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Realtor Questions
The Twin Harbors Community Association is in fact a voluntary membership association. Unlike most Homeowner Associations, we are a Community Association and have no compulsory membership by virtue of home ownership in the greater Twin Harbors neighborhood. Members are afforded access to the property, specifically the beach and marina areas, owned by the Association.
Should you have any further questions, they can be addressed in writing to the
Twin Harbors Board of Directors
182 Baybourne Drive
Arnold, MD 21012
You may also message the Board of Directors via the Contact Us link on the Home Page.
Neighborhood History
Twin Harbors Origins
“A manor house was built on what is now referred to as 225 Mill Harbor Drive in the mid-1800s which was formerly occupied in 1939 by Mrs. Maurice Ogle of the governor Ogle family. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, according to oral history, it used to be a small “hotel” where the ferry side-winder steamers dropped off the city-folk from Baltimore for a brief getaway. The “manor house” stables and smoke house all exist today. Along the waterfront between Dividing Creek and Mill Creek was a ‘County Warf” was the home of the large ferry boat, Diana, which carried passengers from South Ferry point and other points along the north shore of the Magothy. One can assume from its name that there was a mill at Mill Creek, however no historical documentation exists as proof. But in the Maryland Gazette of Feb. 2, 1795 there was a Merchant Mill advertised for sale on the “So side of Maggety,” perhaps the same as the unnamed one on Mill Creek.”
The community of “Twin Harbors” was established in 1963 by Maurice Ogle and the “Coventry Corporation” on the site of “Peninsula Farm”. The community began to steadily grow, and, on April 1, 1966, the residents held a meeting to lay the groundwork for what would eventually evolve as an Incorporated Community Association.
The steering committee, established at that meeting, developed By-Laws, and distributed them to the community residents for review in February of 1967. The first organized meeting was held on May 25, 1967, at the Arnold Fire Department where upon the original By-Laws were approved. (The By-laws were adopted in 1971).
The Articles of Incorporation were adopted on January 6, 1968, and the first official meeting of the “Twin Harbors Community Association, Incorporated” was held on March 27, 1968.
On July 14, 1970, the 1.3 acre beach property was deeded to the “Community Association” by Maurice Ogle. The “Association” currently manages that property as well as administering many other community programs.
Twin Harbors Community, A "DIY" Community
Throughout its history the community of Twin Harbors has benefited from the varied skills and "Do It Yourself" attitude that has characterized its residents. This attitude has been best demonstrated regarding the development and maintenance of our
community beach. Two of the earliest residents, Frank Wimmer and Milt Ricketts, being avid boaters, had an immediate personal interest in dock facilities. Milt Ricketts, recalled how it all started.
The Evolution of the Twin Harbors Community area
A history from the eyes of the late beloved Milt Ricketts:
As we watched a pile driver dismantle the faithful old Twin Harbors dock in March 2012, Carol and I recalled it’s beginning in 1964 and thought other Association members might like to share our nostalgia.
When we moved into the second home completed in the new Twin Harbors development, the beach property was undeveloped except for a deeply rutted dirt road and an old open well. The triangular property jutting out into Dividing Creek was rimmed by a narrow sandy beach except at its point which was protected from erosion by a rock groin. The water was clear all summer because there was little boat traffic to disturb the sandy bottom. A fifty-foot-wide green necklace of seaweed provided a haven for crabs, yellow perch, small mouth bass and an occasional pike; however, the thick seaweed seriously impeded swimming and boating.
So, he could advertise Twin Harbors as a waterfront privileged community E. Waugh Dunning (the developer) constructed a small pier about 40 feet long that was a bit unusual in that it wasn't attached to the beach. It stood like a little wooden island without even tie pilings for boat slips. Another unusual aspect of the pier was that its supporting pilings were untreated pine poles which had been cut in the process of clearing land for home construction. As you would expect, the untreated pilings had to be sistered by treated ones within a few years. The pier wasn't extended to land because eventually it was to about a yet -to -be built stone bulkhead. A two-foot trench had been excavated in beach sand completely around the water boundary. Stones had been dumped into the trench and concrete poured over them to form a footing for a not too carefully laid stone wall. As I recall, the low-grade quartz had been trucked from a quarry near Gunpowder River. When the wall was completed, it looked more like a low stone fortress than a seawall until the high center of the little peninsula was leveled by grading the excess into the void behind the completed wall. The result was a nice level parking lot we now enjoy. It is interesting to note that remnants of beach sand can still be detected slightly above the concrete buttress that was added when erosion finally exposed loose rock at the bottom of the seawall footing.
Soon after completion of the seawall, Carol and I purchased our first cruising boat, a 28-foot Rhodes Ranger. It was time to convert the wooden island into a usable boat dock. Frank Wimmer, a surveyor, and the only other boat owner in the community at that time, lived in the house located just east of the present beach gate. He and I agreed that we should combine forces to make the dock habitable for our boats. Mr. Dunning thought that was a great plan and agreed that, if we paid for the improvements and did the necessary work, we could dock our boats as long as we wished for no charge. Frank and I shared the cost of having three pilings driven and I built a narrow gang plank to provide passage between the dock and what is now the parking lot. The gangplank proved to be a bad idea when my young daughter lost her footing and fell into the sand and water. I immediately built a proper extension between the dock and the bulkhead.
