Historic Ellicott City, Maryland

A day trip to Historic Ellicott City in Maryland.

Historic Ellicott City, Maryland

On a gloomy day, my sister and I ventured to Historic Ellicott City, Maryland

Patapsco Valley State Park. The waterfall where my foot tragically slipped into the water at.

We started the day off at Patapsco National Park, but quickly abandoned that idea after my foot fell into a pool of water near the waterfall trail. It was a cold day and my sister feared that we would end up having to cut my ankle off, so we turned back on the trail 1/4 of the way through, passing kids screaming in laughter and pointing at the waterfall. A family of hikers, it seemed. We wanted to take pictures at the rickety bridge we had passed getting to the parking lot, but a woman with a big Canon camera was taking footage of the bridge. We made up stories for this woman: filmmaker, photographer, traveler-nomad-person, but we moved on, driving to Historic Ellicott City.

Upon arriving, we realized we had made a grand mistake. Perhaps it was due to the pandemic, but all of the shops were closed. The only places open were the restaurants and small eateries; even the smoothie shop was shuttered, its lights dark. And so we wandered around, drinking in the sites of the architecture, snapping pictures of things many would deem meaningless, unless in the eye of the camera.

The entrance sign. In color, this is a red sign with yellow lettering.

My sister pointed out thrift shops that seemed interesting, or told me the story of how she ended up eating at the Syrian restaurant in the area. I became obsessed with this restaurant, as the owners were refugees who said that the area was like their home in Syria. I found that surprising, to find home so far from the Middle East. Perhaps, for a second, I thought of my father, who said California most reminded him of home.

Historic Ellicott City, Maryland, has faced a lot of hardship too in recent years. Due to the impacts of climate change, the area has been flooded several times. The last, I believe, was in 2016, and many of the stores were decimated to the rising tides of the river. When we parked, we saw why this the case: a rather large river cut through the area. With all the rainfall Maryland has been getting in the past year, it’s no surprise that this area was impacted the way it was.

The streets were quite cute! I loved the old American architecture.

Once finished wandering, we bounced over to new Ellicott City to stop at our favorite Korean bakery, the chain store Tous Le Jours. It was filled with chattering Korean as the employees baked bread, and we ventured the two aisles, hunting for the perfect sweets. I picked up a loaf of milk bread and a donut with vanilla cream in the middle, and my sister got a peanut butter-strawberry danish thing and the same donut. And so we ventured back home, thirty minutes to Baltimore County, prepared orange chicken for dinner, and feasted on our donuts. They were glorious and so was my milk bread.

A cute little area just before the sushi restaurant.

The glorious donut I got from Tous Le Jours. It was so sugary, but it was a nice treat.

The final glimpse of the historic district as we drove out.