Park donated in honor of man who rescued Stevensville landmarks
STEVENSVILLE – The man who helped preserve many Stevensville landmarks will be remembered with a park in his name on property his son donated to Queen Anne’s County. Roger W. Eisinger started buying as much property as he could in Stevensville in the 1980s, rebuilding an antique store and developing an arts district. His son, Bob Eisinger, still owned 5.27 acres of a farm Roger Eisinger purchased in the 1980s and wanted to preserve the parcel in his father’s name. Queen Anne’s County agreed to take ownership of the donated parcel and placed a conservation easement on it with the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy. The park would be open to the public and could possibly be the landing site for a pedestrian bridge over U.S. Route 50, connecting the two sides of The Cross Island Trail. Queen Anne’s County officials have struggled for years to figure out how to get people safely across Route 50, said County Administrator Gregg Todd. Todd contacted Dick McIntyre, who designed the Cross Island Trail. McIntyre agreed to sketch a design for a possible pedestrian bridge. The county plans to pursue funding for implementation. “The county is very grateful to the Eisinger family for dedicating this property to us which will be dedicated as the Roger W. Eisinger Jr. Park,” said Commissioner Dave Dunmyer. “We are also very excited about the park’s potential to serve as a gateway to a pedestrian walkway over Route 50 and as an environmental educational site through our partnership with the Midshore Riverkeepers.” When ESLC Executive Director Rob Etgen saw the parcel, he thought it would make a great park and began talking to community members and interested parties about it being a pedestrian bridge landing site. In the mid-1990s, he said, the Stevensville Community Plan team identified the property as a good spot for a park