[post=35030 /] 3750 Views
There (and lunch) and back again, in under five hours. Almost five hundred pictures later, the following comes to mind...
Many positives:
The whole place
feels much smaller and far more cozy than any pictures (I've seen) convey. It must have been such a pleasure to have been here in the past. It was still an immense pleasure today, much like the difference between seeing pictures of roller coasters versus actually standing amongst the rides.
The whole place was just echoing with history. It's the kind of place that forces you to smile just because it is
so neat.
The first thing I imagined was how it must have looked properly kept. It's still largely incredible, but there are some bad scars (and cave-ins) of egregious neglect and disrepair. It's so stupid how the Army let it get so bad.
The next thing I imagined was how quiet and relaxing and utterly remote it must have been before the 1950's, without the constant rush (even through the spring-thickening trees), from across the gully, of the eight-lane Capital Beltway. Birds' chirps enveloped everything; back by the castles in the ravine I kept expecting a Pan to hop by any moment, flute intermingling with birds.
The nearness of the day's trains, their undulating rumble, and the shrillness of their whistles was impressive. As at Ilchester's Hell House and here at Forest Glen's Seminary, and probably at so many other sites, trains must have been A Big Deal when life was much less hectic.
The immediacy of the site is striking: Literally, you drive around a curve on the rather narrow Seminary Road, and, bap, it's right there. Seen from the car, it's almost toy-like in its charm. I instantly thought of how wonderful it would be to meet someone who actually attended the girl's finishing school. The Japanese pagoda, apparently Maryland's only one, is as neat as imaginable. The Dutch windmill. The Romanesque colums. The wrought-iron-fancied emblishments. The quartzite-plus-stonework. The statuary. The dilap
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Re: Clarity at Forest Glen Seminary
[post=35040 /] 3750 Views
It was a pleasure to meet you, too, Michael and Kimness (and Caleb). It was just a shame the tour was cancelled due to the weather, but I am going to plan another gathering on May 27th with the same expectations, but maybe a better lunch place. :oP
It wasn't SpiritGirl, but ShatterDreams and Asterix, Seeker and her husband, and VWGirl (from the old boards). I wish it wasn't raining so that we could have explored the wooded areas more, but the rain made the green grass more vibrant.
As a friendly reminder to anyone who goes to Forest Glen, do not enter the buildings because they have been setup to have microphones inside them in order to catch trespassers, and if you think you are going to try investigate at night (the grounds are open from 7am - 7pm).. think twice because there are hidden cameras throughout the grounds.
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