In Memoriam

 In Memoriam

On the morning of Saturday, April 6, 2013, our irreplaceable colleague and cherished friend Orlando Ridout V died at the Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis where he was surrounded by his loving family. 

A 30 year veteran of the Maryland Historical Trust, Orlando began his professional career with the state historic preservation office as an indefatigable field researcher and surveyor.  Soon after joining the Trust, Orlando became the Chief of the Trust’s Office of Research, Survey and Registration.  In this capacity, he oversaw and molded some of the agency’s most important programs.  A founder of the Vernacular Architecture Forum, Orlando’s career is distinguished by an unparalleled emphasis on hands-on, enlightened field work. 

Celebrate Archeology Month!

Governor Martin O'Malley has proclaimed April Maryland Archeology Month, and the Maryland Historical Trust is pleased to be leading the celebration! With its many treasured sites, including Fort Frederick, the U.S.S. Scorpion, St. Mary's City, Piscataway Park, and the recently located Zekiah Fort, Maryland is truly rich archeologically. 

This year's Maryland Archeology Month theme, Points in Time: Formal Biface Typology in Maryland, focuses attention on certain artifacts rather than the sites on which they are found. Of all the bits of antiquity strewn across Maryland over the past 13 millennia perhaps none is more iconic that the arrowhead. Yet only a tiny fraction of the items popularly termed "arrowhead" ever tipped a bow-shot arrow. Most were spear points, and many were hafted knives. While differing in function, all projectile points (as archeologists commonly refer to them) have something important in common; each reflects a style that was used for a restricted period of time, ranging from several thousand to several hundred years. As a result, the classification of these artifacts has been a favorite endeavor of archeologists for many decades.