How Many Degrees of Separation?

A blog post by Education Director Ilene Dackman-Alon. To read more posts by Ilene click HERE.

Over the holiday weekend, my husband and I went “Biking Beyond Borders,” meaning we biked outside of the state, north of the Maryland Dixon-Mason Line.  We found ourselves in the southern part of Pennsylvania on what is now the York County Heritage Rail Trail, which connects to a similar hike/bike trail in Northern Maryland down to Baltimore named the Torry C. Brown Rail Trail (also known as the  NCR Trail or the Northern Central Railroad trail).

While on the trail we came across the Howard Tunnel which I learned has been in operation since 1838 and is the second oldest tunnel rail bridge that exists in the United States.

Howard Tunnel
Howard Tunnel

Originally constructed by the York and Maryland Line Rail Road, the Northern Central Railroad was a subsidiary of the B & O Railroad.  It formed a critical link in the north-south line assembled by the Northern Central Railway.  As we kept riding, I was determined to go back and find the degrees of separation between this very cool tunnel and my work at the Jewish Museum of Maryland. Have you ever played the game to see how many degrees of separation?

First Degree

One of the founding members of the B & O Railroad was Solomon Etting, an early businessman and civic leader in Baltimore.  He lived in York and Lancaster, Pennsylvania until he moved to Baltimore in 1791. Etting was active in the Jewish communities in York, Lancaster and Baltimore. He trained as a shochet, or kosher butcher, in 1782, possibly the first native-born American to do so.

Solomon Etting
Solomon Etting

In 1801, Solomon and his uncle purchased the “Jew’s Burying Ground,” the cemetery used by Baltimore’s Jewish community.  At the time, there were not any incorporated congregations, so they purchased this land as individuals. The Etting Cemetery is located on North Avenue.

Etting Cemetery
Etting Cemetery

Etting also lobbied extensively to end Maryland’s exclusion of Jews from elected office. He and his father-in-law Bernard Gratz petitioned the Maryland House of Delegates in 1797, asking that Jews “be placed upon the same footing with other good citizens,” but were rebuffed that year. He submitted a similar petition in 1802, and again in 1824, which ultimately led to the final passage of the “Jew Bill” which was passed in 1826.

The Jew Bill, JMM1987.082.001
The Jew Bill, JMM1987.082.001

Second Degree

I searched even more to see what kinds of things were in our collections about trains and the railroad. One of the first things I found was some tickets from the B & O Railroad. This string of tickets from Baltimore & Ohio Railroad printed as a souvenir traces the history of the B&O Railroad from 1830 to 1889. These 13 tickets represent stages in the development of the B&O railroad.

 

B & O Railroad Ticker Souvenirs, JMM1991.147.034
B & O Railroad Ticker Souvenirs, JMM1991.147.034

My favorite object that I found was a wonderful comic book published by Hochschild Kohn called Rails Across America.  As soon as I saw it I wanted to break out my crayons!

Hochschild Kohn Book, JMM 2000.150.001
Hochschild Kohn Book, JMM 2000.150.001

A Winning Game!

The game was fun and as you can see, our little bike ride over the holiday weekend, was really only two degrees of separation from my work at the Jewish Museum of Maryland.  Next time, see if you can play the game too!

Categories
Education jewish museum of maryland Museum Stories

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.