Catonsville’s “Little Arlington”
Not everyone knows that Catonsville is home to a NATIONAL cemetery where 47,000 veterans and their spouses are honorably buried. It’s been nicknamed “Little Arlington.”
The Baltimore National Cemetery, at 5501 Frederick Road (See picture) was one of seven national cemeteries created between the World Wars in the 1934–1939 timeframe. It was the U.S.’s first major expansion since the Civil War, directed at serving a growing veteran population and the rapidly depleting burial space at existing national cemeteries. Nearby, the diminutive 5.2-acre Loudon Park National Cemetery was at or approaching capacity and additional burial space was needed. The War Department assessed several possible sites in the Baltimore area, as well as other sites in the US, but settled on the Frederick Road Catonsville site.
The cemetery’s site was previously an historic estate called Cloud Cap (or Cloud Capped), which occupied an elevated setting adjacent to Frederick Road as early as 1750. It was laid out along the Baltimore to Frederick turnpike, which was constructed between 1805 to 1808. Note that Turnpike Milestone No 5 is in front of the cemetery today.
The property was originally part of the Baltimore Company (Iron Works) holdings, a consortium of wealthy Baltimore businessmen, including Charles Carroll of Carrollton’s FATHER (Charles Carroll of Annapolis); eventually Charles Carroll of Carrolton inherited portions of the property. The Cloud Cap estate was created when an 11-acre tract on the Frederick Turnpike was purchased from Charles Carroll of Carrollton and combined with two other tracts to make up the 76-acre estate; it extended Southward from Frederick Road to today’s Wilkens Avenue, and from Maiden Choice Lane to Beechfield Ave, west to east.
There were a number of succeeding owners, but in 1890, socially prominent Blanchard and Susan Randall acquired the estate as a summer home. They expanded the manor house numerous times and filled the property with ornate gardens and orchards. It was famed for its mature trees (some 200-300 years old), gardens and the expanded manor house. A REPLICA of the manor house is part of the cemetery today and was constructed with some remnants of the original mansion. (See picture) The original manor house was NOT where the current replica house is; it was located at one of the high points of the estate overlooking the numerous rolling hills where today’s large US Flagpole is currently located.
The Randalls sold their property for $95,000 to the government, which took possession in 1936. The conversion of the “Cloud Cap” estate to a national cemetery was accomplished under the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a Depression-era make-work program. An estimated 100-150 men worked on the project from 1937 to 1940. The first interment was on December 18, 1936, although the cemetery was not formally dedicated until Memorial Day, May 30, 1941. There are approximately 47,000 internments at this location.
Every Memorial Day, school students and Boy scouts put flags on each one of the 47,000 graves. (See picture) It’s a site to see, with rows and rows of white marble gravestones, each with a US flag in front. My wife and I visit every year and put flowers and remembrance coins on the graves of her great grandfather (who fought in WWI) and his wife.
The Catonsville Short Line (CSL) railroad (built in 1884) had a right of way just next to the Cloud Cap estate and the eventual cemetery. The nonprofit Catonsville Rails To Trails (CRTT) organization has converted 2.5 miles of the former Short Line right of way into a waking/biking trail. In May 2013 a “Cemetery Overlook” Park was created by 4 students from Mount Saint Joseph High School as part of a Senior Project. They cleared the site, added a large planter and flowers, and benches for people to sit and take in the serene view of the graves. Ironically my son was one of the 4 students.
Visit this site if you can. It will awe you.