Atkinson family photograph collection

The heads of the Atkinson family in circa 1900 were Matthew Smith Atkinson (died 1906) and his wife Eliza Waller Blow Atkinson (died 1931). Their children were Matthew Smith Atkinson, Jr. (1881-1948), Liza B. Atkinson (died 1974 at age 88), and Allmand Blow Atkinson. The Atkinson family home was in Garrison, a village in the Green Spring Valley of Baltimore County, less than two miles SE of Owings Mills. The elder Matthew Atkinson was the grandson of Matthew Smith, a prominent Baltimore merchant. Eliza Blow Atkinson was born in Norfolk, Virginia, the daughter of Judge George Blow and Elizabeth Taylor Allmand Blow.

Matthew Atkinson, Jr. was an insurance broker and an officer in the original Fifth Regiment of the Maryland National Guard. He was also a member of the Baltimore Club, the Maryland Historical Society, and Garrison Forest Protestant Episcopal Church. Liza Atkinson was a society editor for The Sun prior to 1931, and operated summer shops in Bar Harbor and Northeast Harbor, Maine selling antiques and imported finery; Allmand Atkinson had moved to Sacramento, California by 1931.

The Fifth Regiment of the Maryland National Guard had 485 members in circa 1898. Camp Wilmer, located near Pimlico (then Baltimore County), may have been an encampment site named for L. Allison Wilmer (died 1927) who was Adjutant-General of the Maryland Militia beginning in 1896.

The Green Spring Valley Hunt Club formed in 1892, with headquarters located first at the Cliffholme estate, then moved to Ten-Mile House on Reisterstown Road. In 1904, the club bought a tract of land on Green Spring Valley Road near Garrison, where a clubhouse and stables were built. Development of the region compelled the club to move; in 1925, the Philpot Estate in Western Run Valley was purchased to serve as clubhouse and hunting grounds, while the former facilities at Garrison were maintained for social functions and for tennis, swimming, and golf.