Ellicottt City / 7 Hills

by **Josh** » February 7th, 2003, 2:04 am

Some of my favorite roads are luckily very near my house. If you're not familiar with the portion of Elkridge/Ellicott City bounded roughly by route 100, route 103, route 29, route 144, and 95, you should be.

Especially just south of Main Street Ellicott City. My favorite roads there are College Avenue, New Cut Road, Bonnie Branch Road, Illchester Road, Landing Road, River Road, Thistle Road, and South Hilltop Road.

Is anyone else familiar with these roads? Some of my best miata memories are driving top-down on a summer evening on College Avenue, with my wife screaming in the passenger seat because she's sure the crest of the hill is actually the edge of a cliff that we're going to fall from.

by **REDFUN** » February 20th, 2003, 9:36 am

All except Thistle. Have you ever tryed Old Frederick to Jonny Cake to Fairbrook to Rolling. Start off from Rt 99 H.C. side? Many good roads around there.

by **Josh** » February 22nd, 2003, 12:03 am

REDFUN wrote:All except Thistle. Have you ever tryed Old Frederick to Jonny Cake to Fairbrook to Rolling. Start off from Rt 99 H.C. side? Many good roads around there.

No, I haven't. I was studying a HC/BC map recently, and Jonny Cake caught my eye. Partially because of the bizzare name...but that whole area looked interesting. I'll definitely check it out soon. Thanks!

by **IslandGirlejfan's Miata** » August 6th, 2004, 8:40 am

Josh wrote:Some of my favorite roads are luckily very near my house. If you're not familiar with the portion of Elkridge/Ellicott City bounded roughly by route 100, route 103, route 29, route 144, and 95, you should be.

Especially just south of Main Street Ellicott City. My favorite roads there are College Avenue, New Cut Road, Bonnie Branch Road, Illchester Road, Landing Road, River Road, Thistle Road, and South Hilltop Road.

Is anyone else familiar with these roads? Some of my best miata memories are driving top-down on a summer evening on College Avenue, with my wife screaming in the passenger seat because she's sure the crest of the hill is actually the edge of a cliff that we're going to fall from.

I gotta agree! Ellicott City is a FABULOUS place to ride and get lots of looks!! :cool:

For those of you that haven't been there, Ellicott City is a GREAT ride!

We also love riding through Oella and the Andover backroads, which sorry to say are changing daily due to development of the Linthicum/Elkridge area. I have fond memories of Seven Hills from my high school days at Andover. Haven't been there with the Miata yet.....we did take the Miata up Lawyers Hill Road though on a warm evening. With all the shade, it was a great ride! Glad we are not the only ones appreciating the area :lookaround:

by **bill_keksz** » August 7th, 2004, 6:57 am

And there's a couple decent places to eat, IIRC.

by **IslandGirlejfan's Miata** » August 7th, 2004, 7:52 am

bill_keksz wrote:And there's a couple decent places to eat, IIRC.

That's true, there are some really great places that are reasonable as well (there are also a number of really EXPENSIVE places in Ellicott City that you can really hurt your wallet) I used to teach school at St. Paul in Catonsville and because Ellicott City is so close, generally the hubby would come get me at work and we would have dinner in historic E.C.....P.M. (Pre Miata) Some really neat ideas if you don't know or have never been to E.C. would be:
The Trolley Stop/Furnace Inn....this is a real gem if you are coming in from Catonsville. It is on the right near the public parking before you go under the railroad bridge. The Furnace Inn is upstairs from the Trolley Stop (which is a bar atmosphere, does have food though and killer breakfast!) and they are only open on the weekends. Atmosphere is casual. Many specials and food is very good! Looks like a fru fru restaurant when you walk in to the foyer, but it really isn't.

Phoenix Emporium....ok bar food, great place to get a drink.

Cacao Lane....great food, romantic atmosphere, little more expensive than most of the other restaurants on the block, HOWEVER, having drinks here when Ellicott City has "Christmas on Main Street" is very happening! Be sure to get your server to sit you upstairs!

La Papala....great Mexican food (not better than mine, but HEY your out :lol:

), fun atmosphere, really good Margherita's!

