Explore Columbia's History on Saturday's BikeAbout

Want to learn more about Columbia, the vision of that came to be a city in 1967?

This year's Tour, scheduled for Saturday, will begin anytime between 9:30 and 10:30 a.m. at the downtown Lakefront, and will clue participants in on the ideas and personalities that have shaped Columbia over the years.

“We’re bringing Columbia’s history to the people,” says Barbara Kellner, director of the Columbia Archives. But the annual BikeAbout around town is truly about the reverse – bringing people to Columbia’s history.

“So many people say ‘I’ve lived here for 30 years, and I learned something I didn’t know,’ ” Kellner said.

The 12-mile tour will bring them along pathways and sidewalks through the villages of Town Center, Wilde Lake, Harper’s Choice and Hickory Ridge, spotlighting the historical background at six stops and also showing off Columbia’s open space along the way.

One of this year’s main stops is Harper’s Choice Village Center. “There’s a lot to talk about there,” Kellner said.

Of particular note: The BMX bicycle track that used to be near the village center.

“It was so popular here to start things when Columbia was young because there was nothing here,” Kellner said. “So when people came here and they had a passion for something, they could start it. All the nonprofits, orchestras and community theater groups, they started like that.

“So the idea that this kid wanted a racetrack and he got it built is a great human interest story. He was a kid and he liked bike riding. He talked to the Harper’s Choice Village Board and to Columbia Association and he got them to support it. A lot of people don’t remember that it was there. It drew a lot of people. It was really popular,” she said.

The BikeAbout stop in Harper’s Choice will also spotlight the water tower, particularly the controversy behind its being built. There will be information about the senior and adult care centers nearby, including why they were founded and whom they were named after.

The route will also take riders to the neighborhood of Clary’s Forest and near the Middle Patuxent Environmental Area.

“Initially … they were going to dam the Middle Patuxent River and build the largest lake in Columbia,” Kellner said. “But a number of factors contributed to that not being a good idea: preservation of that open space, preservation of it for the mating of the woodcock.”

Last year’s BikeAbout brought about 300 people, including many families and kids, according to Kellner.

The history, Kellner said, comes in small enough doses that it’s neither scholarly nor boring. And the bicycling aspect has helped the event grow “because  there’s more of an awareness of getting out and doing physical exercise, and biking is a fabulous way to do that,” she said.

And it doesn’t hurt that BikeAbout doesn’t cost participants a thing, she said.

“That’s very important to me as a bicycle rider myself who likes to do rides. So many of the rides you have to pay for. They’re charity events and they ask you to raise a lot of money. Or if it’s a tour group, they obviously charge you. This is a way to get the family out for free.”

The BikeAbout tours usually have about 10 stops. This year's tour includes has fewer than that because of the route, Kellner said. And those who’ve ridden the tours before say they preferred longer stretches of bicycling without stops.

For those who want to learn about Columbia’s history but don’t want to bicycle, there will be a walking tour held the same morning. The walk will begin at 10:30 a.m.

This is the second year for the walk, which this year will bring people to Oakland Mills, where they will visit a historic cemetery dating back to the family of George Cook.

Cook “was a local farmer who kept a diary, and it’s the only surviving diary that documents life in Howard County as a farmer in the mid-1800s,” Kellner said.

The walk will also take them to outdoor sculptures in the Oakland Mills Village Center and will include discussions about the barns there.

“We want them to learn more about Columbia,” Kellner said. “The more they learn, the more they’ll love it.”