Day 51 - Along Old Rt. 144

Rt. 144 is part of the old National Pike, and I have written before about the mile markers that could be found along the way between Baltimore and Cumberland.  I travel it several times a week on my way into Frederick, and just beyond Spring Ridge, east of the Monocacy River, the "new" road and bridge parallel the old road and bridge that are now abandoned and choked with weeds.

 

I decided to park at the Park and Ride, which was created from part of the old, original road, and walk down it to the river, to see what I could see.  I was really hoping to find a mile marker.

To my surprise, the old bridge was still there.  It was fenced off with a chainlink barrier, but some helpful vandals had cut it and rolled away a section of the fence so that they could get in to spray paint the concrete arches on the bridge.  I decided to obey the big No Trespassing sign, opting to use my zoom to capture the vandals' art.  Actually, the bridge looked like it could fall into the river at any time.

I walked back up the road and then walked the grounds of the Rt. 70 Driving Range nearby.  Only one golfer was there on this nice day, taking practice hits.  The grounds are obviously part of an old farm, because old barns are still on the property.  An old farmhouse was recently torn down.

There were two huge fiberglass (I guess) elephants in sad repair that were signalling the entrance to the mini-golf area that no one was using today, either.

Alas, I did not find a mile marker.  I hope that if one was there, it was moved to a safer location when the new road was built.

Click on any photo to enlarge it.

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Cam's rules for the Daily Photo Walk:

1. walk every day
2. the walk must be in addition to any other planned activity for the day
3. post a photo every day
4. use my Nikon P7100 (it is a very convenient size and weight)
5. no weather excuses
6. walk only where it is safe to do so