A new colorful mural in Bladensburg will depict the area’s long history and everyday modern life.

The mural is being commissioned by the Hyattsville Community Development Corporation and Ernest Maier, a cinder block manufacturer at 4602 Annapolis Road where the mural is currently being created.

Artist Cindy Fletcher Holden, who currently lives in Annapolis, spent a lot of time on the Route 1 corridor visiting family in Riverdale Park as a kid.

Holden, who has previously done several murals in Annapolis, is using Pittsburgh Paint for the mural on a wall of cinder blocks on the Annapolis Rd side of the Ernest Maier building, which she expects to finish by the end of September.

She told the Hyattsville Wire the mural will depict the long history of Bladensburg once as a shipping port, the site of several tobacco farms as well as nods to the battle of Bladensburg and the railroad and streetcars that came through the town.

The mural will also include contemporary views such as kayakers on the Anacostia River, the Peace Cross and the popular Mexican La Chocita Restaurant up the street. In a nod to its sponsors, one section of the mural will also show how cinder blocks are made.

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