The Call to Ivory Mill

Matthew Wiley acquired property along Deer Creek prior to 1790 and a frame or log mill was already on the site. In 1818 the mill was in ill repair and was replaced with a stone and frame three-story building, which still stands today. It was again renovated in 1890. The name "Ivory Mill" goes back a long way but no one knows for sure how old the name really is. The mill is in Harford County, Maryland. Five successive Wiley generations of professional millers owned and operated the mill serving the Harford County community until 1935. Grains were hauled to the mill, loaded into the hopper, ground, bagged, and sent to market.
     Artistically speaking, buildings such as Ivory Mill are a joy to paint. The character they obtained over the years is extraordinary and sadly to say, in many cases most of today's surviving mills are in their declining years. There are still a number of old mills in Maryland.

Evening at Thomas Point Light

The Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse is most likely the best known light on the Chesapeake Bay. Thomas Point Light has served Bay mariners since 1875 and is the last screw-pile structure left on its original site in the Bay. The light’s hexagonal white walls and red roof float on spindly legs on the shoals at the entrance to the South River. Although dutiful Keepers (and often their families) manned her for decades, the Light is still active but, due to automation, is now a lonely sentinel who only receives visitors for tours. {This portrait has been used as the background for Rosedale Federal's debit cards.}