Glen Woods is a small park-like area on the campus of Towson University, and a fascinating relic from the New Deal era.
This 12-acre glen, surrounded by the modern buildings of the university, is peppered with numerous stone structures--a stone picnic table, several stone grilling platforms, a stone foot bridge, a stone pavilion with a fireplace, to name a few.
There are also a few informational placards that are in a bad state of disrepair (but, as of summer 2012, they have been removed for renovation). Just enough text on one of the placards can be read to understand how Glen Woods came to be:
"Stella Brown's Dream: Stella Brown had a dream that the Glen could be developed into an arboretum that could continue to be used for all its previous uses as well as becoming a community resource. She and other faculty envisioned the construction of a few buildings for meeting as well as a set of trails from which students and the public could appreciate the planting. About that time, the depression hit and many people lost their jobs. To help these people survive, the federal government developed the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which among other things, built roads, sidewalks, sewage systems and park buildings in many cities and towns. Realizing that the WPA might be a way to get the proposed Glen structures built, Lida(indecipherable letters) Tall, head of the Normal School, and Stella Brown, with the general support of the institution, submitted a proposal. The $55,000 proposal was approved in October of 1935, and by May of 1936, after obtaining an additional $19,000 supplemental budget, the project was completed."
* BYOP
