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Lime Kiln Bottom
Inventory No.:
BA-3111
Date Listed:
4/17/2019
Location:
2177 Cromwell Bridge Road, Parkville, Baltimore County
Period/Date of Construction:
ca.1785 - ca.1915
Architect/Builder:
Unknown
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Description:
The Lime Kiln Bottom kilns, also called the Shanklin #1, Risteau #2, and Jenifer #3 kilns, and the Merrick Log House are situated along Minebank Run within the 446-acre Cromwell Valley Park. The stone and brick kilns are bunkered three in a row into a hillside near the stream, with the log house sited approximately 150 feet northeast of the northernmost kiln. This 1883 kiln, identified for convenience as Jenifer Kiln #3, is a vertical-shaft continuous-burn kiln. The c. 1785 middle kiln, Risteau Kiln #2, is a more primitive “intermittent” box-type kiln. The 1893 southernmost Shanklin Kiln #1 is also a vertical-shaft continuous-burn kiln, similar to Kiln #3 except that the main block tapers inwards slightly toward the top of the structure. Lime from these kilns met the area’s demand for whitewash, plaster, mortar, fertilizer, and other utilitarian services. The stone for burning in these kilns was quarried from an open pit located about 500 feet northeast of Kiln #3. Locally known as limestone, the rock-like material is actually part of Baltimore County’s extensive Cockeysville Marble deposits. The quarry pit covers an irregular area measuring 200 by 250 feet and is about 40 feet deep at its deepest. A wagon road leading from the quarry to the top of the kilns can still be seen today etched into the landscape. The quarry had a second life when Baltimore City purchased the site from the Jenifer family in 1922 to act as a balancing reservoir for the Montebello Water Works, which provided drinking water to the Baltimore Metropolitan area. The 2 ½-story log and frame Merrick Log House rests against the same hillside as the group of three lime kilns but about 150 feet to the north. It was constructed in four distinct phases over a period of over 200 years, and each of the additions represents an architecture and design engineered to meet the lifestyle of its occupants. The original stone and log structure was built sometime between 1797 and 1805 and probably housed the kiln manager and his family. The front door faced south toward the kilns. The second phase was a two-story frame addition built between 1840 and 1860; these alterations included an east-facing front door, a living room with a straight-wall staircase leading to a second-floor bedroom, and an enclosed, unfinished half-attic above that. The third phase, occurring in the 1880s, was the addition of a first-floor frame kitchen and screened porch with another bedroom above and a second-floor winder stair leading to a finished third-floor attic. The next addition, a modern kitchen and utility room, did not occur until the 1960s when the property was sold to the local banking magnate, Robert G. Merrick. The attached 10x10-foot utility room was demolished in 2014 because it was beyond repair. The log house served as a rental property for its owners after the kilns ceased operations in the 1930s.
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Significance:
Lime Kiln Bottom is significant for its history and architecture, because it exemplifies a vitally important industry that was the largest employer in Baltimore County in the 19th century and represents over 6000 years of technological development. It was the quality limestone from this quarry and the lime from these kilns that contributed to the Mid-Atlantic states being known as the “wheat belt of the world” rom the late 18th to late 19th centuries. The kilns, quarry, and the log house structures are architecturally significant because they embody important characteristics and methods of construction, manufacture, and extraction representative of the evolving technology and architectural design of the lime industry structures throughout the 19th century. These structures are contained within the original boundaries of the “Long Island” land grant of 1717 and were owned by the Risteau family and their descendants, the Jenifers, from 1764 to 2012. The three lime kilns, quarry/pond, and log house are the only known surviving lime industry resources of their type in the region.
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