Troy Park is a regional park comprising 101 acres in

Elkridge, Maryland Elkridge is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Howard County, Maryland, United States. The population was 15,593 at the 2010 census. Founded early in the 18th century, Elkridge is adjacent to two other counties, An ...

. The park is located at 6500 Mansion Lane off Washington Boulevard, near the intersection of

Maryland Route 100 Maryland Route 100 (MD 100) is a major east–west highway connecting U.S. Route 29 (US 29) in Ellicott City (just north of Columbia) and MD 177 (Mountain Road) in Pasadena. MD 100 also connects to Interstate 95 (I-95), US 1, the Baltimor ...

and

I-95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadia ...

. Troy Park currently features several athletic fields, a playground, and trails. Once completed, the park will include pathways, comfort stations, an indoor sports complex, a community center, and a newly renovated Troy Mansion. All phases of the park's construction are expected to be finished by 2018.

History

The lands of "

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in prese ...

" were surveyed by Hon John Dorsey in 1694, where he moved in 1696 with 2 slaves. The property stayed in the family though his great-grandson Col. Thomas Dorsey (-1790) of the American Revolution whose estate sold it in 1808. Troy was inherited by Basil Dorsey in 1714, followed by Caleb Dorsey who reduced the land to 1016 acres which was split into two unequal parts in 1760 and given to Sarah Dorsey and Thomas Dorsey. Thomas Dorsey would use the root cellar as a meeting place with Benjamin Warfield of Cherry Grove during the revolutionary war. Thomas's widow Elizabeth split Troy several times to pay debts. Vincent Bailey acquired 652 acres including Troy for $6,520. A stone house named "Troy Hill" was built about 1808 on the foundation of an earlier Dorsey house by Vincent Baily and is representative of the late

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

style in Maryland architecture. The -story

fieldstone Fieldstone is a naturally occurring type of stone, which lies at or near the surface of the Earth. Fieldstone is a nuisance for farmers seeking to expand their land under cultivation, but at some point it began to be used as a construction mate ...

house is three

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...

wide and two deep. Outbuildings included a stone barn, smokehouse and dairy. Situated on a hill, the fieldstone basement is unusually large with four rooms. An 1830 fire destroyed the original wood paneling. In 1880, the house was modified with cottage styling. In 1942, the house was modified again into a "Colonial Revival" style. Further modification occurred by owner Pedro De Valle. Donald Doll was the last resident before the state purchased the property on 16 December 1958 to destroy it to make way for the I-95 project. The house was left in a state of purposeful neglect until Howard County purchased the stripped house and 52 surrounding acres in September 1971 for $67,500. In 1978, Howard County proposed to build an interpretative gardening center at the house. In 1989, the state offered a $350,000 matching grant for renovation, but a spring 1991 fire gutted the building before it was spent. Howard County purchased 80 of the 101 acres with $2.1 million from the Department of Natural Resources Program Open Space. In 2011 the county began developing plans for the park and it held a construction groundbreaking on June 22, 2013. Once the park opened, it became the eighth regional park in Howard County, and the second regional park in Elkridge after

Rockburn Branch Park Rockburn Branch Park is a local park in Elkridge, Maryland that follows the , a tributary of the Patapsco River. The park features 7.4 miles of trails, 10 ball diamonds, 2 turf fields, 4 smaller fields, along with tennis and basketball courts. The ...

References

{{Howard County, Maryland topics Elkridge, Maryland Parks in Howard County, Maryland

History

See also

References