Hello, Neighbor: Dickeyville

LIVE
Dating back to the late 1700s, this West Baltimore mill town community, nestled into the northwest corner of Gwynns Falls/Leakin Park, stands alone among city neighborhoods for its distinctive geography and architecture. Dickeyville’s rows of stone and Victorian homes, 150-year-old churches, and leafy, winding roads reflect the character of an English village, though there are also newer, 20th-century dwellings up the hill. Residents here prize architectural character, a shared embrace of diversity, and a naturalistic appreciation for their own backyard.

SHOP
ShopRite of Howard Park and various stores in Catonsville and Woodlawn (Safeway, Weis, Lidl, Giant, H Mart) offer a full roster of nearby, drivable grocery options. The planned $30-million transformation of Security Square Mall (three miles west) will be a major draw.

DINE
Although there are no restaurants in Dickeyville, eateries abound nearby on Johnnycake Road and Route 40 in Catonsville—everything from breakfast (Double T Diner), Mexican (El Agave), Chinese (Chung Wah), and Vietnamese (Pho #1) to Korean barbecue (Iron Age, Bebop, Honey Pig). And there are the main-street staples of Catonsville’s Frederick Road (Atwater’s, State Fare, Catonsville Gourmet, The Beaumont).

PLAY
The 1,000-acre Gwynns Falls/Leakin Park is one big playground of off-street biking and walking trails, a nature center, and more. In this neighborhood, the eponymous Dickeyville Trail leads from the main drag of Wetheredsville Road down along the stream and into the city’s largest park. Forest Park Golf Course is also just a quarter mile up the road.

ARTS/CULTURE
Holidays are a big deal here. The annual Fourth of July celebration includes a dinner, dance, parade, golf tournament, live music, and more. For Halloween, residents deck out their homes for flocking trick-or-treaters. Wintertime brings neighbors together for caroling and their very own house-to-house progressive dinner on New Year’s Eve.

Neighbor Spotlight 
Mel Currie, 75, is a mathematician who has lived in Dickeyville with his wife, Shirley, for 32 years.

“We moved to Dickeyville in September of 1992. Our daughter was only five months old, and we had been married for just about a year and a half. It’s a beautiful place—artistic, very homey, and beautiful at the same time. Sometimes you don’t appreciate it, but then someone walks [through the neighborhood] and you talk to them and you’re appreciating it through their eyes.

“It’s a close-knit community. As you walk, you think you’re going deeper into the wilderness, but you’re actually going into the city and into the park. We’re basically living in a heavily wooded park.

“If you come into Dickeyville, it’s because you want to come here, and you have to go out the way you came in. If this neighborhood were out in Howard County, I don’t think I could afford to walk down the street, let alone to buy a house. A lot of people hear, ‘Oh, it’s in Baltimore City, I don’t want to go there,’ and many people don’t even come and look. But it’s a gem and worth taking a look at.”

Neighborhood Stats

Population: 729 Occupancy Rate: 85 percent Owner/Renter Split: 96 percent/4 percent Median Home Purchase Price: $379,000 Estimated Monthly Mortgage: $3,284 Estimated Rent: $1,670 Walk Score: 24 Transit Score: 42

—Sources: Baltimore City Department of Planning, Live Baltimore