Kathy Steuer is our first recipient of the Certificate for Archeological Training! She is the first for our Mid-Potomac Chapter and the fifth for Maryland. The CAT program is demanding and requires a commitment of time and effort and just a lot of plain hard work. To celebrate Kathy’s achievement we will be taking her to the Thai Farm in the King Farm Development, mentioned above. Yay Kathy!!
At the April meeting our chapter presented Kathy with a book about the French & Indian War to congratulate her for her accomplishment.
Mike Dwyer presented: “Lost Montgomery” for our April meeting, which gave us a feel for the Montgomery County that used to be. Mike had started an inventory of the historic standing structures in Prince Georges and Montgomery County in the 1970s. Mike used to be the only historian for the Park & Planning Commission—now there is a Historic Preservation Commission and a supportive staff of eight people just in Montgomery County.
Mike traveled the counties in jeep armed with a camera visiting farms and other locations in the counties. After the Historic American Buildings Surveys that were done in the 1930’s (WPA funding) a lot of the properties were gone by the 1960’s. The Federal Government pushed forward a Historic Preservation Plan and money to states to update their Historic Inventories.
Mike became part Preservation push as he recorded the buildings that we viewed at our last meeting; each building with a story of Montgomery County’s past: Dwyer’s Store, Hull’s Store, St. Marks in Fairland, the Parker Farm, to name a few. Some of the people at the meeting could remember these areas and to others it was an introduction to Montgomery’s “Lost” past.