Ellicott City Brewing Company.....no doubt about it, we have had some really great microbrews here! Food is typical bar food but tasty.....we like them more for their beer. Busy on the weekends!

Judge's Bench....good food...personally though, we have never been wild about the atmosphere.

Side Streets Cafe...We used to love this restaurant, but it had changed some the last time we were there and sad to say we haven't been back. It is a nice place on the inside, but there were a lot of changes with service, menu and so forth.

The one really expensive place in Ellicott City is Jordan's Steakhouse which is close to the Phoenix Emporium. We have NOT been there but our best friends are friends with the owners. Prices are in line with Ruth Chris Steakhouse. Very romantic looking place, but if you are just out for a fun ride, probably the kind of restaurant you want to not go into after driving with the top down....bring your wallet with lots of green or plastic. Our friends said it was great....I took her word for it, but then they ate for nothing, so I guess it DID taste good!

For the prices they charge, I would go to Trueth's Meat in Oella, buy two really good steaks (they have the BEST!) and take them home and whip up a good meal myself! You would still have about $75 smackers left over to fill the Miata almost 5 times!

by **Sunburst** » August 7th, 2004, 9:36 am

Ilchester Road, Bonnie Branch Road and Lawyers Hill road were always favorites of mine. These days , just to avoid traffic in general, I tend to head West, Northwest of here
(West Friendship) and just start picking roads to travel as they appear. 144 ( the old National Road) is always fun though not very twisty.

Are there many folks on the forum that operate out of Ellicott City or areas West ?

by **tom0407** » January 21st, 2006, 12:10 am

any one wants to drive on new cut with me sometimes?

by **Fanaticalkira** » January 21st, 2006, 6:59 am

New Cut Road is fun...7 hills is fun, but ill be damned if im ever going there with my 2 bestfriends again....I was sitting in my friends passenger side seat and my one of my bestfriends was driving and one was behind me and my friend in the back rolled her window down and stuck her hand on me through going out her window and scared the bejeezus outta me all while my friend who was trying was pulling the car to the side cause she "saw someone"
And its soo quiet...its quite scary

by **Ryan23** » January 21st, 2006, 8:42 pm

Hey Folks!
Thanks for the road suggestions. We just moved to Ellicott City about a year ago, didn't realize their was more than just New Cut (we live about 2 miles away from there).

Anyways, Girlfriend and I went out for a little drive tonight exploring. Inputted a few of the suggestions into the Nav and had some fun. We came down Illchester (nice grade! ) and wandered on to River Road and followed it up on New Cut (twice) River road was pretty cool, I mean it's no Deal's Gap but it's certainly closer

. Gotta love those rapid elevation changes, lol. There's a few water patches down there, so if you go Banzai (like we do), be a bit careful.

We'll be shedding these "Tiger Paw" tires next week, got some new wheels and Toyos coming along with a set of coilovers I'll be experimenting with. Hopefully these turn out to be a more cost efffective solution...

So where is Seven Hills? Is it a subdivision? I couldn't bring it up on the Nav. Is it twisty or more of a scenic route?

Thanks again for the suggestions! You can always count on Miata owners to know where the good roads are

Ryan

Edited By Ryan23 on 1/21 20:44 at 2006

by **bill_keksz** » January 22nd, 2006, 6:57 am

Sounds like a scenic meet/drive/eat is in order.

by **IslandGirlejfan's Miata** » January 22nd, 2006, 4:16 pm

We are very familiar with the area....no, it is not a subdivision...that is the name that College Avenue is referred to. Starts out twisty and then has 7 *hills* of various elevation, changes and grades. Our friends live on one of the hills and we ride through there all the time. We wouldn't be adverse to doing a ride and maybe a fun dinner at one of the local pubs. (we love The Trolley Stop on the Baltimore County side!) Can we do it??

by **bill_keksz** » January 22nd, 2006, 6:15 pm

February is difficult to plan for....

by **IslandGirlejfan's Miata** » January 23rd, 2006, 6:53 am

It would be a lot more fun in say April.....but then all the antique shoppers and ppl who just want to come and enjoy the ambience of EC will think the very same thing....it would be great to do something as a later evening thing on a weekend....parking would suck though I am sure.
This is going to be a good Miata year though

by **redhardtop95** » January 23rd, 2006, 11:09 pm

Yes those roads are what I drive on every night when I go on a late night cruise, so much fun! Watch out for the occasional deer though...

by **ChristianL** » January 24th, 2006, 9:42 am

IslandGirlejfan's Miata wrote:Can we do it??

