Greetings:

PTN is on a mission. (you hear Mission Impossible music in the
background) You are invited to join. The mission is to bring to the
light of day the names and history of people in the trades, from the
past. People that we should all know about and learn from.  As usual, if
you choose to go on this mission PTN will acknowledge your involvement.

Remember, we are looking for names of local people. It is amazing how
innovative and sometimes influential local people can be and since they
are local, they are not viewed as important in the bigger picture. We
are all local in our existence.

John Earley, "The Man Who Made Concrete Beautiful" was a Washington, DC
local. He was trained by his father to be a sculpture/renderer. During
his career, his company produced some of the most amazing concrete
structures.  Some of the oldest examples of his work that still exist
are exposed aggregate sidewalks. (Sidewalks, not a very high brow
architectural element.)  There is also a miniature golf course made out
of exposed aggregate concrete at East Potomac Park in Washington that I
am willing to bet is his work. (A 1920ish Putt-Putt.)

There was a local builder who was active in Rockville approximately 100
years ago that built Victorian buildings. Most of his buildings had
cantilevered bays and now they are locally called 'Rockville Bays'.

William Buckland was an  indentured servant that came over to the
colonies from England in the mid-1700's. His skills positioned him such
that he is credited with carving architectural detail for some of the
finest houses in the Maryland / Virginia tidewater area.

Do you know of an immigrant that came over and had the American Dream by
using their hands, heart and brains. Maybe a multiple generation
American that has carried on a family tradition in a particular trade.
I can sit down and in a short time think of lots of people whose work I
have seen and have wondered who they were. I can think of several people
that I have met that have since passed away that I wish I could remember
their names or know more about their life. Such as the stone carver from
the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. He told me about his life from
a young boy in Italy sweeping up in the stone shop that  he was
apprenticed in, to his learning to carve and coming to America to work
on the Cathedral and other churches. PTN wants maybe 50 or 80 or 100 or
more stories. Compared to the millions of stories out there, that is
like wanting a single drop of water out of  the whole bucket.

If no one comes to mind, please ask around, think of all the great
stories you will hear and be able to pass on to others.

Thank you for your help,

Bryan Blundell
Locally in Rockville, MD