Cardiff is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Harford County,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, United States. The zip code for the area is 21160. The community name is taken from the

Capital city A capital city, or just capital, is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state (polity), state, province, department (administrative division), department, or other administrative division, subnational division, usually as its ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

Geography

Cardiff is located directly on the Mason-Dixon line, or Maryland -

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

border. It borders the incorporated town of Delta, Pennsylvania. It connects to the village of Whiteford, and is a short distance away from the areas of

Street A street is a public thoroughfare in a city, town or village, typically lined with Building, buildings on one or both sides. Streets often include pavements (sidewalks), pedestrian crossings, and sometimes amenities like Street light, streetligh ...

and Pylesville.

Commerce

All businesses are on Main Street, which runs from Whiteford to the Pennsylvania border, or Dooley Road, running from Main Street to Route 165. The town has a post office, several shops, garages, and churches, a fire hall, a general store, and a new supermarket.

History

Cardiff is located in a highly slate-rich region, which created the town's early industries. Cardiff was formerly the mining center of Harford County. The mines and quarries have all but shut down now, and the town has become a farming hub. According to geologist Jeri Jones:

One cannot talk about the Delta area without including the Cardiff Marble Company, just south of Delta in Cardiff, Maryland. The site was famous for its own mineral resource, "Green Marble" or what geologists term a serpentinite. The greenish rock is a metamorphic rock consisting wholly of serpentine minerals commonly derived from the alteration of peridotite. In turn, peridotite is a coarse-grained igneous rock formed very deep inside the earth. The operation was originally a quarry being used for road construction, but in 1913, a blast exposed a piece of the serpentinite. The quarry sent the rock to Baltimore for polishing, after which it was determined that a new resource has been discovered. After changing their equipment to concentrate on the beautiful rock, rapid expansion of the quarry started. At the completion of the operation in the early 1970's, the shaft extended to a depth of over 300 feet with numerous tunnels at various levels. Huge blocks of the serpentinite were lifted out by horst and cable, similar to the slate operations, and removed to the saws in nearby buildings. The rock was used for decorative stone, lamp bases, table tops, fireplaces, and desk ornaments. The rock was used as decorative stone in the Empire State Building in New York City, the Department of Highways Building in Harrisburg, along with the bottom of the walls in City Hall in York, PA and in numerous federal buildings in Washington, D.C.

Formerly home of Slate Ridge Elementary School, shut down in the early 1980s, the building is now used for apartments. The town, a part of the Whiteford-Cardiff Historic District, was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2005. The town and historic district are notable for their strong Welsh ethnic heritage, which is reflected in the name of the town as well as the local architecture, and the Welsh language choir of some renown based nearby.

References

External links

*, including photo dated 2004, at Maryland Historical Trust
Boundary Map of the Whiteford-Cardiff Historic District, Harford County
at Maryland Historical Trust
`Green Stone' of Cardiff still has admirers
at the Baltimore Sun {{authority control Unincorporated communities in Harford County, Maryland Unincorporated communities in Maryland Welsh-American culture in Maryland