CA’s 3rd annual WalkAlong returns May 17 with tour of James Rouse’s neighborhood

Columbia began with James Rouse — and with Wilde Lake. It was the first village founded in Rouse’s planned community, and it is where Rouse called home from the mid-1970s, watching a wide variety of waterfowl and wildlife from his window until his death in 1996.

Rouse would have been 100 on April 26 this year, and a free tour of his neighborhood will be the focus of Columbia Archives’ 3rd annual WalkAlong.

This year’s WalkAlong is being held on Saturday, May 17, with the tour beginning at 10 a.m. at Wilde Lake Park on Hyla Brook Road. The gently paced walk will be led by informed guides and will include facts and trivia to pepper the conversation.

Registration is necessary via WalkAlong.Eventbrite.com, or by contacting the Columbia Archives at 410-715-6781 or Columbia.Archives@ColumbiaAssociation.org.

Wilde Lake was where Rouse declared the beginning of Columbia; a plaque at the lake denotes this. This year’s tour will begin at Wilde Lake Park and then head off in three different directions, though each two-hour tour will cover the same material, including the street on which Rouse once lived, the site of Columbia’s dedication, the history of buildings there that date back to the mid-19th century, and the mid-20th century modern architecture of the homes in the neighborhood of The Birches.

This year’s WalkAlong is one of numerous events celebrating what would’ve been Rouse’s 100th birthday. Please go to bit.ly/rouse100 for a complete schedule.

Columbia Association’s (CA) Columbia Archives is open to the public Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Appointments are encouraged. Among the materials available is the extensive James Rouse Collection, which chronicles Rouse’s long career that influenced urban and suburban development in the United States and around the world. It is rich with correspondence, speeches, photographs and memorabilia. The collection is open to the public for research.

The Archives is located in the American City Building at 10227 Wincopin Circle in Downtown Columbia. For more information, please email Columbia.Archives@ColumbiaAssociation.org or call 410-715-3103.

About Columbia Association

Columbia Association (CA) is a nonprofit service corporation that manages Columbia, MD, a planned community that is home to approximately 100,000 people and several thousand businesses. Additional information about CA is available at ColumbiaAssociation.org.