On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
David C
The park has a lake (Culler Lake) with fountains and I managed to catch some early morning pictures.
Many of the earliest settlers in Frederick were from Germany, including (for a time) my ancestors. At one end is an old German farm house, Schifferstadt, which is now an architectural museum.
At one point is a concrete bridge over the creek, which is a large trompe l’oeil mural (this is only one section). Yes, this is all painted.
Downtown Frederick is very walkable, with many small shops, churches, and restaurants. In winter lights are put on the trees.
This boat is sponsored by our (no longer) local brewery, Flying Dog.
My fairly new tradition is to take a walk on New Year’s Day before the sun comes up (yeah, I don’t stay up late the night before). On this walk I explore alleys and sidewalks that cut between houses. Really a quiet time.
This is where I start my walk back to my house. Frederick has some seriously old houses.
OK – one more from a snowstorm almost 14 years ago. Being from Buffalo (shout-out to Betty Cracker’s hubby) I get to flex a bit, but here in MD we get nor’easters, which is the mid-Atlantic’s version of lake effect storms. Maybe som eBuffalo pictures next time (seriously – it’s a great place).
WaterGirl
Wonderful photos!
Note: this didn’t publish at 5 am like it should have. I forced it just now (6 am).
RedDirtGirl
Beautiful. I especially like the metal door in the wall.
HinTN
@RedDirtGirl: That’s the wonderful thing about trompe l’oeil. (I’m still trying to figure out how it works.)
waspuppet
I love Frederick! We always hit Shab Row Tea when we’re there.
The Maryland flag looks like they had a contest to design it and it was a tie. I mean that in a good way. Old Bay, on the other hand, is just non-spicy Cajun seasoning.
mardam
Frederick is my adopted home, as well. I love it here.
Marleedog
I love the fieldstone architecture of the farmland of that region.
Western MD, south central PA and northern WV.
@waspuppet: MD is the only state flag based on heraldic tradition. It is largely based on the Calvert crest.
David_C
@WaterGirl: Thank you! And thanks for all your help.
David_C
@HinTN: Everything you see (except the manhole cover on the ground) is painted. They paint individual rocks on the concrete and have windows, vases, and all kinds of Easter eggs. Some more pictures here:
https://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/43511
The entire creek is a flood control project. There’s a decorative channel (with boats in the winter and plants in the summer) but underneath is a series of storm water conduits. the green part of the linear park is also a catch basin.
https://www.businessinfrederick.com/220/Carroll-Creek-Linear-Park
I do have some flood pictures, but not of the big one in 1976.
Aunt Kathy
Nice to see a neighbor on here! I’m over the mountain in H-Town. Good pics. Sometimes I forget how lovely (and historical) it is around these parts.
Nina
We love Frederick! I make it out to Wonder Books at least once every couple of months. Love the linear park, and that ruined building they made into an outdoor theater. One of our favorite day trips from Baltimore is to ride out to see Grotto of Lourdes early in the morning, then stop back for lunch in Frederick and walk the linear park to work off the calories.
KimK
Love the pictures! My husband grew up in Frederick and that is where we met. I was in nursing school, he was in law school and we met at Bushwallers in the summer of 1985. He was a bartender, I was a waitress. I always say good things can happen in bars! Anyway, Frederick is every bit as lovely as these pictures show.
David_C
@Marleedog: The picture I took is of the back side. What’s interesting about the stone walls is that the stones on the front are evenly spaced but on the sides and back, the stones are fit however.
dimmsdale
Back in ancient times, I was a dj at the local radio station, WFMD, located at the top of the main street in a big white Victorian mansion. It was my custom back then, when I was feeling expansive, to treat myself to a meal at the Francis Scott Key Hotel, a wonderfully fusty, old-school kind of place where all the vegetables were overcooked, and had bits of bacon floating in the juice. One evening, waiting for the dining room to open, I observed a bunch of good ole boys with shotguns, spreading out in the park. They pointed their shotguns up in the air and commenced firing into the trees for a good five minutes or so, accompanied by the soft thuds of pigeon bodies hitting the ground. THAT was ‘animal control’ in Frederick. It was a lovely little town, unquestionably southern in character (I believe that whole area went for George Wallace in the ’68 presidential). And you almost literally couldn’t turn a corner of the highway in that area without seeing a sign advertising “Barbara Frietchie Candy!!” I’m glad to see from your photos that so much of the character I remember survives. Lovely place!
