Westminster's sacred places are shrines of community life

My Sunday Carroll Eagle column is up…

Westminster's sacred places are shrines of community life

EAGLE ARCHIVE By Kevin Dayhoff Posted on www.explorecarroll.com on 7/25/08

Since this is a Sunday column, I do hope it's fitting to talk about sacred places.

Not necessarily houses of worship, mind you, though those are most often considered sacred places.

I'm thinking of the sacred public places as described in a 1981 book by Dr. Ira Zepp [pictured here in a 1996 file photo] and Marty Lanham, "Sacred Spaces of Westminster."

I thought of the book as I sat in a recent Common Council meeting at Westminster City Hall -- a building that many consider one of the true sacred places in Carroll County.

At the beginning of the meeting, Mayor Tom Ferguson read a proclamation recognizing July as Recreation and Parks Month, and paid tribute to the city's recreation and parks director Ron Schroers, as well as other employees who work tirelessly for our benefit.

One of the recreational facilities that Schroers oversees is the popular Westminster playground in the heart of the city.

The playground is one the first pictures, taken by Lanham, in that 1981 book.

Moreover, toward the end of the book, the authors discuss one of the overlooked sacred landmarks in Westminster: the Memorial Gateway to the Westminster playground off of Center Street.

Zepp and Lanham explain that the "gateway was given to the city by H. Peyton Gorsuch in 1937. Its primary purpose was to acknowledge the community's debt to Carroll Countians who had served in the nation's wars."

The book goes on to highlight public places such as Belle Grove Square, various other parks, gardens, memorials and monuments.

Read the entire column here: Westminster's sacred places are shrines of community life

When he is not watching the ducks at the Westminster Community Pond, Kevin Dayhoff can be reached at kdayhoff@carr.org. Please don't feed the ducks ... or the Dayhoff.

20080725 Westminster's sacred places are shrines of community life

Labels and related: People Carroll County Zepp – Dr. Ira Zepp, Religion Dayhoff articles and essays, Art The Library, Art The Library Carroll County, History Westminster, Dayhoff Art writing essays and articles,

Westminster Dept Recreation and Parks Westminster Playground, Westminster Dept Recreation and Parks Dir Ron Schroers, Westminster Mayor 200505 to 2009 Thomas K. Ferguson