C. BACKGROUND: DEVELOPMENT OF CHARLESTOWN

1. Historical Construction and Conservation –
Older buildings on the Charlestown campus include “The Farmhouse”, which was built in 1885, and “The Carriage House”, which also was begun in 1885, but not completed until 1911. Both of these buildings are used by Erickson Management, Inc., which is headquartered on the Charlestown campus, but they are not part of the retirement community.The granite and brick buildings of the St. Charles Seminary on this site were built from 1911 to 196l. The Sulpician Cemetery of the seminary is near the middle of the Charlestown campus and is still an active burial location. It is still owned by the Sulpician Order.

The primary example of historical conservation on the Charlestown campus is the Our Lady of the Angels Chapel. The Chapel’s cornerstone was laid in 1913, but it took decades before the structure was fully complete. It is a beautiful example of a European cathedral in miniature, with elegant Italian marble, mosaics, stained glass windows, a fine organ, and wonderful acoustics. The Chapel is also still owned by the Sulpicians, as it was part of their St. Charles seminary. An excellent written and pictorial work on the Chapel is Father Leo Larrivee’s book entitled “Our Lady of the Angels”. The Chapel has been designated a National Historic Site.

Secondary historical structures of interest on the campus include the remnants of a swimming/skating pool built by the seminary on the East Branch of Herbert Run, a brick opening for a spring which was near the swimming pool, and a 1906 stone bridge over Herbert Run, which was built as part of a one-lane carriage road from Wilkins Avenue to the historic Beverly property on the larger Watts Estate. The old Beverly mansion was destroyed by fire in the 1940s and there are few traces of it remaining. The spring and the bridge are good examples of the environmental concept of RESTORE, since they were lost to the elements before being uncovered and made accessible.

2. Developmental History
This aspect of Charlestown is presented below as a timeline. Construction, and minimizing its environmental impact, have been a continuing feature of the retirement community as it has grown.

1977 – St. Charles College (Seminary) closes due to declining enrollment (Chapel and Buildings 1-6).
1983 – Charlestown Retirement Community opens.
1985-1986 – Charlestown expands, with construction of Buildings 7-9.
1987 – Renaissance Gardens Care Center opens.
1989 – Charlestown Square, Chapel Court, Parkview, Harborview, and Caton Ridge buildings open.
1991 – The St. Charles building opens.
1992-1993 – Brookside, Cross Creek Station, and Herbert’s Run buildings open.
1995 – The Memory Walk, Memorial Woods, and the Nature Trail open.
2013 – Charlestown Square and Edgewood receive major renovations.
2016 – Caton Woods, the new assisted living facility, opened as the first part of the new continuing care complex.
2018 – Renaissance Gardens begins closing for renovation.
2019 – Wilton Overlook opened as the rest of the continuing care complex.
2024 – Major renovation of Historic District began

3. Utilities as Background –

a. Power – Gas and electric power are provided to Charlestown by Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE), which serves as an energy delivery company, not an energy source company. In today’s energy grid operations, BGE can obtain its energy from virtually all conceivable sources including coal, oil, gas, nuclear, solar, wind, landfill methane, and waste combustion.

b. Water – Charlestown’s water is obtained from the City of Baltimore. The city’s three major water sources are Gunpowder Falls, the North Branch of the Patapsco River, and the Susquehanna River. The water is collected and stored in three reservoirs: Liberty, Pretty Boy, and Loch Raven. Charlestown’s water comes from the Patapsco River via Liberty Reservoir (created in 1954), with treatment at the Ashburton Water Filtration Plant in west Baltimore. Water treatment consists of prechlorination, alum flocculation/sedimentation, rapid sand filtration, fluoridation, final chlorination, and pH adjustment for corrosion control.

c. Sewage Disposal – Charlestown’s sewage leaves the campus primarily via the buried County sewage line which parallels the East Branch of Herbert Run. The “wishing wells” along the Nature Trail are covers for access points to the line. Raised access points may be seen by the Run along the Old Stone Bridge Trail below the north side of the Lake Charles dam. The sewage line continues through Arbutus and reaches the Patapsco River directly south of Arbutus. The line then follows the River to the Patapsco Waste Water Treatment Plant at Wagner’s Point in East Baltimore. The treated effluent then flows into the Patapsco River just north of Curtis Bay, and subsequently into the Chesapeake Bay. The Patapsco Plant provides secondary treatment with enhanced nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) removal, and the plant currently processes a flow of 73 million gallons per day.

d. Storm Drainage – This water is collected by the portion of the Baltimore County storm drainage system which is on the Charlestown campus. It is separate from the sewage system. The storm drainage empties into the Patapsco River. Stormwater Management is discussed in greater detail in Part D.1. of this document.

e. Solid Waste Disposal – For the most part, this service is provided by Waste Management, Inc., and is discussed in detail in Part E of this document.

4. Compliance with Federal, State, and County Requirements –

Construction, maintenance, and all other activities with potential environmental impact at Charlestown are accomplished in full compliance with all applicable federal, state, and county requirements. Since the campus is on private property, maintenance of roads and sidewalks is Charlestown’s responsibility. One special Baltimore County requirement is to avoid the posted forest buffer areas around campus, all of which are at the edge of the surrounding woods. The reason for these postings is to protect native species, especially the trees. However, by their very nature these buffer areas require special attention. These border areas are ecotones (where different ecosystems meet), in this case the edge of turf grass and the forest. Such areas tend to have more species, greater growth of invasive plants, and more incidental collection of debris and trash. Therefore, they require not only special care, but also higher maintenance.