Bare Hills Barrens

Description

The site of the Tyson family's estate, the discovery of chromite here launched Isaac Tyson's career in mining and processing that mineral. He also worked a nearby copper mine, just off of the serpentine. Just to the east, Jones Falls was dammed for a reservoir. The work was completed in 1861 and it supplied water to Baltimore until 1915. The area was developed as a park by the City of Baltimore in 194,.

Mining

Isaac Tyson began his mining of chromite here around 1812, initially extracting massive ore. Operations had ceased by 1833, shifting to other serpentine barrens where the ore was richer. Intermittent prospecting, trenching, and placer mining occurred later in the nineteenth century and perhaps in the early twentieth.

Visiting

The serpentine west of Falls Road has been built over, while east of the road, the barrens here have been preserved within Lake Roland County Park. The serpentine barrens lie north of Copper Hill Road.