Pandemic Sending Residents Outdoors
The Maryland Park Service is reporting a total of 17.1 million visitors to date in 2020, already surpassing the previous record of 14.9 million total visitors in 2019.
Here’s a Way to Keep Maryland Beautiful
Applications for the annual Keep Maryland Beautiful grants program are now being accepted. Grants are being offered to help volunteer and nonprofit groups, communities, and land trusts support environmental education projects, litter removal, citizen stewardship, and solve natural resource issues in urban and rural areas.
Vote Centers & Drop Box Locations in St. Mary’s
The St. Mary’s County Board of Elections announces voting centers and drop box locations for the 2020 general election.
Volunteers Ready to Read to Children of Frontline Heroes
A new Reading for St. Mary’s Heroes initiative honors the service of frontline and essential workers of the COVID-19 pandemic, including health care providers, public health professionals, law enforcement, emergency medical services, firefighters, public works, teachers, grocery store workers, and others.
Save the Date for TPP So. China Sea Webinar
The Patuxent Partnership and St. Mary’s College of Maryland Center for the Study of Democracy will co-sponsor the “Rocks & Rules: America and the South China Sea” webinar. Save the date: Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020, from noon to 1:30 pm.
Entwined Histories of Lex Park & Lady Lex
Lexington Park began as a single housing project, named for the Lexington, the Navy’s first really big aircraft carrier. The ship went down in 1942, before the housing project was completed, and in 2018 was found two miles deep on the floor of the Pacific.
DNR Photo Contest Winners Announced
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources has announced the winners of the 2020 Natural Resources Photo Contest, with the grand prize going to Zaphir Shamma of Gunpowder for his striking photo of an eastern screech owl nestled in a tree cavity.
Reminder: Pax Partnership Upcoming Webinars
The Patuxent Partnership has two upcoming webinars planned — one with Rick Tarr of Southern Maryland Tech Bridge and another with Maryland Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot.
Join Community Conversations on Race
Join the St. Mary’s County Library for virtual events to engage in conversations and learn from fellow community members. Community partners for the series include the local NAACP, Community Mediation of St. Mary’s, Unified Committee for Afro-American Contributions, and St. Mary’s County’s Museum Division.
The Taking of Pearson: 1942
In 1942, the US government, by its right of eminent domain, confiscated a large area of the Eighth District of St. Mary’s County, MD, to be used by the US Navy as a test facility for aircraft. The government bought 6,412 acres for $712,287 consisting of 113 land tracts and home to 230 families. Somewhere within that 6,412 acres was Pearson — but where exactly?
