Fort Ritchie

Editor's note: The following story about the former Fort Ritchie U.S. Army Base is one in an occasional series of stories about some of the treasures of Washington County's past. CASCADE - What was to become Fort Ritchie U.S. Army base in Cascade started out as the Buena Vista Ice Co., became a National Guard camp and then was taken over by the U.S. Army to train soldiers in military intelligence and psychological warfare during World War II. It wound up its military years as a command center for Site R, a government installation known locally as the Underground Pentagon, built under Raven Rock Mountain in neighboring Pennsylvania.

If you ask Eric Forrester, he will say barbecue is an art form. And Forrester, owner of Mason-Dixon BBQ Services near Greencastle, Pa., promised there will be plenty of art at the Memorial Day Pignic on Saturday, May 25, and Sunday, May 26, at Fort Ritchie. The inaugural two-day event will feature its own arts festival, a music festival, and three barbecue competitions. “Barbecue is very American. That's why people enjoy it so much. There are very few American forms of culinary art,” Forrester said.

CASCADE -- The swimming pool and some of the other fixtures of their childhood years spent at Fort Ritchie are gone, but warm memories of growing up "on post" haven't been forgotten by former residents. "We don't have roots (being children of parents in the military), but everybody felt so connected here," Judy Nakada said. The sentimental ties to the U.S. Army base, which closed in 1998, were shared by more than 40 former residents on Saturday at a reunion that Nakada took the lead in organizing.

A free conference on marriage will be held Friday and Saturday at the Fort Ritchie Community Center.  The title of the conference is “Love that Lasts: Strengthening Your Marriage God's Way.”  Friday's session will be from 6:30 to 9 p.m. with refreshments provided.  On Saturday, the session will be from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and lunch will be provided. Whether you are struggling in your relationship or you want to make a great marriage even better, this conference is for you. The conference is also appropriate for engaged couples or those wishing to learn more about Biblical marriage.  The event is sponsored by Good News Baptist Church of Cascade.

Fort Ritchie Community Center Health Fair will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 12. A variety of health information and screenings will be available. There will also be demonstrations of exercise classes, prize drawings and food. For more information, call 301-241-5085 or go to www.thefrcc.org .

Some of the residents who lived near Fort Ritchie when Agent Orange was tested there in the 1960s said Monday they want the government to inform them of potential health risks. Gary Harbaugh, 75, said he has lived in his Wastler Avenue home near the former U.S. Army post since 1955. “I just don’t know to what extent the testing was done,” Harbaugh said. “It does concern me. I want to know what effects it has. Are there any dangers?” The U.S. military sprayed Agent Orange during the Vietnam War to destroy foliage that the enemy used as cover.

CASCADE -- Judy Nakada remembers walking around the hilly grounds, swimming in the pool and playing tennis at Fort Ritchie when she was a teenager. She also remembers the sense of family she had living on the Army base in the mid-1970s. "I lived in a lot of places, but it was one of the most intimate posts I ever lived on," Nakada said. Nakada is organizing a July 10 reunion of people who used to live at the fort. The reunion will be held by the former officers' club and at the pavilion by the lake.

In an effort to wrap up the lawsuit that has stalled redevelopment at the former Fort Ritchie, the Washington County Commissioners agreed Tuesday to submit positive comments about a draft document prepared by the Army in response to the lawsuit. The Army is accepting public comment through Sept. 19 on the document, a draft Record of Environmental Consideration (REC) that argues that no additional environmental review of the redevelopment project is needed. The former fort at the northeast corner of Washington County has been transferred to the private development company Corporate Office Properties Trust, which planned a major development there including 1.7 million square feet of office space, 673 homes and apartments, and a hotel and conference center.

The redevelopment of Fort Ritchie appears to be back to square one with the transfer of the former military base from Corporate Office Properties Trust back to PenMar Development Corp. “I would describe it as a new start,” said Dan Pheil, the chairman of the Hagerstown-Washington County Economic Development Commission. As the commission develops a comprehensive economic development plan for the county “the Fort Ritchie property will certainly be listed as an asset,” he said.

The real estate market might remain in the doldrums for a few more years, new development has been stopped by a lawsuit and the work force has been reduced, but an official with Corporate Office Properties Trust said Monday his company is in for the long run at Fort Ritchie. “It's a property we've bought and a property we have a long-term vision to develop,” COPT Senior Vice President for Government Services Charles J. Fiala Jr. said after PenMar Development Corp.'s monthly meeting in the Fort Ritchie Community Center.

