Journey of history, discovery - 'Legacy' is lesson in heritage for filmmaker

Journey of history, discovery - 'Legacy' is lesson in heritage for filmmaker

By Bob Allen ballen@patuxent.com

Posted on http://www.explorecarroll.com/ 1/07/09

As it is with nearly every Maryland county, Carroll has its own list of historical "firsts."

In Carroll County, for instance, the first rural free delivery postal route in the nation was established (in 1899).

The very first reaping machine was invented and patented here (1839). And in 1764, the first Methodist congregation in North America met near present-day New Windsor.

Yet unlike Maryland counties such as Anne Arundel or Washington counties, Carroll did not host key events in the founding of the nation or endure the trauma of a major Civil War battle.

That's why veteran filmmaker and Westminster resident Marilyn Maguire assumed a more grassroots perspective in 2007 when she began mapping out "Carroll County's Legacy," her recently completed 58-minute-long video history of her adopted home county.

"Joe Getty (one of numerous local historians interviewed in 'Carroll County's Legacy') has the perfect line that you hear very early in the film," Maguire explains.

Getty, in recounting the various waves of English, Irish and Pennsylvania-Germans who comprised the county's earliest white inhabitants, notes:

"The history of Carroll County is the history of everyday life, of ordinary people doing ordinary things, and so when you talk about our history you're talking about the thread of everyday living in the patchwork of Carroll County's history."

[…]

Living 'Legacy'

The Carroll County Community Media Center will hold the premiere of the television documentary "Carroll County's Legacy" on Wednesday, Jan. 7, at 6 p.m., at the Community Media Center, 1301 Washington Road in Westminster. The screening will be followed by a question and answer period with the producer, Marilyn Maguire of Maryland Public Television. The premiere is free and open to the public, although reservations are requested. To RSVP, call 410-386-4415.

In addition, excerpts from "Carroll County's Legacy" can be viewed on the Carroll County History Project's Web site, http://www.carrollhistory.org/.

DVD copies of "Carroll County's Legacy" can be purchased for $30 by calling the Community Media Center, at 410-386-4415.

Read the entire article here: Journey of history, discovery - 'Legacy' is lesson in heritage for filmmaker

20090107 Journey of history discovery by Bob Allen

http://explorecarroll.com/community/1993/journey-history-discovery/

Kevin Dayhoff E-mail him at: kdayhoff AT carr DOT org His columns appear in The Tentacle, www.thetentacle.com; The Westminster Eagle /Eldersburg Eagle The Sunday Carroll Eagle - Opinion: http://explorecarroll.com/opinion-talk/ www.kevindayhoff.net http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/ www.westminstermarylandonline.net http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/