Daytripping in Rockfish Gap, Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area and eating the best bread in Pikesville

Rosendorff’s Photo by Eddie Applefeld

It’s been a while, actually too long, since my last visit here. So I am well rested and ready for today’s journey that will take us to three locations and a food place (not a restaurant). Let’s begin close to home with a trip to Green Mount Cemetery, 1501 Greenmount avenue. The final resting place of people you may not have known, but certainly, know who they are.

There are about 65,000 people buried here. It’s listed on the National Register of Historic Place (1980) and tours are offered during various times of the year. I would recommend that. Going solo is okay but you’ll get a lot more from an organized tour.

The initial idea for a cemetery in a rural area (at that time) was to ease the overcrowding in urban cemeteries. Samuel Walker, a Baltimore tobacco merchant, led a campaign to establish the cemetery in 1834. He and a group of local gentlemen drew up plans and it was eventually dedicated in July of 1839. The site was the country estate of Robert Oliver, who became Baltimore’s first millionaire. Benjamin Latrobe, a civil engineer of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, laid out the plans.

What is of particular note is the amount of notable people interred. A short list includes the names of Johns Hopkins, Johnny Eck, Jr. (a circus performer), John Wilkes Booth, Theodore McKeldin (former mayor), Enoch Pratt, Isaac Emerson, who financed the building of the Bromo Seltzer tower downtown, A. Audbrey Bodine (nationally known author and photojournalist) and Samuel Bland Arnold, one of the Lincoln co-conspirators.

Okay that was easy. So here we are on our way to southeastern Pennsylvania and a stop at the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area. If you like observing or shooting waterfowl (with a camera of course) you’ll love it here. From about mid February to mid March there can be as many as 150,000 snow geese assembled. They are heading to their Arctic breeding grounds.

I am told people from around the globe make the trip just to see this beautiful part of nature. Middle Creek by the way is in a valley in Lancaster and Lebanon counties. Included in this area is a lake that can be used for fishing and paddling. There are also miles of trails and it’s also a good spot for bird watchers.

Middle Creek is open year-round, it’s free and there is a Visitors Center, 100 Museum Road, Stevens, Pa….717-733-1512…pgc.pa.gov, click on Education.

Hey, I still have plenty of gas so let’s journey to Rockfish Gap, 1,900 feet above sea level in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, near to the intersection of Routes 64 and Va Route 250. It was here is 1850 the Blue Ridge Railroad Tunnel was under Rockfish Gap. Today it’s open to foot travel. In November 2020 it opened as a public trail.

The tunnel is 16 feet wide and 20 feet tall. It can get quite dark at night. It is just shy of a mile long. It took about eight years to complete, there are actually four tunnels, but this one is the longest. Much of the credit goes to Claudius Crozer, a French engineer.

The temperature ranges year round from 55 to 65 degrees. In 1975 it was designated a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

For more info go to blueridgetunnel.org.

My thanks to Ad Crable and Leslie Middleton  of the Chesapeake Bay Journal for the information in the last two locations.

Okay, let’s return to Maryland and make our final stop, Rosendorff’s, 1111 Greenwood Road Pikesville. This is the home of some of the best bread you’ve eaten. It’s not a restaurant, but the factory where it’s made fresh daily. There is also a small retail section.

The business was established in 2000 and at this location the last six years. Their products, among others, consist of bread, cookies, muffins, rolls and are available at stores such as Wegmans, Safeway, Shop Rite, Costco, Santoni’s and 7 Mile Market. All products are kosher….443-739-6934

Okay, now I’m tired and hungry. Looking for a place for a crab cake. Luckily living in Maryland my choices are numerous.

Eddie Applefeld

Eddie Applefeld is a Baltimore native and a graduate of Towson University. He has been in the broadcasting profession for over 30 years. Currently he is the Promotions Director of WCBM radio. Before that, he was part of the Rouse & Company show on WQSR, host of a cable TV show called Dining Out and adjunct instructor at Towson.
His past accomplishments include being named a finalist in Baltimore Tourism’s Employee of the Year Program and winner of Toastmaster’s Speaker of the Year contest. He was also twice a heartthrob for the American Heart Association’s gala fund raiser.