You remember we ended our last walk up Route US1 at my old home away from home, the Army Reserve Center.

Today we continue going north through a short residential area, and then we see on the right two odd looking sculptures, flanked by entrances to what looks to be a small, new shopping center with a Starbucks and a Whole Foods.

But, surprise. When you drive into (or in my case, walk into) the Center, you find you are in a different world that you had no idea existed. There are shops and restaurants and playgrounds and apartments, all looking very inviting and comfortable.

Sorry, no pictures of the many midrise apartments. But I do have a picture of the big Blue Bear that stands near the splash fountain.

And then there is something even more intriguing near the front entrances. Here it is:

It’s an airplane perched on top of an old ice house. We learn that ice house, which goes 25 feet below the surface, was built by the Calvert family in 1860. And we learn that the land on which this center now sits was part of the Calverts’ farm, MacAlpine.

But what about the airplane? Well, it turns out that there was at least one interim owner betweem the Calvert time and time present. We learn that this land was the site of the Energy Research Corporation, founded in the 1930s by Henry Berliner to build small single engine airplanes and which then became an important military parts contractor during World War II. In addition to the workspace, there was a large development of publically owned housing units to serve ERCO employees and University of Maryland students on the GI bill. Built as temporary housing, it was all torn down in the 1950s. I don’t know what was happening on this site between the ERCO demolition and the construction of the current shops and instructions.

Continuing north, we see middle class housing, and then we get to College Park.

And then the commercial development begins anew.

Soon, I think, maybe next time we will get to the Maryland campus.