The Baltimore Stoop

Photo courtesy Flickr

My elementary geography book devoted a photo (not cheap at the time) and a couple of paragraphs to Baltimore row houses. In the Fifties, the housekeepers of that city were famous for going out every morning to wash their narrow white marble steps. Thirteen years later, I found myself living in Baltimore, and the bus that carried me to the Pratt Free Library carried me past those same stoops. Most of them were still quite clean.


When we bought this house, I loved to go out every morning to sweep the walks. Regular passes with a corn broom produce what the in-house archaeologist calls “sickle polish”, a subtle burnished effect of silicone abrasion on the natural pebbles in the old cement. Coupled with rainfall and a quarterly sweeping with the hose, the walks develop a profoundly beautiful three-dimensional surface texture. Weekly attention is enough to foster a vibrant surface.

Clean walks and a change into house shoes on entry nearly eliminate interior floor maintenance, so the outside work is no waste of time or water.

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