© Kenneth K. Lam / Baltimore Sun / TNS Old Grove Pine beams from the demolition of Locke's Insulators plant in Port Covington that are being recycled and reused by 28 Walker Development.A piece of South Baltimore's industrial history will be on board when the Mildred Belle, an education ship owned by Baltimore nonprofit Living Classrooms, makes its next cruise on the Patapska River.
The crumbling rafters from the now-closed Lock factory will cover the Insulator, to make room for a Port Covington land reclamation, Pell's hull, replacing the rotten timbers built in 1948.
© Kenneth K. Lam / Baltimore Sun / TNS SUSA International Chad Elam was responsible for recycling materials from the demolition of the Locke Insulator plant in Port Covington for 28 Walker Developments.The Belle was a veritable "trading ship" in the Chesapeake Bay, and once served as a vehicle for offshore trawlers carrying crabs and oysters from fishermen to markets. Bell was also an independent fishing vessel and later a charter vessel for cruises in the Gulf.
© Kenneth K. Lam / Baltimore Sun / TNS The old weathered hardwood beams of Mildred Belle's residential classroom have been restored with "new" old pine trees, some from Locke's former insulation factory in Baltimore.Now the wooden boat is one of three vessels operated by Classroom Living, which annually takes dozens of children and adults on educational tours of the bay, teaching sailing skills, the environment, and history.
In June, while Bell was being taken out of the water for her annual inspection, Peter Polster, the Life Class fleet captain, noticed that her horn, the base of her stern, was rotting. He knew he had a lot of work to do in the winter after Belle had finished her seasonal trip.
"It's 75 years old and made of wood, so it does need maintenance from time to time," says Polster. “Well, it takes constant care and affection. But it does need a lot of TLC over time.”
Getting the ship to Horwood required a major demolition, and along the way, Golling and his team of workmen discover that more decay needs to be replaced. What he thought would be a monthly job soon turned into a 10- to 12-week job.
Finding the best wood to restore the bottom of an old ship, Golling says, is harder than you think. Most of the lumber sold in the United States comes from trees bred for rapid growth. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was harvested from old forests, which made it more dense and resistant to rot. Today, this wood is easy to obtain from old buildings.
"They don't plant trees like that anymore," Polster said. “If you go to Home Depot and buy a yellow candle, it's the same kind. But these are completely different animals.”
Bolster first traveled to Massachusetts to purchase reclaimed lumber for Mildred Bell. But the hired Bolster truck could not carry enough beams to repair the ship's wooden bottom.
Stools don't have to go far to get the rest of the firewood. In fact, a Massachusetts lumber dealer, Arne Garmack, had just gone to Baltimore and bought beams for the Locke Insulators Building, built in the 1920s, just off the bend of the Patapska River in the Middle Branch.
So the industrial decline that has blossomed along Baltimore's south coast will go a long way toward shaping a new generation's impression of the Chesapeake Bay.
© Kenneth K. Lam / Baltimore Sun / TNS Electrical, construction and wood materials from the demolition of the Locke Insulator plant in Port Covington are recycled and reused by 28 Walker Development."He has great charm," said Polster.
The factory, which made ceramic insulators for electrical equipment, closed in 2017, laying off more than 100 workers. Last September, a developer named 28 Walker purchased the property and announced plans to build a community with townhouses and condos, as well as boardwalks and pools.
© Kenneth K. Lam / Baltimore Sun / TNS Scott Slosson, left, CEO of 28 Walker Development, and Chad Elam, right, SUSA International is working together to recycle and reuse construction materials from the demolition of Locke's Insulator plant in Port Covington. .The project, called Locke Landing, will add more housing to Port Covington's Baltimore Peninsula development as the area transforms from a harborside industrial hub into a residential area with office space, shops and a new headquarters. Agent of Armor Clothing Company.
First, the Lock Complex must be dismantled, a process intended to reuse remaining materials and equipment, said Scott Slason, 28 Walker's director of operations.
The company has a history of transforming an industrial site in Baltimore into a vibrant commercial center. Its portfolio includes the former Chesapeake Paperboard Company. McHenry Row on Interstate 95 at Locust Point, located at the refinery, also includes the Canton Crossing Shopping Center on the site of a former oil refinery.
© Kenneth K. Lam / Baltimore Sun / TNS Old Grove Pine beams from the demolition of Locke's Insulators plant in Port Covington that are being recycled and reused by 28 Walker Development. The Living Classroom has used wood reclaimed from the former Locke Insulation Factory to restore the Mildred Belle, a 1948 Chesapeake Bay ship."Once removed, we look for ways to move the property and put it back for meaningful reuse," Slason says. "Disassembly process like that."
© Kenneth K. Lam / Baltimore Sun / TNS Living Classrooms Navy Captain Peter Polster stands at the rear of the Mildred Belle, which is being renovated with old pine trees.Materials salvaged from demolished properties that could easily end up in a landfill are still a popular commodity for Baltimore businesses and nonprofits. Sandtown Furniture Company Companies love to use this material in their furniture industry. Second Chance of South Baltimore, a nonprofit group, accepts building materials in good condition for resale and even accepts donations of entire homes to be demolished. Funds received are directed to education in need.
