What to See in Towson - Top Sights and Attractions

National park in the Hampton, Maryland. Hampton National Historic Site, in the Hampton area north of Towson, Baltimore County, Maryland, USA, preserves a remnant of a vast 18th-century estate, including a Georgian manor house, gardens, grounds, and the original stone slave quarters. The estate was owned by the Ridgely family for seven generations, from 1745 to 1948. The Hampton Mansion was the largest private home in America when it was completed in 1790 and today is considered to be one of the finest examples of Georgian architecture in the U.S. Its furnishings, together with the estate's slave quarters and other preserved structures, provide insight into the life of late 18th-century and early 19th-century landowning aristocracy. In 1948, Hampton was the first site selected as a National Historical Site for its architectural significance by the U.S. National Park Service. The grounds were widely admired in the 19th century for their elaborate parterres or formal gardens, which have been restored to resemble their appearance during the 1820s. Several trees are more than 200 years old. In addition to the mansion and grounds, visitors may tour the overseer's house and slave quarters, one of the few plantations having its original slave quarters surviving to the present day.^[1]

United methodist church in the Hampton, Maryland. Towson United Methodist Church is a large United Methodist Church in the historic Hampton subdivision of Towson, a suburb in Baltimore County, Maryland. Its past, rooted in 19th-century America and subsequent growth in the two centuries since then, has closely paralleled the nation's political and sociological trends. It was a congregation split asunder in 1861 on the eve of the American Civil War in a border state of divided loyalties, which eventually reunited and built a church in the post–World War II era of the 1950s, a time of reconciliation and rapid growth by mainline Protestant denominations, especially in the more affluent suburbs.

Pastored since July 2021 by Stephanie Roberts White, the church now brands itself as Towson Church with a blended traditional–contemporary Sunday worship service, along with a number of community outreach programs, including an accredited child care center and a Boy Scout troop. The church actively supports a home for unwed mothers, overseas missions, and Habitat for Humanity projects. The congregation worships in a 1,000-seat sanctuary built in 1958. The large building's prominent 235-foot (72 m) spire and cupola, a landmark visible for miles from the nearby Baltimore Beltway (Interstate 695), has been called "the beacon of Towson".

Towson United Methodist Church is located on Hampton Lane at interchange #27B of the Baltimore Beltway and Dulaney Valley Road (Md. Route 146), one-half mile (one km) west of Hampton National Historic Site. The church's land was originally part of the vast 18th-century Hampton estate.^[3]

Lake Roland Park is a city/county park encompassing over 500 acres of woodland, wetlands, serpentine barrens, rare plants and rocky plateaus surrounding Lake Roland in Baltimore County, Maryland. The park is located near the intersection of Falls Road and Lake Avenue, adjacent to the Falls Road Light Rail Stop of the Baltimore Light Rail, which runs from Cromwell Station near Glen Burnie in Anne Arundel County in the south to Hunt Valley of Baltimore County. The line runs along a railroad embankment and trestle over the lake above the dam, cutting the park into a two-thirds wooded northern part and the one-third southern portion around the dam, picnic groves, pavilion and pumping station.

Though the park is located just outside the northern limits of Baltimore city, it is owned by the city and operated as a park since the 1920s by the Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks and is now leased to neighboring Baltimore County and operated by their parks agency, in a similar arrangement to the situation with Fort Smallwood Park, several miles southeast of the city along the Patapsco River's south shore in Anne Arundel County, and transferred for lease to that suburban county's jurisdiction. After years of disrepair, the park was temporarily closed on December 16, 2009, when Baltimore County assumed operation of the Park for which Baltimore City's government still "retains title," for $6 million in extensive renovation, working with the Wallace Montgomery and Human & Rohde, Inc. construction companies, including "pavilions, playgrounds, trails, bridges and even a dog park." Under the new administration of Baltimore County's Parks and Recreation, the park was reopened to the public on Friday, October 14, 2011.^[4]

Reservoir in Maryland. Lake Roland is a 100-acre defunct reservoir in Baltimore County, Maryland. It was named for Roland Run, a nearby stream that feeds the lake and eventually flows into Jones Falls. It runs southeast through the city center to the Northwest Branch of the Patapsco River and the Baltimore Harbor. It is located just north of the Baltimore city limits.

The lake is contained within the bounds of Lake Roland Park, which was established in the 1920s and supervised by the newly organized Baltimore City Department of Parks and Recreation. The lake is an artificial impoundment created by a dam on Jones Falls and two smaller streams: Towson Run and Roland Run. The lake supports wildlife including Canada geese, largemouth bass, and common carp. The lake is part of the Lake Roland Historic District.^[6]

Church in Towson, Maryland. Towson Calvary Baptist Church, at 120 West Pennsylvania Ave, Towson, Maryland, was completed in 1929.

It is a gothic building built from the stone, concrete and aggregate supplied by the nearby Campbell quarry, which had its headquarters on the same block. The Harry Tyler Campbell company ultimately became the successful producers of Camel-Wite, an early whiting ingredient for paint, paper, rubber and plastic and Sakrete, a popular pre-mixed concrete formulation.

The structure is the second church building on the grounds. The first Calvary Baptist Church began meeting in 1890 and established their original wood-frame building at this address two years later (1892). The original building burned in 1929. The original 19th-century Baptist parsonage survived the fire and is currently leased for offices.^[9]