A couple of items from the papers

Museums enjoy their free for all

The gamble of free admissions at Baltimore's two largest art museums seems to be paying off. Admissions are soaring, and both the Baltimore Museum of Art and The Walters Art Museum report that they are attracting a more diverse crowd than ever before. Link & a link to Baltimore's "Free Fall" events calender.

Man seeks a home for black history

In a county that has museums for boats, rural art and duck decoys, John T. Lee Sr. says there is a noticeable omission in Harford's repertoire. Link

Hunters outfox sport's challenges

Upon the huntsman's command, the hounds sprinted out ahead, followed closely by riders galloping across a farm field on a clear, crisp morning. The entourage -- about 40 crossbred hounds leading 25 horsemen -- raced over rolling hills spread across four farms in Harford and Baltimore counties, a spectacle of action focused on pursuit of a single, diminutive yet tricky creature: a fox. Link

On Hallowed Ground, a Place of Painful Beauty

IT'S strange that a military graveyard should be so lovely, but lovely is the only way to describe the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, 26 miles northwest of Verdun. As exquisite as any French park or chateau grounds, the cemetery is a formal garden of perfectly clipped trees, immaculate lawns, fountains and roses and long white rows of grave markers. Given its beauty, it's also strange how empty the place is — and stranger still since this is the largest American military cemetery in Europe, the burial site of 14,246 United States service members who died in the war to end all wars. Link

Reconstructed slave cabin opens, adding realism to Mt. Vernon

MOUNT VERNON, Va. - The homes of the nation's first presidents receive as much care and attention as any historic sites in the nation. Special societies raise money to preserve and protect them. Researchers dote on the finest points of their architecture and family heritage.
But until recent years, there was little focus on a painful reality in the history of several of the founding fathers: George Washington, who led the colonial forces seeking freedom from the British; Thomas Jefferson, whose Declaration of Independence proclaimed the right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," and James Madison, who wrote the Constitution "in order to . . . secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity," all owned slaves. Link

Quote of the day: "It used to be that people moved to where the jobs are," Plosila said. "Now they move to where they want to live and find a job there." Link

Walters