Press Release: Nationally Recognized Firms Selected for Elktonia-Carr's Beach Heritage Park

* PRESS RELEASE *

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Media Contact: Mitchelle Stephenson, 410-972-7724 or [email protected]

Nationally Recognized Firms Selected for Elktonia-Carr's Beach Heritage Park

ANNAPOLIS, MD (August 5, 2024) - The City of Annapolis, in partnership with the Resilience Authority of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County, has selected McAdams and SCAPE to create a Master Plan for the Carr's Elktonia Heritage Park. Under the Master Plan, the five-acre site will become a new park designed to acknowledge and celebrate Chesapeake Bay's historic Black beaches. The work will involve landscape design as well as shoreline restoration to protect the new park and its beach from the impacts of climate change.

Award-winning and internationally recognized Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP from McAdams -who was named one of the top 100 urbanists in the world in 2023 -and Kate Orff from SCAPE - the first landscape architect to be named a MacArthur Fellow - will lead a team that includes MBP, Creative Urban Alchemy, Underwood and Associates and Synergy Solutions.

"Our expectations are extraordinarily high for this new City park," said Mayor Gavin Buckley. "I want to thank our partners at the Resilience Authority and Director of Recreation and Parks Roslyn Johnson for their vision and work. I enthusiastically await the first round of sketches for our new Carr's Elktonia Heritage Park."

The Carr's/Elktonia parcel was acquired by the City of Annapolis in August 2022. The five-acre site was the last remaining piece of Chesapeake Bay beachfront that was once a contiguous series of properties owned and operated by the Carr's and Sparrows families. The property was slated for development when, in 2021, Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley put a team together to buy the property using State of Maryland Program Open Space (POS), City, county, and private funds.

In early 2024, the City of Annapolis, with the support of the county, nonprofit organizations, and private donors, also purchased the adjacent Chesapeake Bay-front cottage that was once the home of Dr. Parlett Moore. Together, the two parcels are nearly six acres of Chesapeake Bay beachfront property. The Elktonia parcel is undeveloped. The Moore parcel includes a residential structure. The Moore property's beachfront has the scattered remains of a riprap installation (large stone placements deployed for coastal reinforcement), while Elktonia is a sandy beach.

"We applaud the City's and County's commitment to acknowledge and recognize the history and legacy of this site and their shared desire to preserve and protect the area's Black history through the newly created Elktonia-Carr's Beach Heritage Park," said Mitchell Silver FAICP, Hon. ASLA. "During the Jim Crow era, Carr and Sparrow Beaches were a center of Black entertainment with legendary artists performing there, which offered a sense of belonging during a period of racial segregation."

Carr's and Sparrows beaches were welcoming Chesapeake Bay resorts from the 1920s to the 1960s. During the time of segregation, people whose heritage was African American, Jewish, Italian (and others) were prohibited from "whites only" beaches in Maryland and across the South. All were welcome at the Carr and Sparrows family beach resorts.

"We are so honored to be part of this amazing team and will work hard to repair and revive the historic shoreline at Carr's Beach so that coastal stories can be told and memories shared long into the future", said Kate Orff RLA, FASLA, Founding Principal, Partner of SCAPE

During the 1950s and 1960s, "The Beach," as it came to be known, drew thousands to weekend concerts from the likes of James Brown, Duke Ellington, the Temptations, Stevie Wonder and other Black artists. The sound was captured live from the site on Sunday nights by DJ Hoppy Adams. The music was broadcast on local radio station WANN and reached a wide (non-segregated) AM radio audience. The signal regularly reached Washington, DC and Baltimore, but could sometimes reach as far as Philadelphia and even into Ohio. That signal helped to make Carr's Beach a destination for African American beachgoers and music lovers throughout the mid-Atlantic region.

"I couldn't be more excited to have the opportunity to work alongside this team of experts", said Resilience Authority Director, Matthew Fleming. "I am excited to bring the Resilience Authority's coastal expertise to bear in healing the shoreline at Carr's Beach and to be a part of this partnership and helping the City tell this important story in the region's history".

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The Resilience Authority was formed through legislative statute in 2021 to become the country's first multi-jurisdictional climate resilience authority. Our mission is to actively support and connect funds to infrastructure projects that mitigate current and anticipated effects of climate change. By providing an efficient and effective mechanism for planning, funding and completing projects on behalf of Anne Arundel County and the City of Annapolis, the Resilience Authority has the singular purpose of investing in the infrastructure that drives the economy, protects the environment, and ensures a quality of life for generations to come.

CONTACT INFORMATION & MEDIA INQUIRIES: Public Information Officer Mitchelle Stephenson 410-972-7724 [email protected] Resilience Authority of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Matt Fleming, Director [email protected].

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