAHP, at WAHeritagePartnership@gmail.com or call Connie Ramirez at 410-263-4319 or meet us at 103 Annapolis St. in Wimsey Cove Maps & Art.

News

Maryland Day in West Annapolis, Fri March 21 - Sat March 22, 2014 was a great success. (Press Release, schedule of events)
We grabbed our engineer’s hats, gloves, and kids, and celebrated the days of the Baltimore Annapolis Short Line Railroad in West Annapolis. Special events helped explore, shop, and dine as in the days of old.

West Annapolis celebrated Maryland Day 2014 with a weekend full of activities tied to a railroad theme.  The historic Baltimore and Annapolis Short Line Railroad ran from Bladen Street through West Annapolis and over the Severn River to Baltimore from 1887 until 1968. Activities organized by the West Annapolis Heritage Partnership and the West Annapolis Business Affiliation started Friday night, March 21, 2014 and ran through the weekend.

Ken Rucker, National Capital Trolley Museum, gave a talke on "Riding the Rails" about trains that once served Annapolis with a special focus on the B & A whose tracks still run through West Annapolis. Emcee Kurt Riegel, Ginny Vroblesky, and others led and participated in a packed meeting in West Annapolis Elementary School auditorium.

West Annapolis Heritage Partnership, Monday, June 10, 2013 at 7 p.m.,  at 103 Annapolis Street (aka Wimsey Cove Maps & Art). OPEN to All. Agenda:

  1. Final report on the Maryland Day Events and the exhibit, Finding Our Roots on Annapolis Street (which is on display at 103 Annapolis St.)   
  2. Report by Prof. Fredland of Wardour on the life of Luther Giddings whose farm became West Annapolis and Wardour.
  3. Discussion of Research Topics with which we hope some of you would like to help.
  4. Plans for participation in the Paris Flea Market (June 23rd), the Fourth of July Parade, and Oktoberfest (Sept. 22nd) and Maryland Day 2014.
  5. Ideas for commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Wardour Improvement Association (1915-2015)

Wardour residents, Rob Driver and his wife Lisa, famous for catering the Maryland Day evening at WAES in March, have offered to provide refreshments (or to over see a table of donated cookies - anyone?)  More information,l: WAHeritagePartnership@gmail.com or call 443-995-8978.

Maryland Day in West Annapolis a Great Success
     On Friday night, March 22nd, 2013, Mayor Josh Cohen and 70 people came to the West Annapolis Elementary School to hear Lindy Burkhart talk about all the activities which the West Annapolis Fire and Improvement Co., Inc., undertook to make West Annapolis a true community.  Thanks to the work of those volunteers, West Annapolis got electrical and gas lines installed, had streets paved, held a carnival, and used its upstairs hall for many community plays, meetings, and dinners.  LIndy with the help of Gayle Bender and Sharon Owen brought many photographs and artifacts from the firehouse with them for display. 
     Kurt Riegel emceed, Ginny Vroblesky presented Lindy, Gayle, and Sharon with framed certificates of appreciation for their work on behalf of West Annapolis.  Doorhangers announcing the talk and the MD Day activities in West Annapolis had been hung on every door in our neighborhood by Rob Driver and his helpers, Alex Gudger, Molly Smith, Krista Caldwell, and Barbara Aiken. Rob and his wife also provided refreshments.  Many thanks to the generous donors to the West Annapolis Heritage Partnership who put $65 in the donation box to help defray costs.

Finding Our Roots on Annapolis Street - New Exhibit
     The new 3-panel exhibit opened on Saturday, March 23rd, 2013in the West Annapolis Heritage Partnership's new home at 103 Annapolis Street in the Wimsey Cove Maps & Art store. Ginny Vroblesky and Connie Ramirez were on hand to talk about many of the historical events shown in the exhibit.  Some of the maps used in the exhibit and others of Wardour and Annapolis were available for closer examination. Board members and staff from the Four Rivers Heritage Area, the MainStreets Annapolis Program, and local historians and residents stopped in to see the exhibit and share historical knowledge. 
     The exhibit will be at 103 Annapolis Street through April.  After then, it will travel to Graul's Market and other places, including the West Annapolis Elementary School.  The exhibit is funded in part by a grant from the Four Rivers Heritage Area to the West Annapolis Business Afflilliation.  Matching funds are being raised through donations and the sale of the 1890 Plan of West Annapolis (see Maps and Publications, below).

First Donation of Papers to Archives Project - In the fall of 2012, Mary Kay Parkinson donated the historic photographs and papers of her husband, the late Harold Parkinson, to the West Annapolis Heritage Partnership for transfer to the West Annapolis Collection at the Maryland State Archives.  Mr. Parkinson had written the history of West Annapolis as he remembered it from growing up on Annapolis Street in the house his father had built, now the Giant Peach. Thanks to his work, we have a listing of the names of the families which lived along most of the streets in West Annapolis in the 1950's.  He also wrote about the neighbors who lost their lives in military actions who are commemorated on our War Memorial on the WAES grounds.  Thanks to the generosity and farsightedness of Mrs.Parkinson, her husband's material will be safe for future historians.

Grant from Four Rivers Heritage Area - In December, 2012, Lynne Sherlock, President of the West Annapolis Business Affiliation (WABA) received notice from Carol Benson, Executive Director, Four Rivers Heritage Area, that the proposal submitted by the West Annapolis Heritage Partnership and WABA had been accepted.  The grant is for $950 and is being matched in cash by WABA and with in-kind services of members of the West Annapolis Heritage Partnership.

West Annapolis Map and Publications Available for Purchase - Sale of these items benefits the West Annapolis Heritage Partnership.

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More on the History of West Annapolis

Contacts:

  Ginny Vroblesky
  Connie Ramirez


  Last revised   April 24, 2016