Creating a Town Destination: The Leonardtown Wharf Case Study

Updated: Mar 24, 2021

Municipal Planners across the USA have real challenges. Tight budgets, creating "vibrancy," building community, etc. One of our proudest jobs over the 16+ years of PAVERART captures the challenges perfectly: Leonardtown Maryland Wharf.

A bit of background:

The project came to us in 2006, multiple years into the Leonardtown re-development efforts. Prior to these efforts the Wharf was essentially dormant, no real draw for the community.
Objective: Create a Focal Point for the re-developed Leonardtown Wharf, and what better way to do that than a 40' Compass Rose on the Wharf? Create an iconic space....

Like all successful Municipal Projects, MANY areas need to come together. Businesses, service providers (Landscape Architects, Engineers, Sub-contractors, etc) and the community itself.

One of the things we love about our business is when clients get personally involved as a group, and actually take the time to learn about the manufacturing of PAVERART. We actually hosted a group of people from the town, great fun!

The Leonardtown Maryland Team Visiting PAVERART To See the Manufacturing of Their Compass Rose In Action

The nice thing about a project built over a decade ago?

We can see if our guiding principles have stood the test of time....

1) Built to Last! - We always tell people that our PAVERART Designs will outlive US.

2) WOW Factor! - More often than not, our designs really can't be replicated with conventional hardscaping methods. They really should have "stopping power" and have the ability to have the impact that ART creates. Often times for signature pieces, they become a draw to the area.

By all measures, the Compass Rose at Leonardtown Wharf has upheld and in many ways, exceeded our 2 guiding principles.

Back in 2007, Instagram wasn't even around. Now, LEONARDTOWNWHARF has a common hashtag that readily shows how this project came together and the vibrancy of the Leonardtown Wharf.

Result

* "Built to Last" is always job #1, and also the reason that over the long haul, PAVERART becomes a tremendous value. No re-do, tear ups, etc. We always are interested: How's it look? GREAT!

* A destination on Leonardtown, MD Wharf has clearly been created! The Compass is so popular that the town offers it up for private rental at an EXTREMELY affordable price. 20+ weddings! Yoga classes, zumba classes all can be seen on the Leonardtown Wharf Compass Rose. Here's a couple sources...

https://www.visitstmarysmd.com/site/detail/leonardtown-wharf-park

https://www.thebaynet.com/articles/0119/weddings-help-drive-tourism-in-st-marys-county.html

"According to Aul, the Leonardtown Wharf Park was “fully booked by late April/early May.” The Visit St. Mary’s web site received 230,000 unique hits in 2018, getting eyes on the 17 wedding destinations featured on the site."

* On Instagram, the hashtags associated with Leonardtown, Leonardtown wharf, etc have over 5k posts......how many "impressions" and awareness has that created, over 5mm? What does that mean for spreading the news of Leonardtown? Can only be positive!

Sometimes projects just make you smile. Seeing people get married, the yoga classes, and my personal favorite below, "A boy and his bulldog" make it all worth it.

Oftentimes in business we move from job to job, crisis to crisis. But it's always the human moments make that make it all worthwhile. At PAVERART, we take pride in the fact that those moments are happening daily.

PAVERART Compass Rose at Leonardtown, MD Wharf

1783 Photography, Lindsay Miguelez

Leonardtown Wharf Compass Rose By PAVERART, Source IG @kateplusace

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