Guilford Day was the Region’s Celebration Over 100 years ago 

There used to be an annual August festival that rocked the Guilford community during the time of the quarries and the B&O Patuxent Branch railroad.  The first Guilford Day occurred in the summer of 1906 during the heyday of the quarries and continued until 1920 representing 15 annual summer celebrations.  

These just weren't any celebrations – they were the biggest in the region and attended by the top politicians of the era such as Baltimore Mayor Mahool and Maryland State Senator Gorman Jr. (the son of recently deceased US Senator Gorman) in 1907 with 3,500 attendees.  In addition to the picnic, first hosted by local farmer Henry A. Penny in Penny’s Grove (between current day Oakland Mills, Guilford, and Berger Roads) the main event was tilting, a form of jousting, but baseball competitions were also popular.

Attendance at this annual event reached 6,000 in 1910 which was held in Dorsey’s Grove.  The picnic and tournaments continued each year and attracted the politicians and prominent citizens of the area and the location was shifted to near the “Old Brick Church” which was also known as the Christ Church of Guilford that is now off of Oakland Mills and Dobbin Roads.  

The 12th annual event in 1917 drew 3,000 participants, 2,000 each of the following two years, but the final and 15th annual event had barely a mention in the newspaper and in 1921 the Guilford Day association was listed as tax delinquent following the demise of the quarry industry in Guilford.       

Source: Baltimore Sun Newspapers 1906-1921