7 mile walk from Relay to Ellicott City 1919

Illchester had a "medieval air" and "nothing very modern" while Ellicott City felt like being "in Europe again. These old houses with their balconies, their stone walls either orange and tawny as the quarries yielded them, or washed with pale pinks and yellows and blues, Italian fashion."  The flour from the Patapsco mill "so familiar to your grocer's shelves."

Walking from Ellicott Mills to Elkridge, then by train in 1843

On Friday, Oct. 13, 1843 a reporter (“Old Honesty”) walked the six miles from Ellicott’s Mills to Elkridge Landing and wrote a long article about the scenery, mills and trains along the Patapsco River.  He passed Illchester, Thistle Factory (image left), Avalon Furnace, Elkridge Landing and Relay station.

The river was called 'Patapsco Falls' until it reached Elkridge, where it was called 'Patapsco River' to the Chesapeake Bay.

Ellicott's Mills and Bonnie Branch mill 1907

Now all gone, one mill on the Bonnie Branch river was preserved in photos and described in this 1907 article.  Wooden gears are also described from the Ellicotts' Gwynn Falls mill, and the problems they had with Oliver Evans, 200 years ago.

Bollman truss bridge images

Wendel Bollman (1814-1884) from Baltimore started working for the B&O railroad and created a more stable bridge of iron for the trains. His first iron bridge was at Savage in 1850, and received a patent in 1852. Many photos (one of Mr. Bollman) and information at link below.

Ilchester tiny post office is even tinier

At one time the smallest post office in Maryland, it was built about 1910 on the shore of the Patapsco River.  In the 1950s it was moved to 4607 Bonnie Branch Road at the postmistress, Teresa Schaad’s house.  Originally it had wood siding, but it now has stone to match the current home. 

Bloede Dam - Power plant inside a dam

The first hydroelectric plant within a dam was built just south of Ilchester and Ellicott City on the Patapsco River in 1907. The underwater plant had windows behind the falls for light, but during rain when the "water is muddy" less light entered the room.

The dam was removed in 2018.

B&O train ride described in Harpers 1857

By 1857 the B&O railroad had a kitchen and dining car combo but the restaurant in the Relay House (in picture) still offered a breakfast of "Maryland luxuries" of "softcrabs" and "spring-chickens" which tasted like "luscious flavor of solidified cream browned over a hickory fire in clover scented butter."  The article also described the stone viaducts, Bollman's iron bridge, granite and iron works.

George Ellicott Jr. home becomes part of St. Mary's College

The Ilchester Hotel/Home/Tavern that Ellicott built in the early 1830s was sold in 1866 to the Redeptorists for $15,000.  The walls had weakened by the coal trains and had to have pipes to stabilize the old stone structure.  The main 'upper house' was built in 1868, and a large wooden addition was built beside and behind the 4 story granite building.  The first chapel with long windows was attached to the granite hotel and used into at least 1895.

Dismal Mill then George Ellicott Jr.'s Ilchester Mill

Down stream on the Patapsco River from Ellicotts mill was a corn mill (which occasionally could grind flour) eerily called Dismal Mill, built in 1761.  By 1831 George Ellicott Jr. (1798-1869) had erected the 3 story stone 'Dismal Mill Factory' or Ilchester Mill at that site and constructed a 3 story home.  Ellicott sold his home in 1866 to the Redemptorists who started St. Mary's College. click to enlarge.

Patterson Viaduct

Built in 1829 at Ilchester, the viaduct was destroyed in the flood of 1868.  A metal bridge was put on the remaining parts of the bridge, and now there is a walking bridge.  It was named for wealthy business man William Patterson (1752-1835) a founder of the B & O; one of his many children, 'Betsy' married Napoleon's brother.