“History Is Not Dead” Maryland Opens 1,000 Acres at Freedman’s State Park Preserving Howard Family Legacy

Maryland dedicated more than 1,000 acres in northeastern Montgomery County this week to honor a Black household whose roots stretched from bondage into prosperity across several generations.

Visitors moved Thursday beside gravel paths and aging farmhouses as Freedman’s State Park officially opened to the public. Newly mounted signs stood near surviving sites once connected to Enoch George Howard, Harriet Howard, and relatives who built wealth and influence despite laws that once blocked Black residents from owning property or participating fully in civic life.

Construction dust drifted across portions of the area while crews hauled equipment through unfinished sections before the ceremony began. Temporary fencing surrounded exhibit rooms expected to trace how the Howard household established deep roots across parts of Baltimore, Montgomery County, and Canada during the nineteenth century.

Savannah Wood, executive director of Afro Charities and a descendant tied to the household, spoke near framed photographs and handwritten records displayed beneath cloudy skies. Her remarks focused on survival, memory, and the emotional strain carried by generations who guarded ownership papers and personal records through decades of racial discrimination.

“History is not dead. It is alive in this soil and alive in us,” Wood told attendees gathered near the future visitor section.

Open fields surrounding the park still reflect the agricultural setting that once shaped daily life across the acreage. Narrow roads cut through wide stretches of grass while aging wooden barns await additional repair work expected later this year.

Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources dedicated the park alongside Governor Wes Moore’s office and local preservation partners, according to WTOP News. State planners expect the location to attract school trips, researchers, and visitors seeking a closer look at Black agricultural life connected directly to property ownership after emancipation.

Chichi Nyagah Nash, deputy chief of staff to Moore, described the location as proof of survival shaped through generations of exclusion and economic hardship. Visitors slowly moved between exhibit renderings and restoration maps while older relatives pointed toward sections connected to earlier branches of the Howard lineage.

Stories tied to Black property ownership in Montgomery County often survived through church conversations, oral accounts, and scattered archival records passed quietly between generations. Freedman’s State Park now places those experiences into public view through preserved barns, educational displays, and open access to acreage once overlooked across much of the state.

Late Thursday afternoon, visitors remained scattered across the park taking photographs beside weathered barns and newly installed signs carrying the site’s name. Ground once shaped by slavery and segregation now stands open to the public while descendants work to protect a story that nearly vanished from wider view.