If you ask Eric Forrester, he will say barbecue is an art form. And Forrester, owner of Mason-Dixon BBQ Services near Greencastle, Pa., promised there will be plenty of art at the Memorial Day Pignic on Saturday, May 25, and Sunday, May 26, at Fort Ritchie. The inaugural two-day event will feature its own arts festival, a music festival, and three barbecue competitions. “Barbecue is very American. That's why people enjoy it so much. There are very few American forms of culinary art,” Forrester said.

1. Waiting for the train Railroad Heritage Days will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, May 18, and Sunday, May 19, at Hagerstown Roundhouse Museum, 300 S. Burhans Blvd., Hagerstown. The event features Thomas the Tank Engine trackless ride, Lego operating train layout, historic railroad equipment, Trains of Christmas layout, trains for kids to operate, G-, O- and HO-scale model railroads; gift shop and more. $5; 50 cents for ages 12 and younger. 2. Tea with the queen Miss Queen State Audreanna Colombo will host an afternoon of tea, table etiquette and entertainment.

The first ever Backyard BBQ Bash will be Saturday, May 25, at Fort Ritchie. The bash is open to any skill level and will coincide with the Memorial Day "Pignic. " The former Kansas City Barbecue Society-style judging will cover ribs and chicken. Cost is $100 per team to enter. There will be more than $1,300 awarded in prizes and trophies. A Kids Q' barbecue competition will be held the same day. Kids can compete in two age groups: 11 and younger and 12 to 16 in beef and dessert.

Washington County will play host to a professional barbecue competition Saturday, May 25, and Sunday, May 26, at Fort Ritchie in Cascade.  Dubbed “The Memorial Day Pignic,” the competition will feature 45 to 60 professional barbecue teams from the East Coast competing for more than $7,500 in cash prizes and awards.  Many of the teams competing have been featured on the TV show “BBQ Pitmasters” and include the KCBS National Team of...

Fort Ritchie Community Center invites the community to its Last Chance Bonanza Saturday in the gymnasium at Fort Ritchie Community Center, 14421 Lake Royer Drive, Cascade. Only 139 tickets will be sold for the event, which includes dinner, dessert, games of chance, silent auction, cash bar, tip jars and dancing. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., dinner will be served at 6:30 p.m., the bonanza starts at 7:30 p.m., and music and dancing will be from 9 to 11 p.m. Tickets cost $35 and offer a chance at more than $2,000 in cash and door prizes.

A blog primarily dedicated to the mountain wilderness might seem an odd place for a debate about telecommuting, but on John Warren's excellent Adirondack Almanack site, the issue has rubbed elbows with ice fishing and the virtues of winter camping. The mountains of New York and the mountains of our Tri-State area share some similarities, most notably a distancing from the maddening crowds, which is good for scenery and somewhat bad for business. Both spots are popular weekend/vacation spots, but have had trouble attracting industry beyond uninspiring service and warehousing work.

The PenMar Development Corp. plans to hire a real estate consulting firm in the near future and have a strategic redevelopment plan later this year, Executive Director Dori Nipps told the Washington County Board of Commissioners. The board held an evening meeting at the Fort Ritchie Community Center on Tuesday and Nipps told the commissioners that PenMar will meet with a consultant later this month. “We would really like to have a plan to work from in April or May,” Nipps said after the meeting.

A large sheet of ice covered part of Lake Royer on Tuesday, but that did not stop a group of daring souls to try to swim out and touch it at the second annual Polar Plunge Party at Fort Ritchie Community Center (FRCC) in Cascade. “I can't feel anything from the waist down,” Emily Grimes, 13, said after taking the plunge. “I did it last year and had a great time, but it was definitely colder this year. There wasn't ice last year.” Grimes, who is from Frederick, Md., did the plunge with her friend Megan Gutierrez, 14, last year.

Registration for the Fort Ritchie Community Center's second annual Bass Fishing Tournament is under way. The tournament will consist of three heats on March 16, April 13 and May 11, and anglers will compete for more than $15,000 in possible cash prizes. Winners of each of the three heats will be invited to compete in a championship fish-off on June 22, when boat fishing will be allowed on Lake Royer for the first time in 15 years. Fort Ritchie's Lake Royer is a 22-acre privately owned lake that restricts fishing during all other times of the year.

James Edward Proctor, 89, of Hagerstown, Md., passed away Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012, at the University of Maryland Hospital in Baltimore, Md. Born Monday, Oct. 29, 1923, in Weaverton, Md., he was the son of the late Ralph Alexander Proctor and the late Elizabeth (Barger) Proctor. He was preceded in death by his loving and devoted wife, Dorris E. Proctor, on April 20, 2012. He graduated from Brunswick High School in 1941 and later served in the U.S. Navy during World War II onboard a sub chaser.