Last Sunday we decided to take the historical tour of the
Shrine of St. Anthony. It is something we’d often discussed but the timing
never seemed to work out. The tours are only held on the last Sunday of every
month.
It’s a pretty interesting place in that it was once part of the
original Carroll estate and in 1832, the Manor House was completed on the farm
that was then known as Folly Quarter. Today the house remains true to its original
form.
At least what little we saw of it.
The tour begins in the Manor House but does take visitors
past the main hall. On Sunday we stood in that hall while our guide embarked on
lecture about the history of the Catholic church in Maryland , beginning with George Calvert, the First Lord of Baltimore, in 1627. He continued on for about forty-five minutes before
getting to the present day. If you are interested in Maryland history, you would probably have
enjoyed it. If you were one of the younger members of the audience, not so much.
Though the website says the tours are open to families, I wouldn't recommend bringing the little ones. They’ll be bored to distraction.
In fact we noted that a few families began to peel off towards their cars as we moved from the Manor House and headed to the shrine building.
Even adults started getting fidgety as the tour moved into
the second hour and we had only moved through five rooms in the shrine. The
tour guide over shared just a bit. For example, in the dining room the walls
are lined with portraits of former popes. Our guide told stories about almost
all of them.
The next tour will be given on Sunday, February 24th at 2:00 PM.
