Photo of Dave and Erin Baldwin courtesy of Furnace Hills
Coffee Co.
video on
YouTube.
I recently got a call from a reader that was looking for an
article I wrote in October 2013 about the Furnace Hills Coffee Co Westminster
Maryland …
Sadly - increasingly - - my articles are harder to find on
the
Sun’s
website. And I am getting more requests from folks looking for my articles.
I guess things keep “improving” in the newspaper business and some things are
simply out of the writers’ command and control…
It has been said that the famous British writer Virginia
Woolf, 25 January 1882 – 28 March 1941, once wrote, “It’s the writing, not the
being read, that excites me.”
Well, I am not sure who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf, or how
Edward Albee feels about writing, but I like being read.
I understand what Ms. Woolf said, but I do not know Martha
and George, and I am not going to drag Nick and Honey into this discussion, but
I like storytelling. Although, I do subscribe to what has been attributed to
Tennessee Williams, “When I stop working the rest of the day is posthumous. I'm
only really alive when I'm writing.”
And speaking of Tennessee Williams, writing for the
newspaper these days reminds of his dialogue in “The Milk Train Doesn't Stop
Here Anymore,” (1963,) “Christopher: We all live in a house on fire, no fire
department to call; no way out, just the upstairs window to look out of while
the fire burns the house down with us trapped, locked in it.
+++++++++++++++
In case you missed it, last Sunday, Sept. 29, was “national
coffee day.” Who knew? Many cups of coffee and much more research will be
needed in order to percolate the history and tradition of this holiday. Then
again, maybe not.
According to an article in
Time
magazine on Sept. 27, by Brad Tuttle, “Sure, it’s a totally made-up holiday
based on almost no real tradition or significance other than being a day for
folks in the industry to promote coffee…”
Nevertheless, National Public Radio, (NPR) noted in an April
24, 2013 article, “
How
Coffee influenced the course of history,” Coffee is a powerful beverage. On
a personal level, it helps keep us awake and active. On a much broader level,
it has helped shape our history and continues to shape our culture.
“Coffee plants grow wild in Ethiopia and were probably used
by nomadic tribes for thousands of years, but it wasn't until the 1400s that people
figured out they could roast its seeds… By the 1500s, he says, the drink had
spread to coffeehouses across the Arab world. Within another 150 years, it took
Europe by storm.”
Up until the middle of the 1600s, coffee was primarily used
for medicinal purposes, healing everything from scurvy to gout to smallpox. Commonly
accepted folklore indicates that perhaps the first coffeehouse in history started
in an academic environment in Oxford England in 1650.
National Geographic reports in a January 19, 2012 article, “
How
coffee changed America,” that in 1670, “Dorothy Jones of Boston was granted
a license to sell coffee, and so became the first American coffee trader,” and
that by “1688, coffee replaced beer as New York’s favorite breakfast drink.”
NPR observes, “It is often said that after the Boston Tea
Party of 1773, when American colonists raided British tea ships and threw
crates of tea into the harbor, Americans universally switched over to drinking
coffee.” After 1773, it was considered unpatriotic to drink tea.
NPR notes historian Mark Pendergrast’s research, “One of the
ironies about coffee is it makes people think. It sort of creates egalitarian
places — coffeehouses where people can come together — and so the French
Revolution and the American Revolution were planned in coffeehouses…”
Locally there is a frequent mention of coffee in many
historical accounts of Carroll County; especially in discussions of social
settings and dinners; however there are hardly any references to coffeehouses.
In colonial times, Westminster was located one day's journey
from Baltimore on what is frequently speculated to have originally been a
Native-American trail west. There were at one time seven large hotels and many
restaurants in town which catered to westward bound travelers.
Dry goods and provisioning stores, restaurants and the hospitality
industry has always a key role in shaping Westminster’s history. Research a
number of years ago by historian Jay Graybeal refers to a September 1971 article
by former Historical Society of Carroll County curator Miss Lillian Shipley,
who wrote, “Around the turn of the
century Westminster had seven churches, seven hotels and eighteen saloons…”
In the 1960s and 70s
there was a popular coffeehouse, "B's Coffee Shoppe," where
O'Lordan's Irish Pub is now located in the "old stone building" on
Liberty Street.
A number of popular coffee shops have started in Carroll
County in recent years. A recent trip to the Furnace Hills Coffee Co. at 71
West Main St., in Westminster reveals an egalitarian use for coffee that is
revolutionary.
At Furnace Hills, the aroma of coffee wafted into the street
Saturday afternoon, the day before the national coffee holiday. There, Regina
Harshman was juggling business phone calls, roasting coffee beans, and doing
various housekeeping chores among huge sacks of coffee beans at the one room
coffee shop next to Harry’s Main Street Grille.
“I’m an employee…,” said Harshman smiling, without looking
up from the coffee roaster and a container of mixed coffee beans that she was
studying intensely.
After gesturing to the huge bags of coffee, Harshman
volunteered, “I actually drive to the port occasionally to pick up these 60
kilo bags of coffee… 132 pounds, they’re heavy… (The) business (was) started by
Erin’s Dad, Dave Baldwin… He’s the pastor at
LifePoint Church.
Asked who “Erin is,” Harshman gestured to a brochure,
“there’s more information on the website, “Furnace Hills is special coffee
roasted by special people. The Chief Coffee Roaster, Erin Baldwin, has Down
Syndrome. We started in 2010. We’re a gourmet specialty coffee business … Our
vision is to employ developmentally disabled people in competitive jobs while
providing high quality product that keep customers coming back.
According to information found on the
website. “Our first
employee, Erin Baldwin, has Down Syndrome. Although she is challenged in how
she lives her life in a number of areas, she loves to roast coffee and is doing
a great job as well… Our goal is to hire more developmentally disabled people
as our roasting company grows.”
“We’re on Main St, in part because Erin’s Dad feels
passionately about turning around downtown – Main St. Westminster. In spite of
a big increase in business, we want to stay true to our mission… Erin loves her
job…,” said Harshman as she answered the phone to keep track of one of the
several events in which Furnace Hills was providing the coffee.
“We were a little kitchen roaster that has turned into a
name in the (coffee) industry. I mean, we are in the
Whole Foods Market – the grocery
chain market. We have a national customer base.”
One frequent customer, Abby Gruber, the Westminster Director
of Recreation and Parks, says she loves Furnace Hills coffee. “The shop is
right there near the city offices. The smell just calls you. I always enjoy the
company and the coffee there…”
“I love the mission. I love working here,” said Harshman
Saturday. “It is great coffee and I love telling the story.
