IT ALL STARTED WITH LIGHTRAINS, WHICH ARRIVED IN THE AFTERNOON, A DOSE OFWEATHER USUALLY WELCOME AT THE END OF SUMMER, THOUGH NOT ONCE THE STORMPICKED UP, AND THAT NIGHT, THE CITY STREETS BEGAN TO FLOOD. UNDER THE COVER OF DARKNESS, WATER ROSE ABOVE THE HARBOR’S SEA-WALL, SUBMERGING PARK BENCHES AND PARKED CARS, WHILE BEATING WINDSTOPPLED TREES AND LEFT A MILLION PEOPLE WITHOUT POWER. THE HIGH TIDE FILLEDBASEMENTS AND LIVINGROOMS AND BUSINESSES, WITH HURRICANE ISABEL EVENTUALLY SEEPING UNDER THE OLD STEEL DOORS OF THE MEYERSEED COMPANY.
In the morning, owner Harry Hurst surveyed the damage done to his family business in Fells Point. Inside, where the storm surge had reached upward of four feet, his warehouse, still under water, had turned to goulash, much of the fall inventory wet and ruined, including thousands and thousands of seeds. Giant pallets of topsoil had been lifted like feathers and floated around the sprawling storeroom, and heaps of cardboard boxes had not just started to disintegrate, but ferment.
“It was hell,” says Hurst, 16 years later. “You just don’t realize how much damage water can do.”
“We got destroyed, lost a lot of stuff,” says Butch Dingle, a longtime warehouse employee. “We thought Meyer Seed was through.”
Luckily, the company’s customers and vendors came to their rescue, replacing unsalvageable goods, deferring payments, even rolling up their own sleeves to help clean up after the water finally went back out to sea. It was a testament to the goodwill of this century-old seed business that has weathered much. Not just natural disasters, but also, over its nearly 110 years, times that have radically changed.
Denne historien er fra October 2019-utgaven av Baltimore magazine.
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Denne historien er fra October 2019-utgaven av Baltimore magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Man With a Plan
The eternal optimism of Thibault Manekin.
SHOWER POWER
Locals let rain gardens soak up the storm.
THE SOFA QUEEN
Stuffed & Tufted’s Samantha Kuczynski relishes being the new face of upholstery.
The Starting Gate
At long last, plans are underway for a new “Home of the Preakness.”
CLEANING UP CITY HALL
Baltimore is the second most corrupt federal jurisdiction in the country. Can a city with our history be reformed?
THE HOMECOMING
For one family, it was time to start living in their house, not just existing there.
SUGAR RUSH
Baltimore gets a fresh batch of home-grown bakeries——and the line forms here.
GAMECHANGER SANDRA GIBSON
Executive Director, SNF Parkway Theatre & Maryland Film Festival
FROM THE GROUND UP
A new build gives a couple a house that finally feels like them.
AFTER GLOW
KEY HIGHWAY