By ABBY CARVER
Courtesy of Laurel Historical Society
When the Laurel Museum’s current exhibit,“It’s All Laurel,” pened in February 2023, one of the things that most excited the museum staff was the ability to highlight all four of the counties that call Laurel home. In the 18 months since, we have had the honor of featuring several local churches, Laurel’s own Tracy Camilla Johns (an actress), the historic 2023 Laurel mayoral election, the Laurel Pride Celebration and more. With the closure of “It’s All Laurel” at the end of August to make way for a new exhibit, let’s explore some of the exhibit and program highlights.
When the exhibit first opened, the museum was honored to feature dinosaur bones from Laurel’s own Dinosaur Park. These fossils have been a highlight for visitors young and old. In the summer of 2023, J.P. Hodnett, along with other Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission staff and volunteers, unearthed a bone bed, or an area where bones of one or more species are concentrated within a geologic layer, at the park. This was the first bone bed discovery in Maryland since 1887!
Courtesy of Laurel Historical Society
Do you recall the DART mission from 2022? The DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft guided itself toward the asteroid Dimorphos for a direct collision; this was the first successful planetary defense test in history. In April 2023, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab’s DART Lead, Ed Reynolds, was named one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People.
In October 2023, Tina Simmons presented the webinar, “History and Horrors of Forest Haven Asylum – Laurel, MD” with Laurel Historical Society Executive Director Ann Bennett. Simmons is instrumental in local genealogy research and her work has helped solve several family mysteries. In December 2023, Simmons worked to reunite a tombstone belonging to the Mullikin family that had been missing from a private Laurel cemetery since the early 1970s.
“What is that log house by Bethany Community Church?” is a question that visitors ask museum volunteers and staff regularly. The Caleb Carr house is a log cabin that dates back to 1790 and was named after its original owner. This house is one of the only remaining log cabins in the area. In the 1990s, the sons of the late James Smith, who purchased the property in the 1940s, donated the log cabin to Bethany Community Church with the requirement that the church restore it. Funded by the Maryland Historical Trust, volunteers from the church helped with the restoration of the cabin by cleaning, painting and landscaping the grounds.
February 2024 marked the opening of the museum’s temporary exhibit, “Visions and Voices: The African American Voting Experience 1920-2023.” One highlight of the exhibit was the historic election of Reginald “Reggie” Parks, the first African American to serve on the Laurel City Council. Elected in 1992, Parks won more votes than any other candidate in the 1992 race. Parks served one term as a city council member and did not seek re-election in 1994.
July 2024 ended with the opening ceremonies of the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France. Juliette Whittaker (track and field), Isabella Whittaker (track and field), and Jessica Stevens (trampoline) all call Laurel home or train at a Laurel facility. While their accomplishments were not included in the exhibit, their information was shared on social media and added to the society’s research library. Congratulations to these athletes and the many others who hail from Maryland competing this year.
August 2024 marks the 220th anniversary of Horace Capron’s birth. Capron came to Maryland in 1829 and after marrying Louisa V. Snowden in 1834, he came to reside in Laurel. The Patuxent Manufacturing Company, of which Capron was the head, was officially chartered by the state of Maryland in June 1835. Its cotton mill, lands, houses, stores, machine shop and road down to the newly opened B&O Railroad station became the foundation for today’s Laurel. Capron, recognized as a founder of Laurel and builder of many mill worker houses, also enslaved four people: one woman and three children. Unfortunately, records only show us the name of one of those who were enslaved, Betsey, who was 30 years old in 1851.
The “It’s All Laurel” exhibit highlights several items related to the historic Laurel Park racetrack. Laurel Park opened in 1911 and sits in two of the four counties that call Laurel home.Triple Crown winners, including War Admiral, Secretariat and Affirmed, all raced at Laurel. Although there is currently some uncertainty surrounding Laurel Park’s future, in 2026 the Preakness Stakes will be held at Laurel Park. Did you know that Laurel had a second horse-racing track? From 1948 to 1990, the Freestate Raceway harness racing track was located on Route 1 southbound in Howard County, near the intersection with Gorman Road and where CarMax is now located.
It has been a joy for everyone involved with the museum to explore Laurel, city limits and beyond, with visitors the past 18 months. From the dinosaurs of 115 million years ago to the 2024 Olympics, collecting stories and objects to tell the most complete story of the Laurel community continues to be one of our highest priorities. After all, “It’s All Laurel.”
Abby Carver is the education and outreach coordinator for Laurel Historical Society.
