Last week my neighborhood was called Fell's Point, and now.......it's famous for a new and well-known resident. It was the foot of Broadway when I was growing up, and even as late as the 1980's, Polish people and merchant seamen walked the cobblestone streets near piers where the tug boats docked. I even recall the old ship chandlery on the Broadway pier and a tin shack called Connolly's with no atmosphere at all where you could get a seafood meal and hob nob with tug boat mates over a beer.
When the city proposed a highway that would obliterate every house, bar, pier and warehouse, it took decades to defeat the plan, and during that time, the area soured as a place to live. Property values plummeted! Banks red-lined the area all the way down to the waterfront. Who would buy a house that was going to be taken for a highway? Nowhere to go but up. And up it went. I paid $125,000 for my little house in 1998. Michael Phelps paid $1,700,000 for his, but oh my! what a house he got. It's the corner of a group of ten houses that were built a few years ago, supposedly for empty nesters but at over 4000 feet, the developer didn't realize that down-sizing meant less house, not more. So they sat, unloved.
I've tracked just about every development on the Baltimore waterfront, and have been on more hard hat tours than I can count. I have 2 hard hats in my car. I've signed releases, including one I signed that said I was aware I might die, but I went in anyway. Research is very important to a historian! And I like to see soap factories, can companies and tobacco warehouses BEFORE they are turned into condos. I like to walk the earth near old piers before they are paved for parking.
It wasn't until about 2 months ago that I went into one of the ten that turned out to be Michael's house, and boy oh boy was I a believer. It's 4 stories tall with a deck, and designed so that most all the rooms have a view. I found myself deciding where to put my office. I wanted the kitchen counters lowered because I'm barely 5 feet tall. I did not want to leave that house. At supper with 2 friends who came with me that day, we talked about which of the luxury condos we liked and I voted for Michael's.
I'm still in my little 1840's house but walk most days past Michael's knowing he probably had those counters and kitchen cabinets custom-designed for HIS height. Oh well! Michael and I don't have to cook. With 65 beer wine and liquor licenses in the neighborhood, and more restaurants than you can shake a stick at, we can find food and friends just around the corner.
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