The stone walls of the roughly 150-year-old building have been rebuilt, the roof replaced and windows repaired.
Now activists are looking to the next step in the Woodlawn Slave Quarters? preservation.
“We are into our midterm goals now, and that really means getting the slave quarters open and available to various organizations that could use it,” said Bill Miller, a member of the Columbia Association?s Woodlawn Task Force.
After celebrating the $225,000 restoration in May, the group is focusing on making a plan for the property, which also includes buildings such as a cottage and the ruins of a barn.
One of the first steps is an anniversary celebration “to keep people?s awareness alive,” said Barbara Kellner, manager of the Columbia Archives and task force member.
Ultimately, the slave quarters could become an educational stop on a historic trail running through Howard, officials said. The path could connect new andexisting paths from Meadowbrook Park to Savage Mill.
That part of the plan is “many years” away, Kellner said.
To reach that goal, the task force is looking to add members, Kellner added.
The group also is requesting funding from the Columbia Association.
Miller requested $50,000 in fiscal 2009 and 2010 for the project, $10,000 of which would be for an architect and land planner, according to his testimony at a recent CA board committee meeting.
The rest of the money would not be designated until plans are more developed.
The group also asked for $2,000 in fiscal 2008 for the anniversary party.
The board might not go for the larger request, Miller said, but it got the board thinking about the future of the slave quarters.
Meanwhile, the structure, near the historic Woodlawn Manor, is fenced off until the proper permits for visitors are secured.
Ron Brasher, head of D.R. Brasher Architects, which is developing the site for a commercial complex, refused to provide information on the project.
Fast fact
The Woodlawn Manor, dating back to the early 1800s, is one of two Columbia sites listed on the National Historic sites registry. The ruin is on Preservation Howard County?s top 10 list of endangered historic buildings.
