Walk to Celebrate Hood College Icon

FREDERICK, Maryland—As part of Hood College’s 125th anniversary celebrations, a group of Hood College students and community members will honor Margaret Scholl Hood, for whom the College is named, with a walk to visit her grave on March 24.

The group will leave Hood at 1:25 p.m. from the front of Alumnae Hall to walk to Mount Olivet Cemetery, where Mrs. Hood is buried. The ceremony will begin at 2 p.m. in front of her resting place.

Organized by the Hood College History Club, the event will include comments from a historian or Hood alumnus and students Kieanna Brown and Ramsey Saah. After the remarks, 49 red carnations will be placed on the gravesite. The flower laying revives a tradition honoring Mrs. Hood, with a nod to her favorite color and her 1849 graduation from the Frederick Female Seminary. A small reception at the cemetery’s Key Memorial Chapel will follow, which will include a presentation of thank-you notes from the Hood community and some history about Hood College. After the reception, people may lay blue carnations at the grave of Joseph Henry Apple, Hood’s first president.

Anyone who is unable to walk is invited to meet the group at the cemetery at 1:45 p.m. Seating will be provided for those in need.

Margaret Scholl Hood was a believer in responsible stewardship, and she generously supported many local causes. She gave initial funds of $25,000 to establish Hood College’s endowment and made provisions for the purchase of the land on which the College is now built. In her will, she gave an additional $30,000, which was the impetus for President Joseph Henry Apple to begin building Shriner Hall and Alumnae Hall. On Oct. 31, 1912, a ceremony was held to announce the renaming of the Frederick Female Seminary to Hood College in recognition of her support and generosity.

For more information, contact Kieanna Brown, president of the Hood College History Club, at kpb13@hood.edu.

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