Dickeyville Master Landscaping Plan
A copy of our Master Plan by Stonehill Design Associates is available in PDF format by clicking the picture above
Implementation
Clearing Invasives on the banks of Gwynns Falls, 2008
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After clearing invasives, 2008
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In early 2008, The Dickeyville Garden Club received two grants to help achieve the goals of Dickeyville’s Master Landscape Plan. The Parks and People Foundation awarded $5,000 to the Dickeyville Garden Club to achieve two objectives. The first was to create and install trail signage at main “access points” for walkers entering Dickeyville. Seven trailposts, installed by Joe O’Connor, now indicate to all visitors that they are in an historic neighborhood and also provide direction to the Gwynns Falls Trail. The second objective was to improve the area immediately adjacent to the Gwynns Falls Stream behind the 2400 block of Pickwick Road. In building the riparian buffer, residents, relatives, and friends planted native trees, shrubs and ground covers. These plantings create an under-story habitat for wildlife, help mitigate pollution going into the Bay, and beautify the area for both visitors to the Park and residents of Dickeyville.
Also in 2008, the Baltimore Community Foundation provided a $10,000 leadership grant for Dickeyville residents to design and manage various projects that implement the Dickeyville Master Landscape Plan. Any aspect of the Plan that dealt with common spaces in the village was eligible. With this funding the Dickeyville Garden Club awarded seven project grants ranging in amounts from $800 to $2000.
We fully expect that the master landscaping plan will guide activities in Dickeyville for the next decade. Projects completed thus far are sketched below.
Also in 2008, the Baltimore Community Foundation provided a $10,000 leadership grant for Dickeyville residents to design and manage various projects that implement the Dickeyville Master Landscape Plan. Any aspect of the Plan that dealt with common spaces in the village was eligible. With this funding the Dickeyville Garden Club awarded seven project grants ranging in amounts from $800 to $2000.
We fully expect that the master landscaping plan will guide activities in Dickeyville for the next decade. Projects completed thus far are sketched below.
East Gate & Trail Posts
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For more than a hundred and fifty years visitors approached the historic village of Dickeyville by traveling up the twisting valley of the Gwynn's Falls. But by the time the crumbling hamlet was rescued by a comprehensive restoration in the 1930s, the route up the valley along Wetheredsville Road and on a trolley line that carried thousands of city residents to suburban parks and cemeteries was beginning to fall out of favor. More and more, village residents and visitors preferred the easier approach on Forest Park Avenue. The Welcome to Dickeyville sign at the village’s east entrance was largely not seen.
Now, with a rising tide of hikers and bikers who have followed the recently completed Gwynns Falls Trail, more visitors join resident Dickeyville walkers and dog-walkers in daily passings of this east entrance. The project to renovate this entranceway included building a new stone-walled garden at the Welcome to Dickeyville sign and augmenting existing plantings in the garden with native shrubs and trees.
We designed and installed seven trail posts at major access points for visitors entering Dickeyville. These trail posts welcome visitors to Historic Dickeyville and also provide directions to the Gwynns Falls Trail.
Bridge Monument
Standing at this entryway to the village is a monument capturing the history of the Forest Park Bridge across the Gwynn’s Falls, created when the bridge was reconstructed in 2004. Incorporating native plants and the signature tree of Dickeyville, the Eastern Redbud, these plantings beautify the site, offer a buffer for traffic noise to the adjacent neighbor and allow community members and visitors to access the monument that documents the bridge as a vital part of Dickeyville’s (and Baltimore’s) history.
After Baltimore City completed the new Forest Park Avenue bridge across the Gwynns Falls, residents were concerned that “replacement” plantings were inadequate. The bridge project was designed to help address that concern, by planting native white pine and arborvitae trees along the level area near the Forest Park Bridge. Neighbors closest to the bridge and to traffic on North Forest Park Avenue will benefit from the trees as they mature, as they will provide a good sound barrier and also provide some privacy from the traffic. In addition the trees are a nice compliment of the many trees that line the banks of the Gwynns Falls.
After Baltimore City completed the new Forest Park Avenue bridge across the Gwynns Falls, residents were concerned that “replacement” plantings were inadequate. The bridge project was designed to help address that concern, by planting native white pine and arborvitae trees along the level area near the Forest Park Bridge. Neighbors closest to the bridge and to traffic on North Forest Park Avenue will benefit from the trees as they mature, as they will provide a good sound barrier and also provide some privacy from the traffic. In addition the trees are a nice compliment of the many trees that line the banks of the Gwynns Falls.
Riparian Buffer
Over several years, we conducted many projects to help improve the riparian buffer at the Gwynn’s Falls as it winds through the village behind the 2400 block of Pickwick Road. Our most recent grant, received in 2008 from the Parks and People Foundation, allowed us to plant hundreds of native trees, shrubs and ground covers. Through these efforts, we have created an under-story habitat for wildlife, helped mitigate pollution going into the Bay, and beautified the area for both visitors to the Park and residents of Dickeyville.
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Some, not all, of the Dickeyville Garden Club Planting Crew
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Conservation Property
For some years the community has owned 5.6 acres of land that holds a conservation easement. Most of the acreage is wooded, but a typical building size lot, bordering on Tucker Lane, is part of it. Focusing on this building lot, this project began to convert the property to native plants, to decrease maintenance work as well as improve appearance.
Erosion Control
At the suggestion of the head of conservation for the City Department of Parks and Recreation, the project team successfully planted 29 shade and under story trees (including oak, maple, dogwood, witch hazel, redbud, black gum and river birch along a 100-yard+ stretch of the Gwynns Falls, behind the 5000 block of Wetheredsville Road. By planting trees at the top of the bank and as close together as possible, the head of conservation felt that new, intertwined root systems might help forestall future eroding as we waited for the City to consider adjustments to the dam as a capital project
