Diggs-Johnson Museum Visit
Instead of the Spring Hike, the GHS is sponsoring a curated tour of the Diggs-Johnson Museum, known by most of you as the Cherry Hill Church, on Offut Road. After failing into disrepair at the end of the last century, the church has been restored and now houses the Diggs-Johnson Museum. Ms. Betty Steward, site historian, will lead a curated tour on Sunday, June 23 at 1 pm. Ms. Stewart will discuss how the Cherry Hill Church came to be, how it was saved, and why it now houses the Diggs-Johnson Museum. If interested in attending, interested participants should meet promptly at the Granite Presbyterian Church at 1 pm from which we can carpool to the Museum. Parking at the Museum is extremely limited, so carpooling will be a must. If you like to learn more about this often overlooked piece of Granite history, please email president@granitehistoricalsociety.org or get in touch with one of GHS officers or Board Members. Participants will be required to sign a waiver of liability.
Membership Renewal
It is renewal season again. Please navigate to our Membership Renewal page to complete the form for 2024. Payment can be made via check or online.
Historic Home Tour
The Granite Historical Society is pleased to announce an Open House on Sunday, May, 19th 2024, from 12:00 – 4:00 pm at the farmhouse and former laundry for Woodstock College. The home, located at 10820 Old Court Road in Granite, MD, is currently occupied by Brigitte and Michael Hisky under the Maryland Resident Curatorship Program. The history of the home, historic photographs, and the challenges of living as a Curator for a home registered in the Maryland Historic Trust will be discussed by the Hiskys during this time. Ample parking at the site will be available. NOTE: The home is located between the Woodstock Job Corps and St. Alphonsus Church and may not be shown correctly in some of the Map Apps. For questions regarding the tour, feel free to contact any of the board members or at info@granitehistoricalsociety.org.
Recent Society Projects
Dorsey Tunnel Hike
On May 14, 2022, a hiking group 22 strong, including 4 members of the Patapsco Heritage Greenway, hiked along Brice’s Run towards the Dorsey Railroad Tunnel. After descending to the river along Brice’s Run we followed a state park trail along the northern valley ridge which affords great views of the Patapsco and train tracks below. The Dorsey Tunnel was constructed in 1906 as part of the 3rd alignment of the B&O tracks between Daniels (then Alberton) and Woodstock. .
Quaker Hill Cemetery Clean Up – Stage 2
Earlier this Spring, further stabilization of the Quaker Hill Cemetery site was undertaken with the re-positioning of a wrought iron gate that was advancing down the embankment towards Wrights Mill Road. This gate is the only remaining portion of the fence that once fronted the cemetery.
Worthington Property Hike
On what turned into a pleasantly warm October 24th afternoon, a dozen members of the Granite Historical Society, not to mention a few non-members, toured the Worthington Manor site (sometimes called “Worthington Plantation”), the home and center of farming activity for Thomas Worthington starting in the 1760s.
Volunteers from the Society recently worked with a local landscaper to clean Quaker Hill Cemetery. Funding was provided by Patapsco Heritage Greenway.