David_C
@dimmsdale: Great memories! And of course they tore the Groff mansion (old WFMD headquarters) to build – a parking lot.
With recent migrations and growth, Frederick has become less “Fredneck,” but current WFMD is happy to carry on the tradition.
frosty
Several years ago we had old friends who lived in Winchester VA and we would meet in Frederick for dinner, since it was about an hour away for each of use. We got to try a lot of good restaurants!
Mike in NC
When we lived in NoVA we would regularly visit Frederick for the wonderful antique shops.
dimmsdale
@David_C: Well, since you know the area, here’s one more for ya–the WFMD transmitter was located up a winding mountain road, up in the hills, so the over-the-air signal had more coverage. The transmitter bldg. was originally intended to house studios as well, and my memory of it is as a very “moderne” (in a 50s-60s architectural style) structure, but vacant and unused, . Station management found that the location became inaccessible in wintertime due to icy roads, and therefore unsuitable for studios and offices. I wonder whatever happened to that building? I’ve looked online for pictures, but no luck. I’m assuming there’s no way you’re familiar with the structure, but … maybe you are?
S Cerevisiae
Great pictures! We were just in Fredrick over Thanksgiving weekend and it’s quaint and lovely. It’s starting to be a strange Balloon Juice coincidence that when I visit a place within a few weeks there is an On The Road post from the exact same place. 3 or 4 times it has happened over the last couple years.
Miss Bianca
Love the photos! That first one looks like a painting to me.
Bittersweet seeing photos of Frederick, tho, that’s where my sister was thinking about relocating to be nearer to her niece and her family, who live in Laurel. Then came the terminal cancer diagnosis, so that never happened.
But I got to walk the streets of Frederick not long after she died and I remember thinking, “yeah, I can see why Sis dug this town.”
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
I live in Takoma Park, MD – been in the DC area for about 22 years now. Frederick is great. The Mrs. and I are considering it for a retirement destination – still close enough to DC to visit friends here on the regular but a little cheaper and easier to manage. Truth be told she’d probably prefer the Eastern Shore because her dream is to be on or near water. But Frederick gives us a jump on holiday traffic if we’re headed West to visit family.
Of course, we’re also considering West Michigan (I grew up there) which has plenty of water and is also nice. But Frederick is a nice small city and has South Mountain right there so hiking practically at your doorstep.
David_C
@dimmsdale: Don’t know about the transmitter location offhand, but I’m guessing was up on Catoctin Mountain, which has its share of windy dirt roads. Also, I hear that snow removal in the past was pretty spotty.
Thank to all for the comments! Here I thought I needed some place exotic!
stinger
What a lovely set of photos — and comments, too! I especially like the geese and fountains picture. Now I must visit Fredrick!
mvr
@Miss Bianca: Yes, I was going to post that it looked like an old time hand colorized post card.
Wonderful photos!
PAM Dirac
Yaaay for Frederick. We’ve lived here for almost 17 years and love it. If anyone wants a glass of wine, just drop by the house with a vineyard in the front yard (although I guess technically we are just a few feet outside the city limits.)
luc
… and Frederick is pretty close to the Shenandoah river and Harper’s Ferry – for some bigger nature experience.
Thanks!
I used to live in Frederick for 8 years working in the not very scenic NCI/Fort Detrick.
RSA
@David_C: What a coincidence. I’m planning a day trip to Frederick this weekend. You’ve shown a couple of nice places I now want to see. Thanks!
Dan B
It’s interesting to me to see the old, for the USA, buildings. I remember great old buildings in Cincinnati in KY college years – third biggest city in the US in 1850. Stone and brick buildings in earthquake prone Seattle are rare and becoming more rare with each quake. I guess that brick and stone will have to be Trompe l’oeuil here in the future.
David_C
@Dan B: KY college years? I’m also a UK grad. #BBN Have some nice pics of Lexington and surrounding areas from the 1980s.
David_C
@luc: LOL – I live 2 blocks from Ft. Detrick.
David_C
@mvr and @Miss Bianca: Thanks. The first pic was on a cloudy day walk and the sun came up and shone on the high school (on the right side) and I thought it looked really neat with the clouds and took a pic, and then saw a flock of geese getting into view and had to snap another.
This gives an idea of what my Zoom backgrounds look like. I may post volume 2 some time.