© Kenneth K. Lam / Baltimore Sun / TNS Mildred Bell Classroom Living, 1948 Chesapeake Bay, under renovation.In Baltimore, if the demolition results in more than 5 tons of waste, city ordinance requires that 30% of the materials be sent to a licensed recycling facility. Democratic city council member Odette Ramos is preparing a bill that would permanently increase that percentage. It will also create a requirement for new construction to use a small but increasing percentage of recycled materials. He said he intends to file this summer.
© Kenneth K. Lam / Baltimore Sun / TNS Old, decaying wood from the 1948 "merchant ship" Mildred Belle in the Chesapeake Bay will be replaced with reclaimed wood, made in part at the former insulation plant in Baltimore. Locke in Baltimore.For developers, it's a balancing act, Slason says: trying to get the most out of building materials without slowing down wear too much. But there is an opportunity to make money, especially considering the cost of sending materials to a landfill. The company plans to sell about 1 million bricks and 40-50 trailers of lumber from the Lok plant.
28 Walker is also trying to find a way to honor the Lock factory in the new community, possibly using some of the items on site at the clubhouse.
But in the meantime, many things and raw materials, including timber, were sold to Mildred Belle.
When crews first entered the old plant, it looked much the same after it closed in 2017, said Chad Elam, owner of the Ohio-based Susa International that is helping with the rescue effort.
© Kenneth K. Lam / Baltimore Sun / TNS Living Classroom Carpenters Austin Krause, left, and Charles Johnson, right, work on Mildred Bell's renovation."There are still coffee cups on the table," he joked.
© Kenneth K. Lam / Baltimore Sun / TNS A demolition worker hauls old pine logs from the Locke Insulator plant in Port Covington for recycling and reuse.Inside, the workers found many spare parts for machinery and electrical equipment, some unused, which they planned to resell. The crew also collects old and used cars and electrical equipment for sale.
© Kenneth K. Lam / Baltimore Sun / TNS A demolition worker hauls old pine logs from the Locke Insulator plant in Port Covington for recycling and reuse.One afternoon inside the old factory, cut off from the building, thick black cables were running in great neatly wound loops, their copper ends gleaming.
Elam said even the building's loading dock was sold to another Baltimore company. Elam added that some of the electrical equipment used to test insulators will be donated to a non-profit organization for display at the museum.
Curtis J. Durham, director of the collection, said the Baltimore Museum of Industry could not accept the electrical equipment because of its size and large collection of insulators. After contacting Elam and visiting the site, Durham collected museum plans and other archival material on pallets.
Behind the building, piles of bricks and logs lay for sale in the sun on an unseasonably warm winter's day. Many of the bricks still bound would be broken into large pieces by hand, cleaned and resold. In their second life, they can be paving stones for a garden or a decorative facade for a fireplace.
© Kenneth K. Lam / Baltimore Sun / TNS Arnie Jarmack This old pine tree was saved after Locke's Insulator plant in Port Covington was destroyed. Old wood and other materials are recycled and reused.But if you ask Jarmak, whose company deals in reclaimed lumber: the structural support beams of lumber removed from the Lock mill steal the show.
Roughly 20 feet of pine planks are stacked like Jenga blocks at the Lock site, visible from Under Armor's new headquarters and sports fields. Look at their tips and you'll see dense growth rings that indicate their maturity, says Yarmak.
Of course, there are downsides to replacing old wood, Bolster said while working on new hornbeam wood near Mildred Belle's Fells Point shop.
According to Bolster, the first step is to run a metal detector on each beam to detect all the screws in it. In some places, Bolster and his team had to glue wood shims, often called "Dutch," to repair or reinforce the original wood.
"Every foot, you're dealing with old toenail holes or something to do with cracks," says Golling.
This is a real pain in the neck. But Golling compares it to the difference between eating free-range chicken and free-range chicken. It's worth the effort.
Not far from Mildred Belle's workshop, at the bottom of Thames Street, is the so-called marine railway which rests on wooden beams on a metal structure that lifts it out of the water. Once upon a time, when shipyards sprouted across the inner part of the harbour, a pack of oxen could pull ships onto the rails for repairs. However, it has hydraulic power.
Belle was covered in a white tarpaulin and had a small hatch in her hull through which the crew sat under a hatch leading directly into the engine room. They are preparing Belle for the next wooden upgrade, the new horseshoe-shaped window - the flat deck of the stern.
The prop could lead to Baltimore's first scoring hit to Mildred Bell, just behind the plates.
When all is said and done, ideally by mid-March, the ship's new bottom will be painted red and it'll be back in Patapsco waters, perhaps even more exclusive to Baltimore than it was a few months ago.
The Baltimore Sun Library Paul McArdle contributed to this article.
© Kenneth K. Lam / Baltimore Sun / TNS Living Classrooms Navy Captain Peter Polster cuts the edge to make a new century. Golling used wood reclaimed from Locke's former Insulator factory in Baltimore to restore the Mildred Belle, the "marketing ship" in the Chesapeake Bay.© 2023 The Baltimore Sun. Visit baltimoresun.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
