Estie Maus was born on January 16, 1921 in York County, PA. She moved to the Lexington Park/Flat Tops in 1949 while her husband worked at Naval Air Station Patuxent River. She lived in her family’s two-bedroom duplex unit at 53 Coral Place until she moved to Town Creek in 1957. It was directly in the flight path of airplanes from the Navy base, and she remembers the vibrations from low-flying planes causing damage to their home.
She remembers the fact that everybody in the neighborhood knew everybody else. People did not just socialize with their immediate neighbors; they socialized with the whole neighborhood either through work, church, or their children. She maintained a garden along Route 235 which was open to all residents of the Flat Tops and was managed by her husband. The mail used to be delivered door-to-door twice a day, even on Christmas. One year, her daughter had measles on Christmas, and the Santa Claus from the fireman’s parade went into the house and gave her daughter candy.
She is one of two surviving charter members of the Lexington Park Methodist Church and was active in the abolition of slot machines in the 1960s.
Text Courtesy of "An Oral History of Lexington Park/Lexington Manor (also known as “Flat Tops”) MHT/OHC 028 (SM-LXM)" Master Report created by the St. Mary’s County Board of County Commissioners. Copyright protected by the St. Mary’s County Board of County Commissioners 2007. Reproduced with permission.