Bare Hills Historic District
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Bare Hills Historic District
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Bare Hills School
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Bare Hills Historic District Boundary
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| Location | Falls Rd. between Light Rail and north of Coppermine Terrace, Towson, Maryland |
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| Coordinates | 39°23′14″N 76°39′34″W / 39.38722°N 76.65944°WCoordinates: 39°23′14″N 76°39′34″W / 39.38722°N 76.65944°W |
| Area | 275 acres (111 ha) |
| Architectural style | Gothic Revival; Mid-Century Modern |
| NRHP Reference # | 11000852 |
| Added to NRHP | November 22, 2011 |
The Bare Hills Historic District encompasses a residential area north of Baltimore, Maryland in Baltimore County, which had industrial beginnings before being transformed into a suburb of the city. The district includes Lake Roland Park (formerly named Robert E. Lee Park,) as well as a cluster of largely vernacular dwellings between the park and Falls Turnpike that was built mainly in the 19th century.
The Maryland Historical Trust (MHT) describes the district as follows:
The Bare Hills Historic District represents a community's development from its industrial beginnings in milling and mining into a transportation corridor along the Falls Turnpike, and finally to residential area after rail services enabled commuting into Baltimore. The district includes 90 properties which provide:
The MHT description also states:
Situated on a serpentine barrens, its thin and unfertile serpentine soil defined the Bare Hills area. Dr. H. H. Hayden documented the discovery of the area's mineral value:
The discovery occurred on Jesse Tyson's farm. Tyson's son Isaac Tyson, Jr. successfully mined the Bare Hills for chromite and identified other serpentine barrens in Maryland as chromite sources, including the Soldiers Delight area in western Baltimore County. His acumen established Maryland as the world's leading producer of chrome until the middle of the 19th century. All extraction at Bare Hills ceased by 1833.
The Bare Hills rock formation forces Jones Falls into an approximately 2.5 mile half-circle detour to the East before it resumes its south-southeasterly flow.
Bare Hills is also notable as the site of one of the earliest free African-American communities in Baltimore County, established about 1830 by Aquila Scott. Per the registration document for Bare Hills in the National Register of Historic Places:
Note. Scott's original log church burned in 1876. Its replacement, built in 1886, remains standing. The church site lies on the opposite side of Lake Roland, outside of this historic district.
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