Jan 10, 2014

For a half century, Ernie Imhoff has felt at home in the free and open spaces of Druid Hill Park – also known to many older residents as “Droodle” or “Droodle Pork” in Baltimorese. It is a treasure island of solitude and socializing smack in Baltimore’s midsection, he says.

: “Every Hill Has Its Dale.” Druid Hill Park was Baltimore’s first public park. Created in 1860, it was a patchwork of farms, meadows, forests and falling waters. As 16th Century writer B. Melbancke said, “Every hill hath his daleù.” The Susquehannock Indians, “People of the Falls,” had sold this land to Lord Baltimore in 1652. Owners after 1688 called the land Druid Hill (for its many oak trees, an icon of ancient Druids). I came by chance and have been happy and lucky to find this wood. (Ernie Imhoff/for The Baltimore Sun)

: “Ghosts Live In These Woods.” Druid is rich in the vine-covered romance of past park glories. Some Baltimoreans have claimed and feared real ghosts in there and declined to enter. (Ernie Imhoff/for The Baltimore Sun)

: “Filaments of Color.” The solitary moon catches the eye one early morning, one of an endless flow of colors. Look up, stick around and watch the colors from the atmospheric palette over and near Druid Hill Park. From parkland, the sky, clouds and celestial matters cast a stronger pull on the eye than from city streets. Druid’s wonders below can be discovered with the help of a folding Green Map offered for $1 by The Friends of Druid Hill Park. (Ernie Imhoff/For The Baltimore Sun)

: “Misty Feeling of Longing.” A feeling of sadness and longing that is not akin to pain, and resembles sorrow only as the mist resembles the rain. A line of poetry from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “The Day is Done.” A misty, rainy day when you wear rain gear is an appealing time to discover the many byways. Rain brings on the street lights, a growing waterfall in the forest near Woodberry, empty benches, a temporary pond, the smell of wet woods, crows at the cemetery and that Longfellow feeling. The drops leave behind golden rust stains from water draining off the fence to the wall surrounding Druid Lake. (Ernie Imhoff/For The Baltimore Sun)

: “White Winter Shawl.” After a cover of snow fell overnight, I walked on Druid Hill early to begin the new year of 1989 afresh. There were no other footprints, no sounds, no stir, no wind under the oatmeal sky and the half-light. I was sleepwalking in a peaceful, manicured wilderness, yards and a world from the rambunctious, soiled city. (Ernie Imhoff/For The Baltimore Sun)

: “Every Hill Has A Dale.” The original rural property that became Baltimore’s first public park in 1860 was a wild rolling patchwork of farms, meadows, forests and falling waters. It is now a mixed map of green order and green remoteness, with many downs and ups. (Ernie Imhoff/For The Baltimore Sun)

: “Children of Summer.” Baltimore children learn tennis basics or swim near the East Road while older kids play disc golf near the old Reptile House or run and stroll around the lake and hills. The city is making park improvements. Until the 1950s, Jim Crow rules forced blacks and whites to use separate and unequal park tennis and swimming facilities. The Maryland Zoo’s pet skunk Peppy delights marathoners, while a giraffe entrances two boys. The park is a refuge for peace and quiet as well as basketball, bicycling and socializing. Louis Rizzo returned home from World War II after serving on Liberty ships in battle-weary convoys. Now 92, he says Druid was “The destination. Took girlfriends there for picnics. It was all very innocent. The park was peaceful, a good place for picnics and it was free.” It still is. (Ernie Imhoff/For The Baltimore Sun)

: “Skeletons of Strength.” “The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone,” wrote Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Much like some solitary Druid trees shorn of their leaves by cold weather. They show a beauty that may be overlooked. Their steadfastness is unmistakable. (Ernie Imhoff/For The Baltimore Sun)

: “The Unity Of Nature.” This wood has been a comfort for me after deaths of family members and a destination to celebrate births of children and grandchildren and other good news. The park likewise has a dual nature. Its topography has the civilized (the south) and the rustic (the north). Gently rolling lawns and paths draw people to the lawns, Maryland Zoo, the Rawlings Conservatory and Druid Lake. In the hilly north, hikers and runners explore Mountain Pass Road, past mature growth woods. The 745-acre park includes old growth woods and the Baltimore Zoo, each about 135 acres. The reservoir adds another 55 acres. This makes 325 acres, less than half the park’s space. The rest is lawns, meadows, playgrounds, parking lots, buildings, roads, trails, brooks, lakes, ponds and gardens. “Everything is interrelated (by) the unity of nature,” wrote Alexander von Humboldt, 19th Century German explorer. A 400-year-old Osage Orange tree may be blown down, but a younger one bears fruit today. (Ernie Imhoff/For The Baltimore Sun)

: “Cherry Tree …” The seasons show in one pretty tree between Druid Reservoir Lake and the Columbus Pavilion. The Kanzan Japanese cherry tree has pink blossoms in April, turns green in spring and summer, becomes yellow and brown in fall and stands a skeleton signaling winter near year’s end. New trees are planted, giving hope to the park. (Ernie Imhoff/For The Baltimore Sun)

: “Cherry Tree …” The seasons show in one pretty tree between Druid Reservoir Lake and the Columbus Pavilion. The Kanzan Japanese cherry tree has pink blossoms in April, turns green in spring and summer, becomes yellow and brown in fall and stands a skeleton signaling winter near year’s end. New trees are planted, giving hope to the park. (Ernie Imhoff/For The Baltimore Sun)

