Students get firsthand look at landscaping industry

Oct. 14, 2006
By JOSEPH M. DELEON News-Post Staff
jdeleon@fredericknewspost.com

  FREDERICK — A majestic mansion adorned with Italianate detail on its windows and doors sits on a hill, overlooking Frederick to the north and undulating mountains to the west.
     Its square tower shoots four stories into the air from the center of a two-story porch supported by elegant white wooden columns. Two gnarled tulip poplars rise above the manor once known as Edgewood, which was built in 1872 near the Monocacy National Battlefield.
     “It's an unusual building to put out in the middle of nowhere, instead of on Church Street,” Tom McGrath, a superintendent for the National Park Service said Wednesday. “To build a palace out in the country like this is really odd because few people would get to see it.”
     After more than 12 years of renovations, the Gambrill house, named after original owner James Gambrill, will be dedicated today as the Historic Preservation Training Center.
     The center, part of the National Park Service, will provide training to a growing number of park service specialists who help preserve thousands of historic resources within the national park system. It includes a workshop at the Jenkins Cannery in downtown Frederick where park service employees are taught preservation philosophy, building crafts and project management skills.
     Mr. McGrath expects more than 150 people to attend the dedication, which will culminate in the final restorative touch — the symbolic placement of a newel post cap in the main stairway.
     “It's an interesting ceremony to reflect the last missing architec tural element,” he said. “Distinguished guests will spin the newel into place and will become a part of the final restoration.”