Sunday, July 31, 2011

Louis Diggs: Giving African-American history a home in Baltimore County - baltimoresun.com

Louis Diggs: Giving African-American history a home in Baltimore County - baltimoresun.com: It's easy to miss the little two-story, boarded-up house behind the Historical Society of Baltimore County in Cockeysville.

Known as 'the Pest House,' it was once a haven for patients suffering from contagious diseases, such as smallpox. Built in 1872, it's been empty for decades.

But efforts to convert it into a research center for county African-American history would take the old stone building beyond its dreary past into a brighter future, provided fundraisers can obtain more than $300,000 for the renovation job.