: “Cherry Tree …” The seasons show in one pretty tree between Druid Reservoir Lake and the Columbus Pavilion. The Kanzan Japanese cherry tree has pink blossoms in April, turns green in spring and summer, becomes yellow and brown in fall and stands a skeleton signaling winter near year’s end. New trees are planted, giving hope to the park. (Ernie Imhoff/For The Baltimore Sun)

: “Cherry Tree …” The seasons show in one pretty tree between Druid Reservoir Lake and the Columbus Pavilion. The Kanzan Japanese cherry tree has pink blossoms in April, turns green in spring and summer, becomes yellow and brown in fall and stands a skeleton signaling winter near year’s end. New trees are planted, giving hope to the park. (Ernie Imhoff/For The Baltimore Sun)

: “Death of an Osage Orange.” A runner breezed past a celebrated Osage Orange tree on Greenspring Avenue on Oct. 22, 2012. It had been saved in the 19th Century when a new road was routed around it. I was photographing the tree, 400 years old, born before Indians deeded the land to Lord Baltimore in 1652. I returned to admire the Orange with a friend a week later, hours after Hurricane Sandy. We found disaster. Sandy had leveled the 76-foot sprawling wonder. One witness survived; a root was upended and emerged like a bird screaming in agony. Workmen put yellow tape around the crime scene. (Ernie Imhoff/For The Baltimore Sun)

: “Sun Beams And Shadows.” Why did Lloyd Nicholas Rogers, of Scottish blood, call his estate Druid Hill? There are hints. The 18th and 19th centuries saw a revival of interest in the Druid cult, an order of priestly officials in pre-Roman Britain, Gaul and Ireland first described by Pliny. The word Druid may stem from the word “oak.” Rituals of the priests who venerated oaks and mistletoe were practiced in oak groves. Druid Hill Park is rich in oaks and other trees. A sculpted oak face has the final word. (Ernie Imhoff/For The Baltimore Sun)

: The park features a boat house located in the 746-acre area. Besides the old boat house, the park has a natural springs, a dam and bridle paths. (Ernie Imhoff/For The Baltimore Sun)

: “Passing Fancies.” Hundreds once watched hot air balloons take riders up, up and away from the Grand Lawn at the Mansion House. The aerial extravaganzas were a passing Druid fancy. Today hundreds of children gather for Summer Camp Graduation Day. Others enjoy solitary walks and jogging, ethnic and social festivals, bands playing, family reunions, chestnut gathering, city farming, farmers market, tennis, swimming, football, basketball, softball, disc golf and golf practice shots. Many just sit at leisure. (Ernie Imhoff/For The Baltimore Sun)

: “Blossoms of Spring.” The Japanese cherry blossoms arrive faithfully each spring on the north shore of Druid Lake. The Yoshino whites come in March and the Kanzan pinks in April. Better be prompt, since the petals drop soon in a short and glorious period near the Latrobe Pavilion. The show is less crowded than the famous Cherry Blossom Festival at the Tidal Basin in Washington D.C.. The informal Druid panorama is a charming, soft setting between large trees on one side and the lake on the other. Friends of Druid Hill Park, a non-profit promoter of the park’s wonders, won a ban of cars on the 1.4 mile road around the lake where walkers, runners, bicyclists relish quiet time. (Ernie Imhoff/For The Baltimore Sun)

: “Moorish Castle.” Once climbed for its views toward downtown, the Moorish or Turkish tower is long closed but remains a symbol for lakeside strollers. Until mid-20th century, the park touched five Jewish neighborhoods: Lower Park Heights, Mondawmin, Auchentoroly Terrace, Eutaw Place and Lake Drive. After that, many Jewish residents moved away. Today people say the park is bounded by Hampden on the east, Reservoir Hill on the south; Mondawmin on the southeast and Woodberry/Clipper Mill on the northwest. (Ernie Imhoff/For The Baltimore Sun)

: “Ghosts Live In These Woods.” Druid is rich in the vine-covered romance of past park glories. Some Baltimoreans have claimed and feared real ghosts in there and declined to enter. A Grove of Remembrance, dedicated after World War I with 48 oaks for sons lost, has in turn lost many state plaques. I found Vermont, Maryland and Minnesota still planted in the soil. (Ernie Imhoff/For The Baltimore Sun)

: “A Coat of Many Colors.” The park has many moods shown in its green corridors, reservoir blues, autumn reds and oranges, October golds, somber lakeside blacks and buttercups under blue skies. John Muir, the protector of the wild, said “Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike.” (Ernie Imhoff/For The Baltimore Sun)

: “Jones Falls Trail.” One way to see the whole of Droodle is the park’s 2.75-mile section of the 10-mile Jones Falls Trail. It starts at Penn Station and enters the park from the east near Druid Lake. The path winds by the Rawlings Conservatory and Maryland Zoo, near City Farms Garden and Farmers’ Market, heads northward and downhill, enters woods and follows Parkdale Avenue to a Metro Station. (Ernie Imhoff/For The Baltimore Sun)

“Druid Hill became my local escape. It was a natural choice, near home and rising ground. A camera often came with me. Let me share my photographs from this beautiful, often mysterious atmosphere. A friend and Internet craftsman, Stephanie Sawchenko, helped me create http://mydroodle.wordpress.com.”

Ernie Imhoff was a reporter and editor at The Evening Sun and The Sun for 36 years. He since became a documented ordinary seaman for 14 years on Baltimore’s Liberty ship, the S.S. John W. Brown. He published “Good Shipmates: Volumes 1 and 2″ and created a DVD, “Beautiful Ship.”

My Droodle: Beauty and Mystery in Druid Hill Park

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