It was not long before Frank and I felt a need for electric power on the dock, so again, we agreed to share the cost. Frank arranged with BGE to extend power from its utility pole near his house to a new pole located where the beach road now intersects the parking lot. We had to supply the light pole which was to be located at the head of the dock, so I conned C&P Telephone Co. out of a used utility pole and set about planning how to erect it without a crane or other special equipment. First, I dug a hole until I struck water at a depth of about five feet, then dug a 45 degree inclined trench to the hole and used the excavated sand to form an extension of the incline to a point at which it would form a fulcrum for the pole. The idea was that, with the pole lying on the fulcrum, it could be depressed into the bottom of the hole and then raised into an erect position. The idea worked except that one-people power was not sufficient to finish erecting the pole. A neighbor, Bob Priest, had to borrow an old box truck which he backed against the pole to pop it into an upright position in the post hole. We had only to backfill the trench and around the pole to have a finished product.
The next major hurdle was to erect a flood light at the top of the pole. I borrowed linesmen's climbers and belt with which to climb the pole and attached a block and tackle for hoisting the light assembly. Voila! We had a flood light. At this point I have to digress to mention an ecological error we, as a community, made in developing the beach and dock area; we considered seaweed a nuisance rather than an asset. In the deep water of the dock area we removed the grasses by dragging an old bed spring behind a boat. On the shallow, Mill Creek side, women and children pulled grass by hand and hauled it ashore in dinghies and bushel baskets inserted in old inner tubes. In that era few people appreciated the value of maintaining marine habitat. As the Pennsylvania Dutch say, "Ve get too late schmart".
Later in the summer a relatively new treated piling floated into the dock area and was secured so a searcher might find it, but it was never claimed. During the next winter I went to the beach to check the boat and found we had the lowest tide I had ever seen. It occurred to me that I might be able to install the errant pole if I used the old, inclined plane trick and worked fast enough to complete the job before the tide turned. I quickly got a shovel and began digging like mad. Within a relatively short time the community had the fourth tie piling that created another boat slip. - Milt Ricketts, 2012
Many residents of Twin Harbors over the past 48 years have joined work crews on various projects to improve, repair and maintain the beach and docks. Each amenity/ addition/ repair/ maintenance project has been accomplished because of the various residents who were willing to contribute time, effort, skills and persistence to make it more enjoyable for the various needs and interests of the community.
It is impossible to name everyone who has contributed time and effort on beach related projects over the last 48 years. Following are names of some residents related to major projects. Each citation of one or a few names is representative of many more willing hands and backs that worked together to accomplish the task.
1970 - Swim platform for swim team races
1971- Small boat launching ramp relocated to present position east of the main pier: Charlie Rechner, Bob Maddox and 17 cu yds of concrete; Boat dock extension #1: Charlie Rechner, Roger Frady, Bob Maddox, Ed
Lowman
1972 - Crabbing pier construction
1973 - Completion of seawall on Dividing Creek side of beach: Charlie Rechner
1974 - Extension #2 of main pier: Roger Frady, Bob Randall, Tom Swift; Ladder added to crabbing pier
1975 - Repair of seawall at site of original launching ramp on point: Blaine Bates
1976 - Permitting of pier extension #3 with T head was begun: Chuck Hoover; Construction of first pavilion: Mike Hagaman, Blaine Bates;
Playground equipment replaced; Gazebo at swimming area with picnic table and benches added; Large sandbox: Bob Maddox; Siting for Twin Harbors pumping station #1 at beach; Permit process for sanitary
facility at beach was begun
1979 - 1980 - Pumping station # 1 completed; Committee formed to
monitor permitting through approval for 3rd pier extension and for
sanitary facility - Charlie Rechner, Ch.
1980 - Completion of pier extension #3
1980's - Multiple loads of oyster shells hauled from Love Point to fill "drop off" at end of launching ramp: Chuck Hoover; Construction of a
swimming raft: Chuck Hoover, Bob Randall, Tom Swift
1990's - Construction of launching ramp dock: Bob DeYoung, design
and foreman, C.A. Norris, contractor
2006 - Replacement of pavilion - Patrick Walsh, Architect, Chuck and
Charlie Reyeur, Marty Blumenthal, Bob DeYoung and several hundred
hours of community sweat equity by many others
2012 - Replacement of all piers with floating docks: Bob DeYoung & Patrick Welsh, design and architect; John Maliszewski and pier
committee: research and financials; Dave Hilder: permits; Marty Blumenthal, Walter Hallman, Sean and Pat Hannigan, Dave Hilder, Joe Morris, all of whom gave 200+ hours of major sweat equity; a small
army of many other willing volunteers.
The foregoing citations have, in general, been based on an archive of THCA minutes dating from the incorporation of the Association and on interviews, when possible, with residents from the era of the event.
On the cusp of our 50th year as a community it seems an appropriate time to express our recognition and appreciation for what cooperation and determination have accomplished.
Twin Harbors is a water privileged community on the Magothy River and part of the Broadneck Peninsula. Our community is comprised of 138 homes. The Twin Harbors Community Association is a voluntary membership association. The vast majority of homes in our community hold active membership in the Association.
Twin Harbors is more than a community, it is a lifestyle comprised of neighbors helping neighbors that live in one of the most beautiful areas on the Broadneck Peninsula.