By KATIE V. JONES
Courtesy of Laurel Historical Society
The Laurel Historical Society’s (LHS) popular walking tours are back this fall with new stops and new information to share.
“History happens every day, and the Laurel Historical Society works hard to capture, preserve and share as much of the full story as it can,” Abby Carver, education and outreach coordinator for the society, wrote in an email.
The society’s newly updated Main Street Laurel walking tour now covers a more complete history of some of the city’s favorite establishments, Carver said — including tales of alligators and horseshoes at Oliver’s Tavern. Tour guides now cover the history of the Laurel Municipal Pool, as well. In talking about the pool’s history, guides focus on segregation and the pool’s connection to racial turmoil in the Grove, the city’s African American neighborhood, where a home was set on fire in the summer of 1967.
“Walking tours give wonderful bits of information,” said Karen Lubieniecki, who is an LHS board member and a veteran tour guide. “You learn things you never knew about Laurel. Interesting factoids.”
According to Betty Compton, LHS co-founder, the first walking tour took place in 1976 as a bicentennial activity organized by Laurel Horizon Society (now LHS). Twenty-seven historic buildings were featured on the tour.
“We were a small group then and I remember sometimes planning the walks in two sections if the group wanted to divide to give more time to discussion and take the second half of the tour,” Compton wrote in an email.
The updated and revised tour is based on one developed in 1994 by Joe Robinson, the city’s former mayor and chief of the Laurel Volunteer Fire Department.
“Joe was a passionate historian and supporter of the Laurel Historical Society, and it was under his tenure as mayor that LHS finally had a place to call home — 817 Main Street, now the Laurel Museum,” Carver wrote in her email.
A life-long Laurel resident, Robison was “a fountain of information,” according to Lubieniecki, and he had extensive knowledge about many of the buildings on Main Street.
“On Main Street, people tend to not look behind the modern facades,” Lubieniecki said. “The fronts have changed so much, but the original buildings are still there.”
The first stop of Robison’s 1994 tour was First United Methodist Church. Participants on the newly updated tour will learn how the church had several earlier homes before settling at 424 Main Street. The new tour also includes a brief overview of African American Methodism.
“You can take the same tour with two different people, and it will be different,” Lubieniecki said. “People emphasize different things and have different personalities. People ask different questions, too.”
Updated & Revised: Main Street Laurel tours take place rain or shine on Oct. 19 and 26. For more information, go to laurelhistoricalsociety.org or call 301.725.7975.
