Vintage Perry Hall: Springtime Celebration

Most everyone knows that April 1 is April Fool's Day; did you know that May 1 is also a holiday?

May Day celebrations were common in Perry Hall as recently as the late 1950's, as shown in this photograph from 1958. Children are seated around two maypoles, holding ribbons in front of Perry Hall Elementary School, according to an entry in the Baltimore County Public Library catalog.

The tradition of wrapping a maypole is German in origin, and as Perry Hall history buffs will know, the Perry Hall area was once called Germantown.

In fact, columnist Jeffrey Smith wrote about Perry Hall's German heritage in a column back in 2011.

Do you have an interesting bit of Perry Hall history to share? Tell us in the comments or email editor Nick Gestido (nick.gestido@patch.com)