Lost To Time: What We Can Learn From Bainbridge

Cecil County is home to several of Maryland’s most spectacular landmarks: Turkey Point Lighthouse, the Gilpin covered bridge, the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, and most iconic, the remains of Bainbridge.

Bainbridge’s notable history is rooted in Jacob Tome’s established, elusive prep school for wealthy young men. Tome’s magnificent vision proved to be a masterpiece of art, culture, and academia, intertwined and fused into one grand creation. Few resources were spared when it came to building the Tome School. World-renowned architects and landscapers, such as Boring, Tilton, and Leavitt worked on the prestigious design. Boring and Tilton are known for crafting Ellis Island, and Leavitt is known for designing Central Park in New York City. Financial difficulties eventually led to the Navy purchasing the land. The new owners expanded and developed the grounds on a massive scale, producing over five hundred new structures in a brief period. Once a work of art with great ingenuity, Bainbridge evolved into a work of decay, falling victim to bureaucracy and lack of oversight.

I quickly became absorbed with Bainbridge’s past while reading about its beauty and significance. I was troubled to learn most of Bainbridge’s history has been forgotten. The grounds have become a casualty of vandals and Mother Nature. Words like pride, respect, and brilliant, which would have previously applied as description of Bainbridge, can now be replaced with abandoned, decrepit, and irreversible. The walls are collapsing and graffiti litters what remains.

Unfortunately, little can be done to reverse the current condition of the former epicenter of one of the largest economic stimuli the region has experienced. Hopefully, from a preservation standpoint, we will treat Bainbridge as an example of what not to do. We must never allow our history to become abandoned and forgotten, as we have with Bainbridge.

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