Jonas and Anne Catharine Green Park a bridge to community history and recreation

AROUND THE PARK AGAIN by Sharon Lee Tegler

With cool breezes stirring on a beautiful July day, friends Diane Evans and Dianne Rey strolled through the gardens at Jonas and Anne Catharine Green Park – a park they both have a strong connection to.

Winding past park benches where visitors took in views of sailboats cruising past the Naval Academy, the pair gravitated to a plaque they’d had made detailing the history of Jonas and Anne Catharine Green for whom the park is named.

Diane Rey, who portrays Colonial Annapolis newspaper publisher Anne Catharine Green for historic reenactments, is a fount of knowledge about the couple.

While weeding flowerbeds, she and Evans were recently approached by a park visitor asking who Jonas and Anne Catharine Green were. Both realized there was no information telling visitors about either of them. They decided to do something about it.

Evans oversees the park as Vice-President of the Friends of Anne Arundel County Trails which manages the 3-1/2 acre property for the county.

She pointed out that the only thing acknowledging the Greens was a sign near the entrance installed in 2018 when Anne Catharine’s name was added to that of her husband.

“Diane was there in costume representing Mrs. Green who’d have been delighted,” Evans said.

As Printer to the Province of Maryland and publisher of The Maryland Gazette, Jonas, and then Anne Catharine, who carried on both roles after her husband’s death, were major influences in Annapolis’ 18th century history.

Evans noted that the property near the base of the Route 450 Bridge (also referred to as the Naval Academy Bridge) was acquired by the Maryland State Roads Commission from the Severn Land Company in 1938 for use as a roadside park. Management was transferred from one state agency to another until absorbed into the Maryland Department of Natural Resources when it was created in 1969. In 2004, much of the park was transferred to the Anne Arundel County Department of Recreation and Parks but is largely cared for by the Friends of Anne Arundel County Trails.

The park gained the name Jonas Green Park in 1953 to honor the 225th anniversary edition of the Maryland Gazette, one of the oldest newspapers in the country. Started in 1727 by William Parks, the Gazette suspended operations for a time until Jonas Green revived it in 1745. It survived largely due to her efforts.

Rey noted that between 1738, when the newly wed Greens moved to Annapolis, and 1760, they had 14 children, only six of whom survived to adulthood. Anne Catharine helped support the family by selling chocolate and coffee and was likely involved with the business.

“When Jonas died in 1767, she took over the printing press, not missing a single issue of the Maryland Gazette,” Rey said. “Awarded her late husband’s post as Printer to the Province, she printed the laws and proceedings of the Maryland General Assembly and the paper currency. She paid off her husband’s considerable business debts, purchased the family home and established her sons in the business while remaining the master printer. She was a major influence in the Annapolis community, the county and the state in the years leading up to the American Revolution.”

Evans’ interest the park began in 2008 when she joined the board of directors of the Friends of Anne Arundel County Trails at the urging of the late Elizabeth Wyble who was president at the time.

“Elizabeth asked me, ‘Would you like to do the park?’ I’d always had a dream of redoing this park because there wasn’t much here so I said I’d love to,” Evans said.

It’s what she’s been doing for the past 13 years, gradually getting citizens to purchase benches (there are now six), putting in all the Crepe Myrtles, a variety grasses, and different kinds of trees.

Some of the trees “didn’t make it” as they were planted over the old 450 roadbed that leads to a remnant of the old Route 450 Bridge at the end of the park that was made into a free-to-the-public fishing pier.

The fishing pier runs parallel to the new U.S. Naval Academy Bridge that replaced it and has magnificent views of the Severn River.

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There’s an even more splendid view of the U.S. Naval Academy Bridge beyond the plaque honoring Stanley R. Davis who was part the team that replaced the deteriorating Bascule drawbridge. Both Evans and Rey remember crossing the old drawbridge which they found charming but a trifle annoying when it was drawn up to let boats through while automobile traffic backed up. On the other hand, they love the graceful curves of the new bridge.

A walkway winding past the bridge runs slightly uphill and overlooks more parkland and the rock-lined shore below.

Evans noted that one of her first projects was the installation of three rain gardens in the parking lot with the help of midshipmen from the Naval Academy. Now mature, the gardens absorb stormwater runoff and help cool the heatwave producing parking lot.

Evans later conceived, designed and created the Friends of Anne Arundel County Trails’ Legacy Garden where families can purchase a brick to honor a loved one. Anne Catharine Green would approve of the brick purchased by the family of reporter and editor Wendi Winters who perished while protecting Capital Gazette staff members during a newsroom shooting in 2018.

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Evans’ BayScape garden design combines native species along the beach and shoreline with formal planter beds surrounding the Visitor Center. Art is an important part of the design and she is particularly proud of the dramatic Heron carving that stands out from a spot known as the Orphan’s Garden overlooking the beach.

The Orphan’s Garden began as a bed where Evans placed donated plants or shrubs that wouldn’t work elsewhere. The plants grew to maturity and now constitute a grove. The Heron resulted from a bequest for the purchase of artwork from the estate of a gentleman who’d loved the park. While searching for an appropriate piece that would represent the park’s location near the confluence of the Severn and Magothy Rivers and Chesapeake Bay, Evans thought of a heron. She found a carving of one on the Internet by Thurmont, Maryland chainsaw artist Joseph Stepping, Jr. whom she engaged. Stebbing had hoped to carve the bird from a tree fronting the Orphan’s Garden but determined the tree was not stable enough. Instead he carved it in his studio and affixed it to the trunk of the tree.

Artistically rendered signage is also displayed throughout the park. Designed to educate and inform the 150,000 visitors who come from all over the world, some of the signs are bilingual.

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There is also a plaque honoring former Severna Park resident Elizabeth Wyble, a founding board member of the Friends of Anne Arundel County Trails and it’s president for 15 years.

Wyble was, in large part, responsible for the inclusion of the park Visitor Center which opened in 2009. On entering, visitors will immediately see the innovative information desk Anne Arundel County employees built on their own time in the shape of a ship named the Elizabeth W. as a tribute to Wyble.

Cared for by the Friends of Anne Arundel County Trails with help from the Severn River Association and the Anne Arundel County Watershed Stewards Academy, Jonas and Anne Catharine Green Park is more popular than ever with picnickers, crabbers and fishermen, plein air painters, photographers and people simply looking for a quiet space to relax.

It’s also one of the rare points of public access to the public waterways for county residents. Paddle boarding, kayaking and wading is allowed off the beach but swimming is not allowed as there is a precipitous drop off considered dangerous. And, of course, fishing is allowed.

A new sign has recently been posted noting that overnight access to the park will end. But the lovely recreation area will continue to welcome, inspire and inform visitors as a local treasure.

For information and directions to the park, visit Jonas and Anne Catharine Green Park – Anne Arundel County Trails | The Friends of AACo Trails (friendsofaatrails.org) .

AAUW resumes book collections

Dates and locations for the annual used book collection by the Anne Arundel Co. Branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) were announced at the Severna Park Independence Day Parade.  Members of the branch participated in the parade and circulated among spectators to share dates and locations for the upcoming used book collections.  Donation sites will be St Martins-in-the Field, the Anne Arundel Community College parking lot, and St Phillips Episcopal Church from 9 am to 12 noon on August 14 and 28, September 11 and October 2 and 16.  The Book Sale will be held in November.  Proceeds will go to scholarships for AA County Women. For further information, visit http://annearundelcounty-md.aauw.net.