Neighborhood Profile: Roland Park, Norfolk

By Sandra J. Pennecke
Correspondent

Jan LaRowe faced a big decision in 2002: move out of her Roland Park home or renovate it.

Because she couldn't fathom living anywhere else, the Norfolk woman chose the latter. That meant e nlarging the kitchen and adding a room and deck.

"We know we have something really great here," said LaRowe, who moved into her now-1,400-square-foot home in 1965.

The neighborhood, located off Tidewater Drive, features about 480 single-family homes and dates to the early 1950s.

Irwin Berent was raised in one of Roland Park's first model homes and still lives in the house today. He wanted to learn about the community before its development, so much so that he's working on an atlas of the entire city.

"The creeks in this area all had interesting names, such as Indiantown, Queen Graves Creek and Fox Neck," Berent said. "The names have long since disappeared, but they were important to the farmers."

When LaRowe moved from her native South Carolina, she was looking to get away from the farm country she'd grown up in.

Little did she know back then, but the land that Roland Park occupied was once farmland. Berent learned that strawberries were grown and trucked up north from the site.

"That's why it's such a great place to garden. So many of the neighbors do garden and share their vegetables across the fence," LaRowe said.

The community-oriented neighborhood is also a great place to bring up a family. LaRowe has fond memories of raising her two daughters in Roland Park. A playground, several open fields and sidewalks for evening strolls are part of the neighborhorhood's charms.

An active civic league, which LaRowe helped revitalize in the early 1990s, is another aspect of Roland Park's "togetherness."

"We have an annual community yard sale the first weekend in May and use the funds to award a scholarship to a Roland Park college student every year," she said.

Many homeowners have renovated and added onto their homes throughout the years, but the community hasn't changed much and remains a hidden gem.

Some residents - present and past - have joined the online site Facebook and found another way to stay connected in the "Roland Park Neighbors" group.

Sandra J. Pennecke, pennecke@cox.net