Maryland's Road to Freedom Trail | Rails to Trails

Fall 2023

This 5-mile route between Historic East Towson and the Hampton National Historic Site will provide important context of the area’s history through educational markers, connections to historical sites and public art.

Tucked away in the Baltimore suburb of Towson, Maryland, is the deeply rooted community of Historic East Towson. In 1928, the neighborhood was home to about 300 Black families. Public and private developers steadily encroached on the land over the years, and just 70 families live within the six-block radius today.

'Freedom Trail' seeks to honor Towson's Black history | WBALTV11

February 17, 2023

TOWSON, Md. — Sometimes history can be right in the backyard, and it often goes unnoticed. A Baltimore County community is well aware of that and has decided its cultural history is too important to ignore.

The East Towson Community Association plans to build a "Freedom Trail" that will serve as a pedestrian and bicycle route in east Towson.

Opinion: Red Maple Place Is Not the Solution to Baltimore Co.’s Dire Need for Affordable Housing | Maryland Matters

March 24, 2022

Many of the facts behind Adria Crutchfield and Tom Coale’s commentary, “Baltimore County Needs Red Maple Place,” Maryland Matters, March 14], are indisputable: Baltimore County’s long and shameful history of explicit and institutional racism; a critical need for affordable housing in locations with easy access to public transportation and services; the county’s failure to make any real progress on its 2016 Voluntary Conciliation Agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; and that its overall profile makes it logical that Towson census tracts are among those listed as good candidates for affordable housing units.

Board of Appeals stops Red Maple Place | AFRO American Newspapers

July 28, 2021

Earlier today, the Baltimore County Board of Appeals delivered a stunning victory for the Historic East Towson community when it reversed an earlier decision by an administrative law judge and stopped the controversial Red Maple Place development from moving forward.

Baltimore County appeals board overturns approval of Red Maple Place affordable housing project in East Towson | The Baltimore Sun

July 21, 2021

Baltimore County’s Board of Appeals voted against a controversial affordable housing development in East Towson, the county confirmed Wednesday, and the developer says they will appeal the decision in Circuit Court.

The vote reverses a ruling by a county administrative law judge in March approving the project, a 56-unit building planned on a plot of undeveloped land along East Joppa Road east of its intersection with Fairmount Avenue.

Historic East Towson, a community eroded | The Towerlight

October 30, 2020

A proposed affordable-housing building in historic East Towson is drawing community pushback from residents who raise concerns over environmental and traffic impacts, and the destruction of local historically Black neighborhoods. 

The planned 56-unit development, Red Maple Place,  is slated to be built on a 2.5 acre plot between 413 E. Pennsylvania Ave. and Joppa Road.