Day 246 - Fair Hill Nature Center

(Clcik on any photo to enlarge it.)

Springtime Stable

Buttercup Meadow

Today I had the pleasure of visiting one of the former duPont family estates, Fair Hill, in Cecil County, Maryland.

Long ago friends, Kris and Ray, whom I had not seen for at least 34 years, contacted me out of the blue a few months ago, by doing a quick Google search for my name, and invited me to join them at a bed and breakfast in early May.  We met yesterday at the Elk Forge B&B Inn, and this morning I planned our itinerary for sightseeing and doing my daily walk.

May Apple Flower -- I laid
on the ground for this one.

We took off after breakfast to find the Fair Hill Nature Center, which took us on roads past stables, barns, horses, woods, meadows, and finally to an old stone building that housed the nature center.  I got out of the car before we reached the nature center, to start the walk near the horses grazing in fields of buttercups.  Inside the center we inquired about the wildflower walk.

Foxcatcher Farm Covered Bridge

We found the path, which crossed a stream loaded with both bluebells and second graders doing a stream exploration, and headed up the path.  The path was also used by horses, so we had to watch our step.  Along the way we saw more bluebells, may apples, ferns, jack-in-the-pulpits, viburnum, dogwood, violets, spring beauty, and Jacob's ladder.  The area also seems to be loaded with Russian olive in bloom.

The winding road beyond.

Old Mill Building

After going up and down hill along the trails, we came to a creek, and the platform at the creek's edge gave us a view of a red covered bridge in the distance.  Following the path to the left brought us closer to the covered bridge, and then back to the road in front of the visitor center.

Above the parking area, there was an abandoned mill with numerous silos and storage buildings.  Back at the visitor center, the staff there told us that the area was originally a cattle farm, with a mill for the grain to support the farm.

If you click on the link for Fairhill, you will learn much more about this huge estate and what it has to offer to visitors today.  But for me, it provided a great walk with old friends, exploring new sights in a beautiful and historic place.  What more could I want?

Silent Silos

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Email:  cam.miller@comcast.net

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 whatever camera is easy and convenient for walking comfortably; always have a backup camera at the ready in case of mishaps (I use the Nikon Coolpix P7700)
5. no weather excuses
6. walk only where it is safe to do so