Welcome to Clay Street
A welcoming garden of dogwood and magnolia trees, roses and hydrangea now adorn the gateway corner to the Clay Street community in Annapolis, the area around the Whitmore Parking Garage along Clay Street and West Washington Street.
These are the main entrances to a historic African American community that has been “county- and state-owned since urban renewal,” according to Erik Evans, executive director of the Annapolis Arts District, which encompasses the community.
“Many different people have invested in making the Clay Street community better over the years,” Evans says. “Yet for decades, maintenance of the gateway properties has been very limited.”
With the Arts District making its administrative base at the Stanton Community Center, that’s changing.
The community gateway has been redesigned as a colorful landscape, thanks to a $5,000 grant from the Keep Maryland Beautiful program and Home Depot’s $100 gift to the Annapolis Arts District. The money stretched further due to Anne Arundel County’s in-kind contribution of landscape design, site cleanup, soil preparation and labor to deliver and plant the new landscaping.
Zyairah Isaacs, who has lived on Clay Street for 18 years, said she believes the project makes the community “look different.”
“It will bring up the community,” adds Marjorie Brooks, who has lived on Clay Street for a year. “Beautiful things usually do. It makes people feel better.”
More changes are coming.
Next on the Annapolis Arts District’s list of improvements is the small parking lot at the corner of Northwest and Calvert streets. There, a $5,000 BG&E green grant will be used to improve landscaping and reduce runoff. That project will be complemented by a new mural by Annapolis streetscape artist Jeff Huntington. The Arts District is also working with the Stanton Center on landscaping a corner of the community center.
Increased community activity is part of the plan. “The community is requesting the return of the community concerts in Whitmore Park that used to be managed by We Care and Friends,” Evans said.
As a starting point, the landscaping project is receiving praise from locals.
“To me, it brings hope,” said Clay Street resident Trebien Parker. “It’s arranged well, the alignment is excellent and it’s really something to behold.”