A Fertile Tradition of Living Off the Land

By Ann Cameron Siegal
Special to The Washington Post
Saturday, July 26, 2008

James Chesley Jr., a physician, has the serene look of a man who has found the perfect balance in life.

When not tending to patients and medical emergencies, Chesley raises ducks -- Muscovy, Peking and mallard -- and lives as a gentleman farmer on 10 acres along a winding, tree-lined, historic road in Glenn Dale, just two minutes from the bustling Route 450 corridor in Prince George's County.

His wife, Camille, a veterinarian, relaxes by riding and showing their American paint horses.

"People come and visit and say: 'Wow! I didn't know there was anything like this so close in,' " he said.

For 20 years, Chesley has also enjoyed the fruit of the labor of his property's former owner, a horticulturist. George Darrow (1889-1983) was a foremost American authority on strawberries. After his retirement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's plant introduction center in Glenn Dale, Darrow started one of the nation's first pick-your-own businesses in 1957 on what is now Chesley's land.

"This morning I had fresh plums for breakfast and heard the hens cackling," Chesley said recently. When his son Stephen, now a Howard University student, was small, the two would stroll the property and, depending on the season, pluck fresh mulberries, grapes, pears, persimmons or plums for munching.

Chesley also has a plentiful supply of black walnuts just outside his door -- that is, if he gets to them before the squirrels do.

Glenn Dale is an unincorporated community. "It's what's left over after you take out Bowie, Seabrook and Lanham," said Leland Bryant, a 20-year resident and retired Smithsonian photographer.

Henry Wixon, president of the Glenn Dale Citizens Association, said, "It's the green belt between Greenbelt and Bowie."

That green belt is tightening. In 1995, there were about 1,400 households with a Glenn Dale address. Today there are more than 4,000, with several hundred more planned.

In 1928, the Glenn Dale Fire Association's first piece of equipment was a donated Model T with a bell, some buckets and rakes. Over the years, Glenn Dale firefighters have rescued horses mired in mud, passengers trapped in train wrecks and a pilot whose stolen plane skidded across the roof of DuVal High School. When a 1950s snowstorm trapped one engine crew, the men kept warm overnight in an egg truck from the Eastern Shore.

From 1908 to 1935, an electric commuter train ran from the District to Baltimore, with a stop in Glenn Dale. Today a bike trail follows part of that path.

Despite the growth and urbanization of the area, numerous late-19th-century and early-20th-century farmhouses still dot the landscape. Several years ago, Wixon and his wife, Nora, moved the historic 1856 Buena Vista house one-and-a quarter miles to their property on Bell Station Road because a shopping center on Route 450 clashed architecturally with the house.

"Everybody knew that house," said Wixon, who hand-dug some ironstones from the original site to re-create the home's foundation.

Since 1987, Bob Hanisch and Sue Neff have been restoring the Augusta DuVal house, circa 1894, which was originally built for the great-granddaughter of Gabriel Duvall, a Glenn Dale landowner who served as a Supreme Court justice from 1811 to 1835.

"We bought it thinking it was totally livable as it was," Hanisch said. Finding some upstairs water damage was just the start of the typical "while we're at it" homeowner mantra, resulting in uncovering a double fireplace, restoring the wood siding and traditional colors, and putting an addition on the back to reflect the symmetry of the front.

Much of Glenn Dale's rural character has given way to developments with names such as Strawberry Glen and Gabriel's Run. The names may be tied to Glenn Dale's past, but old-timers say these newer neighborhoods are often disconnected from one another both physically and in their community involvement. As a result, traditions such as an annual July 4 parade have faded from the calendar.

Ted Jackson, who moved to Glenn Dale in 1990, said, "It's an ongoing struggle to maintain the character and the country atmosphere here."

That old atmosphere is still very much evident along Bell Station Road, now a historic scenic byway but originally established as a stagecoach route in the 1700s. The narrow, shoulderless, unlined road was paved only about 20 years ago.

Protests were loud recently when Baltimore Gas and Electric began what was seen as an aggressive tree-cutting program there. While many residents said they understand that low wires and aging trees weren't compatible, they are nevertheless very protective of the community's grand oak, pecan and cypress trees.

"People understand that reliability [of electric service] is important," Sue Neff said, "but there's a way to do it without clear-cutting."

Two nearby properties may be ripe for development.

The Department of Agriculture's plant introduction center, a 70-acre tract bordering Old Pond Road where plants including the Glenn Dale azalea and Bradford pear tree were developed, closed in January. Several residents expressed the hope that the property would be designated for a historical use that highlights its horticultural contributions. "The pre-genetic-engineering world is encapsulated there," Wixon said.

And the once-stately Colonial revival rick buildings of the 210-acre Glenn Dale hospital property still stand empty after almost three decades of neglect. The hospital served as a tuberculosis sanitarium from the mid-1930s until 1960, then as a hospital for the District's chronically ill. It closed in 1982 amid concerns about asbestos.

The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission has owned the crumbling property since 1990. The terraces, gardens and sun porches once used for fresh air and sun therapy long ago succumbed to tangled vines.

There have been numerous proposals for the property, but in 1994 the state General Assembly mandated a combined use of open space and a 60-acre continuing-care retirement community.

The planning commission may consider incentives to encourage that development sooner rather than later, said spokesman Rex Hodgson. The property "is not doing anyone any good as is," he said. In the meantime, the commission has begun working to update the master plan for the area that includes the hospital grounds.

Chesley, whose property backs up to the nearly deserted Agriculture Department property, looked out recently at the horses grazing in his pasture. What's coming may be uncertain, but for now, he said, "this is peace."