Foot Traffic Only

About two weeks ago Chris and I were staying in Cumberland, Maryland for the night. We adore Cumberland. It is a great town for geocaching, hiking, steam trains, old buildings, and buying a lot of candy. While I could write at length of any of those topics, it is a pocket of vibrancy we stumbled upon on this Friday night that is worth penning.

Choosing to close a road to motorized traffic in favor of creating a public, pedestrian space is rarely popular at the proposal stage. But sometimes these spaces manage to come to fruition, despite doubts and protest.

While I know little of the history behind closing off three blocks of Baltimore Avenue in downtown Cumberland, I can say with confidence that this area was the most active, busy hub on a warm Friday evening. We could hear live music as we sought out a parking spot (which was not as easy as one may think in a small city!) and as we neared the road we could hear the voices of the crowd.

Shops, restaurants, and services line the street. Several of the restaurants had lines of potential patrons out the door. Multiple restaurants had outdoor seating, including one that had tables and chairs set up in part of the former roadway. People were milling about, taking in the music and enjoying one of last few warm Friday evenings of 2013.

This space offers Cumberland a venue, a place for people to go and people enjoy the urban element of this Appalachian jewel that is known more for biking and hiking now than for the grand city it once was. Virtually all of the statutory holidays are celebrated here along with their very popular farmer’s market. Dubbed the Queen City, Cumberland was once the second largest city in Maryland. While much history remains, Cumberland continues to work toward reinvention.

Unfortunately, given the time of day we enjoyed the pedestrian mall, I lack my own photographs.  But it should not be too difficult to imagine an older industrial city in Maryland, built with brick and mortar, with a street populated only by people and the occasional bicycle. In some ways, it’s like going back in time, before the automobile.