Summary of 2025 DVHSS Reunion in Baltimore and Harford County, MD
Our 2025 Reunion was held in the Baltimore, MD area, with our headquarters hotel, the Hilton Garden Inn, in White Marsh, MD. The reunion was from Thursday, June 12th to Saturday, the 14th, with a bonus day on Wednesday, June 11th.
Wednesday, June 11th, Bonus Day
Our bonus day took members to Newark Union and Cemetery in Wilmington DE, where Valentine and his wife are buried. The building and cemetery have undergone a remarkable transformation under the leadership of Bob and Ann Daley, who several years ago purchased a home adjacent to the property that encompasses Valentine’s original building. For those who had not seen the Newark Union property in several years, the change was stunning. From a run-down building and a minimally maintained cemetery, the building has been totally renovated and re-established as a museum, and the cemetery is now a show piece, with many repairs to the grounds and to individual grave sites. The best of all was the determination of the grave locations for our immigrant ancestor, Valentine and his wife, and the raising of Valentine’s grave marker, just to the right of the monument to Valentine erected many years ago. Needless to say, our members were delighted with the current facility and thoroughly enjoyed their visit. Lunch followed at the Bayard House Restaurant on the Chesapeake.
Thursday, June 12th, Harford County
The day kicked off with our annual business meeting at our HQ hotel. Vice President John D. Hollingsworth chaired the 
session, as our president was unable to attend the reunion due to an untimely case of Bronchitis. The business meeting followed the standard format, and members can view the agenda and minutes of the meeting on the members only section of the web site.
Following a boxed lunch, the group travelled to the Harford Glen Environmental Education Center and its Hollingsworth Room. Members were treated to a talk by Bill Thompson on the Hollingsworth Room, filled with items donated by local Hollingsworth descendants.
Dinner was back at the hotel with a special presentation by Jim Carson on his ancestor Samuel Hollingsworth (of Zebulon of Henry of Valentine). Samuel was born in 1757 at Elk Landing, served as an officer in a Baltimore volunteer unit and later fought under General LaFayette in Virginia. Post war, he moved to Baltimore and was prominent member of the community there until his death in 1830. The complete presentation is available to members in the current Hollingsworth Heritage Journal, XXXI-4.
Friday, June 13th, Baltimore
On Friday, June 13th, several of the DVHSS 2025 reunion attendees visited the Old St.
Paul’s Cemetery beside the University of Maryland Medical Center’s campus with the hope of finding the graves and crypt of several Hollingsworth ancestors. To our dismay, the cemetery was very overgrown and had not been maintained on a regular basis. After approximately an hour, our search for the Hollingsworth graves was abandoned and we left for the next adventure at the Greenmount Cemetery. Subsequent on-line research, by DVHSS member and photographer Alan Steible, established the location of the graves, but the area was totally overgrown with brush and vines and would not have been accessible during our visit.
Moving on to Green Mount Cemetery, also in Baltimore. This is a newer cemetery which opened in 1839. The movers and shakers of Baltimore are buried in this Gothic Revival cemetery. For example, A. S. Abell, founder of the Baltimore Sun, is buried not far from the entrance. His exquisite gravestone has a plastic cover to protect it. Shawn Ward, the Cemetery Supervisor, led us on a tour, starting with the Missing in Action graves. These grave sites recognize people from Baltimore who were MIA in various wars. We moved on to the Booth family grave site, where John Wilkes Booth lies. Many people have erroneously left (Lincoln head) pennies on a Booth grave there, but John Wilkes Booth’s grave in that site is unmarked. We then proceeded to the Hollingsworth vault, where Levi Hollingsworth and his wife, Ann Sword Dorsey Hollingsworth are buried. Levi descends from Valentine, Henry, Zebulon, Zebulon and was the founder of the Gunpowder Copper Works.
Lunch on Friday was at the Mount Vernon Marketplace.
After lunch, we went to the Maryland Center for History and Culture (MCHC). They have an extensive collection of Baltimore album quilts, and we wanted to show them our quilt.
The DVHSS Hollingsworth quilt (its official name now) was displayed on a large table. I had forgotten how beautiful it was. The
docent gave a brief analysis about the quilt. They also gave us acid-free tissue paper to package the quilt for return to Elk Landing.
MCHC, at Jo Hollingsworth’s request, provided a display of Sally Adams Hollingsworth’s dress for George Washington’s inaugural ball! The MCHC staff placed it on a table adjacent to the quilt. It was wonderful to see the fabric for a dress that a wealthy merchant’s (Samuel) wife would wear to such an event! After these displays, our docent had to leave, and members set off to explore the museum.
Dinner that evening was at the Steelefish Grille, a location known for its excellent sea food.
Saturday, June 14th, Baltimore and Ft. McHenry
Our Saturday kicked off with a bus tour of Baltimore, hitting many of the historic areas of the city. This was followed by a guided walking tour of the Fell’s Point and Broadway Market areas, again, historic areas of the city. Lunch was at the Broadway Market.
Saturday afternoon, we visit storied Ft. McHenry, of fame. We started our visit to the Fort with a Park Ranger leading us through the unfolding of a room size replica of the Star-Spangled Banner that flew over Ft. McHenry during the British attack. Her talk regarding the flag and the crucial battle during the War of 1812 were well received by our group. Following the flag ceremony, we went off to explore the Fort.
Our annual DVHSS Dinner was held that evening at Barrett’s on the Pike in Bel Air, MD. After excellent food and drink, it was time to wish our cousins farewell till next year in Winchester, VA.