Sounds like a volunteer to plan a scenic drive!

I'll even help you plan it out if you need it. :yep:

by **Fanaticalkira** » January 24th, 2006, 10:31 am

We should do it sometime after july 18th lol...soo.....i......can.....indulge.....in....an......alcoholic....beverage if we do happen to stop in ellicott city :-D

:-P

Edited By Fanaticalkira on 1/24 10:36 at 2006

by **IslandGirlejfan's Miata** » January 24th, 2006, 1:43 pm

ChristianL wrote:
IslandGirlejfan's Miata wrote:Can we do it??

Sounds like a volunteer to plan a scenic drive!

I'll even help you plan it out if you need it.

I think this is a plan! Mike and I ride these roads quite a bit and I think this would be a cool thing to do this spring or *sometime* after 18 July....so Kira can indulge in that tasty little beverage!

by **Fanaticalkira** » January 24th, 2006, 2:07 pm

mmm tasty beverage :lookaround:

by **IslandGirlejfan's Miata** » January 24th, 2006, 2:16 pm

Fanaticalkira wrote:mmm tasty beverage

ok Homer!

by **Fanaticalkira** » January 24th, 2006, 5:20 pm

by **2005blackmicamazda3** » January 27th, 2006, 9:31 pm

new cut and college avenue are awesome roads. so is river road VERY scary at night with all the abandoned houses and 1 lane roads! try it one time at like 12 midnight. me and my dad go on new cut every monday to go to old ellicott city and on the last hump, you can actually get air. But, we dont do that no more because we just got a new mazda 3 ( i no, i no, i dont have a miata lol) and we dont wanna damage it. we used to have a ford probe and we beat the crap outta that thing lol

by **Fanaticalkira** » January 27th, 2006, 11:58 pm

I used to have one of those mazda 3 things lol I loved that car...

You should check out the mazda3forums.com unless you have already been there....i still hang around there tho

by **2005blackmicamazda3** » January 28th, 2006, 2:14 pm

yea, im there all the time. what made you get rid of the 3? they are awesome cars. and hatches r better then sedans

by **Fanaticalkira** » January 28th, 2006, 2:51 pm

2005blackmicamazda3 wrote:yea, im there all the time. what made you get rid of the 3? they are awesome cars. and hatches r better then sedans

oh the hatch sedan debate....well I didnt like the hatch too much. I got rid of it cause i drove my parents (makijo and islandgirlejfans) Miata while i was learning to drive a mannie....the 3s manualmatic did nothing for me lol...So i went on a search for a miata and found one a month or 2 later....traded my car in....
funny thing is I saw my 3 like 3 days after i got my miata...i knew it was mine cause it had the dealer i traded it to and the stubby antenna i used to have....

Yeah I miss the threezy but maybe ill buy another one down the road...never know

by **2005blackmicamazda3** » January 28th, 2006, 6:25 pm

ohhh ok. yea we got a manual so i guess that will be the car ill learn on. and you probably will get another one because they r such nice cars lol.

by **Ohighway** » August 3rd, 2011, 7:14 pm

All excellent roads mentioned. I also like to drive Levering Ave. off Rt. 1 , which ducks under the Thomas Viaduct (world's oldest multiple stone arch railroad bridge , completed July 4, 1835, still in use today) then turn on Lawyers Hill road which ends at Montgomery Rd.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Viaduct

by **aroundcorner** » August 5th, 2011, 1:39 pm

Wow, thread from the dead!

Over the past 3 years, the development of several hundred multi-family and single family homes on College Ave have made driving this road not only not fun, but outright dangerous. Numerous blind entrances to the development, more cars at all times, with no improvements to the road. The same is true for Bonnie Branch and Beechwood, with Lawyers Hill and Illchester soon to follow as they become innundated with large new housing developments currently underway. Thistle, Hilltop and River are still fun, although to get to any of those you typically have to drive on the others.

This was the old fun of driving in Ellicott City/Elkridge, now its more about necessity and survival.

Bill

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