The Donaldson
Brown Center estate, owned and operated by UMB, sitting
on Mt. Ararat, a 200 boot rock cliff overlooking
the Susquehanna River, is located between Port Deposit
and Perryville, Cecil County, Maryland. This
facility, consisting of a Georgian style mansion,
carriage house (dorm rooms 1st floor and conference
room 2nd floor), greenhouse, support buildings, and
recreational areas comprising tennis, volleyball
and basketball courts, a 150,000 gallon in ground
swimming pool, and hiking trails, serves as an educational
conference center and retreat. All buildings
on the property
are of ordinary or wood frame construction.
The Mansion consists of a main conference room, several
smaller meeting rooms, a formal dining room, and
kitchen on the first floor. The second level,
reached via two curved grand staircases, houses sleeping
accommodations for thirty guests, and the manager's
apartment. An additional metal spiral stairway
connects the 1st and 2nd floors with the basement,
which houses mechanical, electrical equipment, and
a laundry facility, plus several storage spaces. The
mansion is equipped with an interior fire alarm system
consisting of manual pull stations, smoke detectors
in sleeping rooms and hallways, and audible signals. The
fire alarm system transmits a signal via an auto-dialer
to the Cecil County 911 Center. A small electric
elevator serves all three levels of the building.
Fire protection for the Mansion consists of portable
fire extinguishers placed through-out the facility. There
are interior class 2 hose cabinets equipped with
adjustable straight stream/fog nozzles in strategic
locations within the building. These hose cabinets
take suction from four 2300 gallon storage tanks
with 150 gpm pumps. Water for these tanks does
not come from the Center's fire mains. The
stove and deep fat fryer are protected with a dry
chemical system consisting of discharge nozzles and
automatic fuel disconnects. This system is
interconnected into the Mansion's fire alarm system.
The Carriage House (formerly the horse stable) is
a two storied building of ordinary construction with
heavy brick walls. The first level has been
converted into motel like sleeping quarters for total
accommodation of twenty-two (22) persons. The
upper floor is used as a small meeting/conference
room. Egress from this space is either via
the interior stairs to the first floor and out to
the exterior or a steel exterior set of stairs.
Fire protection for the estate is provided by a fire
pump which obtains its water from two underground
reservoirs and the swimming pool. A private
fire main system with five (5) fire hydrants provide
at least 600 gallons of water per minute at twenty
(20) pounds per square inch. The hydrants are
located as follows:
- Front
of the Mansion
- Rear
of the Mansion
- Tennis
Courts
- Carriage
House
- The
farm (end of line)
This facility is classified as a Hotel/Place of Assembly. |
