After 27 years living in an Anne Arundel County subdivision, Bob Herrmann and his wife Helena were looking for a neighborhood that was closer to the bright city lights but still offered the perks of nature and suburban living.
“We grew up in the suburbs and raised our boys in the suburbs,” said Herrmann, who moved to the Fairwood community in Prince George’s County two years ago. “Here we can walk to shopping like in the city but we also have some suburban conveniences. And the wide-open spaces here also allow us to enjoy nature.”
Fairwood, a planned community between Church Road and Route 450 just outside the Bowie city limits, is divided into enclaves of single-family homes, town houses, condominiums and carriage homes. Spread out over 1,100 acres, Fairwood was once the homestead of 19th century Maryland Gov. Oden Bowie and later a 1940s turf farm. Now it’s rolling hills and streams and wooded spaces. There are century-old trees between residential sections that enable the community to retain its rural vibe while staying true to the vision of its creator — the late James Rouse — the mastermind behind Columbia in Howard County.
Rouse, who passed away two years ago, believed in creating cities that center around a shopping, entertainment and business area where residents of all backgrounds can mix and get to know one another. Fairwood’s design reflects that goal with a shopping/business plaza and a community center with a pool, tennis and volleyball courts, all linked together with its residential enclaves by a series of intersecting walking paths.
“The quality of the neighborhood and the community amenities are really what attracted my wife and I to this neighborhood,” said Regiuel Days, a member of the homeowners association board of directors. “My wife grew up in this area, so when we moved here from Seattle, we were looking for a family-friendly community with a strong sense of activism that inspires dedication to the community.”
About half of the 1,800 homes in Fairwood are completed and developers are in the planning stages of building a day care center, senior housing center and office buildings. The homeowners association is working with the county school board to build a new elementary school slated to open in the fall of 2011.
“What I like about this community is that it is one with a purpose,” Herrmann said. “A lot of times, developers will just drop a subdivision in on an empty parcel of land with no thought to the infrastructure. Since this is a planned community, we knew going into it what was going to built where and that the infrastructure could handle it.”
