Okay so we’re going a bit out of order here but – I was poking about through things and found my old address on some paperwork so I figured I’d write about it. Besides which, it’s part of Baltimore’s history too.
I spent the first part of my life in Sudbrook Park. Due to a variety of illnesses, our extented family had expanded and the tiny Cape-Cod home built in 1949 on what had been Cliveden Green – the 9 hole golf course for the original community – had grown too small.
The Sudbrook Estate belonged to John Howard McHenry and was sold to the Sudbrook Company in 1889 and plans for a suburban village were drawn out. Not wanting to travel the 8 miles into Baltimore city via carriage, McHenry had managed to obtain train service to the estate. The tracks are still in use as is the one lane entrance entrance bridge over them. Designated a National Historic District in 1973, the bridge and the railway cut was saved from destruction because residents rallied against the construction of the Baltimore subway line and against the construction of 795 south of the Baltimore Beltway. 795 was halted at the beltway (it only runs northbound) and the subway was re-routed to protect the integrity of the community’s original design.
I am related to the Howard family – John McHenry’s mother was John Eager Howard’s daughter – through my DuVall relations – and it was my great-grandmother’s brother Charles Wesley DuVall, Jr. who told my dad about Sudbrook Park and suggested he look there for a home there in 1959. The home dad and mom bought (they were newlyweds) was barely ten years old, and had been part of what was considered the second wave of construction in the park. Built post-World War II, it would accommodate returning servicemen who had married and started families.
Our yard had three tulip poplars in the back – huge trees – dad would go stand on the back porch during high wind and pray that they wouldn’t fall. They’re still standing some 30+ years after we moved. Our back yard also had a willow tree, a maple tree and two dogwood trees and a fish pond, and rose bushes separated our yard from the neighbors. A holly tree climbed the chimney on the right of the house and a rhododendron bush hugged the garage on the left. The front yard had a dogwood tree, two maples and a crabapple tree. The only tree dad ever took down was the crabapple – it was so close to the house the roots were coming through the foundation into the basement and the crabapples that plugged up the gutters created a water issue that was ruining the homes exterior. Dad made an executive decision – it had to go. The neighborhood wasn’t pleased with dad’s decision but when he showed them the foundation walls and the drainage issues because of clogged gutters – they changed their minds.
The house taken in the winter of 1960 by my mother. You can see the crabapple tree by the garage and how close it was to the house and the foundation.
Everything on the property was very random – even the boxwoods that surrounded the house were different sizes – all in keeping with the “natural” theme of the park. No “formal” planting was done and is still discouraged today by the Sudbrook Community Association. My mother put in tulips and jonquils, but it was very random as well. A wagon wheel leaned against the dogwood tree in the front yard surrounded by clusters of violets, daisies and other flowers.
The park was wooded, and originally boasted 9 cottages or “summer homes” built for the Baltimore elite, a golf course, a hotel (burned in the 20’s), a livery stable and a train station. Designed by Frederick Olmstead, Sr., the architect behind New York’s Central Park, Sudbrook Park was “green” 110 years before being green was cool. By 1929, the were 50 homes in the park that were being used as summer rentals and all had large yards about an acre in size, designed to preserve the old trees. Curved roads met at grassy triangles, which are still used as gathering places. The only buildings not remaining in the park today are two of the cottages, the stables, and the hotel. The homes on Cylburn, Glenrock and Cliveden Roads sit were the golf course had been originally planned for then added in 1898.
Actress Dorothy Lamour lived right around the corner from my folks for years at 607 Sudbrook Lane (my parents lived at 607 Cylburn Road) having bought the home in 1957 following a trip to Baltimore. The 7 bedroom, 4 bath, 4448 sq. foot home was built in 1897 and when Lamour and her husband William Howard III (related to John Eager Howard as well) sold it, it went to the Smith family. The Smith girls babysat me and I dated the son in high school, so therefore saw the interior of the home several times, including the servants apartments in the back of the second floor. It was a beautiful home with a Victorian wrap-around porch, wide sweeping staircase, and music room.
left – Sudbrook Park on the 1899 Atlas
middle – the 1889 plan for the park – the street to the left of Cliveden Green would become Cylburn Road
right – the park today – it still follows Olmstead’s basic plan and is still wooded – with some trees being close to 100 years old now
Baltimore Through My Eyes 
I grew up (1965-1980) just south of Sudbrook Park, on Campfield Road near Sudbrook Junior High. I’m curious who owned that land, did McHenry’s land stop at Milford Mill Road?
There was an empty lot on Bedford Road and Campfield where the story was that it was where some slaves who fought in the Civil War were buried, that one had a marker (I must have been too spooked to look myself). Sometime in the 1980s a house was built there, so I would guess they had to move the graves? I am not having any luck finding any history of that area- the original owner of the land that became Paul;s Farm settled there in the 1800s.
If you have any info or suggestions where to look, I’d appreciate it. Thanks
I’m just now seeing your post on my blog – no clue why it is just now showing up. I was born in ’65 – did you go to Bedford? Sudbrook? We would have gone to school together. I was little crippled kid who got to bail on gym class. Info on Pahl’s Farms – https://www.pahlsfarmmd.com/about-us/
Hah, that was 8 years ago 😉 I would have been two years older (born 63), and I did go to Bedford and Sudbrook Middle School. I lived on Campfield Road near the schools, and just remember drives through Sudbrook Park
Your description is not ringing a bell, but thanks for replying. This is a great post!
It was so nice to read the history of my beloved Sudbrook Park once more in this essay. My father especially, was so proud of living in the Park, he would tell me “Don’t tell people that you live in Pikesville, tell them that you live in “Historic Sudbrook Park”! He even had an embosser made with that as part of our address. He also met Dorothy Lamour while walking our German Shepherd, Fritz, at 11PM. She was on her way to the mailbox, so my father and Fritz accompanied her. He was so thrilled!