By Whitney Treseder
This is the third of a series of interviews with Remingtonians. If you would like to be featured, please contact the editor.
Peggy Matthews lives on the 2800 block of Huntingdon Avenue.
What would you like us to know about you?
I grew up on the east side of Baltimore, but my family is from the Eastern Shore, Taylors Island in Dorchester County. My grandmother and mother were born there. I graduated from Baltimore’s Dunbar High School in 1971 and trained as a geriatric aide. But I realized that the babysitting and cleaning houses I was doing on the side paid more, so I decided to make it full time. I have raised about 10 children besides my own four. I have 12 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Anything else to share?
Many years ago, my grandmother told us that Harriet Tubman was part of our family, and then my niece found my great-grandparents’ names in a book about her called Bound for the Promised Land.
How long have you lived in Remington?
Twenty years!
What brought you to the neighborhood?
In the early ’90s, my husband Corliss and I were living at North and Castle. One day we stopped at Sam and Angie’s convenience store (2701 Huntingdon Ave.) and liked the neighborhood. Three years later, we were looking for a new house because our old neighborhood was filled with drugs, and a friend showed us this house he owned. He fixed it up, and we moved in and have been here ever since. Corliss passed in 2013 after a long illness.
What would you like to see change around here?
I think there are too many corner convenience stores. I would like to see maybe a boutique for affordable clothes, or a coffeehouse, or something of that nature in those spots.
What is your favorite thing about Remington?
I love that we can get to a lot of different things. The Hampden shuttle is so convenient for people who don’t have cars to go to Giant, Rite-Aid, or Falkenhan’s. I wish we had gotten the Walmart because people like me could have taken our carts and walked a few blocks; it would have been convenient. Also, I love this block, it’s so quiet, and I have beautiful neighbors. ◘
