This is from my first trip to this park which borders the Chesapeake Bay and located near the north-east side of the beltway surrounding Baltimore.
Fort Howard is located in the North Point region of Baltimore County and played a key role in the historical War of 1812 and the Battle of Baltimore.
Tucked at the very end of North Point Road this park entices its
visitors with scenic beauty and a touch of history that's close to home.
It is free to enter this park and it sits almost invisible next to the
Fort Howard VA Hospital.
(Resource Link) http://www.examiner.com/article/fort-howard-park
Speaking of which... I followed my GPS to the end of North Pt road where I had a choice to follow a road to the left, or to go straight. I decided to go straight, following behind what looked like a trash pickup truck in front of me. Stopping at the stop sign (there was no gate), I looked left and right and saw a guard's station on the right. I saw no movement or people or even a vehicle nearby.
I proceeded behind the truck ahead. The area looked like ruins of an old neighborhood. Some housing appeared to be burnt out, boarded up, dilapidated and abandoned. I pressed on around the winding paved street, knowing the Chesapeake bay was just up ahead.
I went around the entire complex looking for public parking. I passed several short side pavements that seemed to go near the waterfront and just end the
re. On my second excursion around, having seen only one lot with cars much further away from the water, I decided to drive down one of the short paved dives close to the waterfront and park there since I saw no other people.
I knew I should have "drained the lizard" before leaving the restaurant where we had a luncheon for retired telephone employees about a half hour earlier. I saw no outdoor johns but felt pretty well secluded where I was at the water's edge surrounded on several sides by brush. I decided to wait no longer to relieve myself. It was quite windy although otherwise, a warm pleasant day for half way through December.
Have you ever heard the expression, "Don't spit into the wind!"... Anyway, I was wise enough to position in a way to be safe in that regard. I took a look back at the road and saw the trash truck going back around the opposite way as if leaving the facilities. I waited the few
seconds for it to pass by although I was a good distance from the road it was on.
I was about half way through my business when I turned my head to see what appeared to be a police or guard vehicle slowing down at the entrance to the short driveway I parked on. Thinking, he's probably going to check me out, and estimating I had a few more seconds to continue, I went a little more before turning my head again to see the police indeed turned into my little side drive.
Now I was about 3/4 finished but had run out of time. I had to cut things off before completing my business. I quickly put things in order, turned, and while walking back to my car, noticed the official was lowering the passenger window for apparent communication so I walked to that side of his vehicle.
The policeman, guard, or what most likely a government security officer, was very stern when he spoke to me about illegally trespassing on government property.
I could tell when I tried to return conversation that he wasn't interested in what I had to say although I manged to get out something to the affect that I thought the "park" was a public place. He quickly mentioned that the park is "over there" with a gesture of meaningless and vague direction.
Anyway, by that time I had assessed that I should just use the minimum of speech required and inserted the title, "Sir" whenever a response seemed appropriate. Feeling that he was basically done his reprimand and not wanting to entice further conflict, or take up his valuable time any further, I thanked the officer and got into my car. He backed out to the main street and waited for me to do the same.
When I got back to the main street, I suppose I should have turned left but nervous and without the ability think as
clearly as I should... I thought what if that is some kind of one-way street, not really remembering the truck went that way when it left. So, of course I went right, knowing I made a pass around there earlier. The government guy followed me. I made it out (the long way) and noticed him stop short of the entrance and backed his vehicle into a corner there.
While leaving what I had mistakenly thought was the public Fort Howard park, I slowed down to look at the options again and took the road on the left which I should have taken in the beginning. After a short winding drive, I arrived at the public Fort Howard park.
I enjoyed a fairly short exploration of what was there and took some pictures, some of which I will most likely share with you from time to time in the near future.
This particular attachment was taken about a half hour from sundown and I thought the tree shadows coming toward the lens gave the image a nice ap
peal. The sun would have been a problem but I was able to position myself so that the tree limbs blocked it out sufficiently. Shooting in RAW format allowed adjustments so that the back-lighting did not create all silhouetted trees with contrast.
Cha cha, Nikon D600, 24 mm, PS-CS6, ACR, SPM, IrfanView.
Cheers,
Brian
My Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ur4chun8/
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