HABS/HAER Inventory Card for Blossom Point Field Test Facility, BPI_0107
Summary
Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record (HABS/HAER) Inventory for the Blossom Point Field Test Facility. The Blossom Point Field Test Facility is a subinstallation of Harry Diamond Laboratories in Adelphi, Maryland. It is located on an isolated peninsula in the southern part of Charles County, Maryland. The Army has used it as a proving ground and firing range since 1942. Prior to that time it was a part of the Jesuit-owned St. Thomas Manor, which dates from 1793, and was farmed first by the Jesuits and later by tenant farmers. In 1942, the Catholic Church leased the land to the National Bureau of Standards' Ordnance Development Division, which designated it Blossom Point Proving Ground. A variety of test sites were built, including instrumentation ranges for aerial drops and for nonexplosive rocket, mortar, and other projectile aerial firings. Blossom Point functioned as a fuze and ordnance testing site until 1974 when testing was transferred to the Edgewood Area of Aberdeen Proving Ground. All remaining testing activities at Blossom Point terminated in 1976. Faced with the option of purchasing or decontaminating the leased property, the Army acquired the site in 1980 and reactivated it as a subinstallation of HDL. Blossom Point currently is used for field testing HDL-developed fuzes, explosive and pyrotechnic devices, and electronic telemetry systems. The facility consists of 48 buildings; all are of simple, utilitarian construction except the Ballast House. Nine buildings date from 1942 (all of them storage facilities); the majority of the remainder were built during the 1950s.
Cite this Record
HABS/HAER Inventory Card for Blossom Point Field Test Facility, BPI_0107. David G. Buchanan. 1982 ( tDAR id: 445888) ; doi:10.6067/XCV8445888
Keywords
Site Name
Ballast House
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Blossom Point Test Facility
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Building 104
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Building 107
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Building 114
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Building 201
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Building 213
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Building 216
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Building 217
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Building 403
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Building p-101
Investigation Types
Architectural Documentation
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Heritage Management
General
Collections Management
Geographic Keywords
Blossom Point, MD
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Cedar Neck Point
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Charles County (County)
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Maryland (State / Territory)
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Nanjemoy Creek
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Port Tobacco River
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Potomac River
Spatial Coverage
min long: -79.514; min lat: 38.281 ; max long: -76.838; max lat: 39.749 ;
Individual & Institutional Roles
Contributor(s): David G. Buchanan
Landowner(s): US Army DARCOM
Repository(s): Adelphi Laboratory
Prepared By(s): U.S. Department of the Interior National Park Service
File Information
| Name | Size | Creation Date | Date Uploaded | Access | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BPI_0107_HABS-HAERInventoryCardsBlossomPoint_1982_OCR_PDFA.pdf | 9.64mb | May 18, 2018 2:27:18 PM | Confidential |
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