Marcellous B. Taylor, Sr. - A Living Landmark of Vansville
- Cheryl Gresham
- Mar 3
- 9 min read
Almost 10 years ago, to the exact day of the January 2026 ice storm, long before any county trucks arrived, and while the neighbors in Vansville, Maryland were caught inside their homes due to the Blizzard of 2016, the familiar whir of the blue tractor owned by neighbor Marcellous B. Taylor, Sr. could be heard navigating its way up and down the streets of Old Baltimore Pike, Cordwall Drive, and parts of Odell Road. Both newer homeowners and longer residents came to their doors, making their outside to greet Mr. Taylor as he worked to clear the streets and driveways of his neighborhood. Now at 87 years old, sitting in his favorite living room chair, in the home he and his late wife, Shirley Taylor purchased in 1967, Taylor gazed outside his window. As the snow and ice began to accumulate, he reminisced about that 1996 snowstorm. He mused about wishing to take his tractor out once again to live out his favorite quote, “Service is the rent we pay to live on this Earth.” He also smiled, acknowledging that his driveway had just been cleared with the help of neighbors who wanted to repay the kindness he had always shown them.
Taylor has been a pillar of the Beltsville / Vansville community for almost 60 years, an elder statesman of sorts. He is the father of six children (one deceased) and was married to Shirley for 64 years. Taylor and Shirley moved their family to the Vansville section of Beltsville with children Marcellous Jr., Marcia, Kevin, and Cheryl. Soon after, Lori and Karam circled out their family. Known affectionately as “The Professor” because he is well versed in so many areas, Taylor may be the longest living resident of his Van Horn Estates community. Some children reared in this community successfully expanded its legacy, many finding notable careers. The Vansville community has supported a Provost and President of the University of Maryland, an Assistant Superintendent of Maryland’s Department of Education, a University Dean, Chancellor, Administrators, educators, community stakeholders, activists, professional athletes, entrepreneurs and professional workers. For his part, Taylor set his own high standard as a police officer and detective, and later, an entrepreneur, where he successfully built multiple businesses.
Marcellous and Shirley Taylor moved to the Van Horn Estates section of Vansville in 1967.
There were several families there who owned large plots, some of whom currently have streets named after them. To this community, the Taylor’s built a home to live amongst the Gaithers, Odells, and Byrds. The Van Horn Estates, located in the Vansville section at the intersection Odell Road and Old Baltimore Pike, is an unincorporated community, started as an area for a stage line and the Van Horn Tavern in 1783. It is marked in the National Historical Marker Database, with a historical roadside marker, inscribed as the location being a resting place mentioned in writings of the first President of the United States, George Washington. The neighborhood is nestled between the Beltsville Industrial Park and adjacent to the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC). Most residents can still look from their front or backyards and see the sprawling acreage that belongs to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Several years after arriving in Vansville, staying true to his Standardsville, Virginia farming roots, Taylor began to look for additional land to purchase, to create his own family garden. First, renting land from another local Taylor family, he then went on to purchase land on Gross’s Lane, from Lester Gross of the historic Gross’s Beltsville Refuse Service that held the contract for trash pickup throughout Beltsville and surrounding areas. There, Taylor grew vegetables to feed his family and the community. For a while, you could find the family at the corner of Old Baltimore Pike and Muirkirk Road or on Old Muirkirk Road, selling fresh vegetables at a mobile stand. Taylor’s two-acre garden grew the typical farmer’s market items, more than 30 fruit trees, and at one point, was the home to chickens and ducks. Taylor also used this opportunity to teach neighborhood families how to garden and often volunteering to use his farm equipment to create their own backyard dreams. And to his backyard, neighborhood children who were not going to “The Park,” the local MNCPPC Vansville Park, could be found playing in the enormous sand box that would soon become a favorite spot. Adjoining his backyard, the Marcellus family (another family with the same surname) and the Thomas family also grew a variety of fruits and vegetables. Knowledge of raising crops and recipes of homemade dishes were traded back and forth between yards with no fences to impede relationship. Just across the street, the McCleary family produced bountiful harvests and meals as well. This neighborhood exemplified the old adage about enclaves where everyone watched each other's children, perhaps not knowing that they would be creating a long-lasting bond that continues to this day.
Over the years, Taylor worked in his backyard (which currently still has multiple fruit trees) completing a variety of projects. In addition to gardening, Taylor could be found with his children, carving fresh beef purchased from the BARC, or working on his house or a neighbor's house. Once, during another major snowstorm, the neighborhood lost electrical power for days. Taylor fired up the grill and smoker he designed and cooked enough food for his immediate neighbors. In the late 70’s, Taylor began a complete renovation of his split-level foyer house. He designed a brick 2-car garage, front vestibule, and house length patio in the back. Using his skills as a contractor, Taylor completely transformed the look of his home to what it is today. Further, he began to work on the homes of his neighbors, painting exteriors and adding outdoor patio spaces.
Taylor is a proud DAV Marine and he retired from MPD as a detective in the early 1970’s. With a family to feed, he began a journey that defines his life as a true Renaissance Man. He began to educate himself at American University and University of Maryland, earning four degrees. He learned to speak Spanish and Japanese. Before working for himself, Taylor was hired to work as a butcher at the College Park Safeway. He then became a successful entrepreneur, procuring several Arnold Bread routes, first on Capitol Hill, then Georgetown, two in Alexandria, Virginia, and also fitting in a route selling Entenmann’s baked goods in Hagerstown as well. The neighbors delighted in receiving free bread from Taylor. His trucks could be seen leaving his home each morning at 5:00 a.m., with one of his children in tow and likely a neighborhood child as well. It was said that a many neighborhood children got the opportunity to grow up sleeping in bread trays on the way to work with Mr. Taylor. As a business owner, Taylor drove the world-famous thoroughfares of Capitol Hill, meeting and greeting folk from the halls of Congress to the streets of Pennsylvania Ave. No one was a stranger. His motto was to “meet a new friend each day, make a new customer each day.” Soon after, because of his knowledge in the science of cooking, Tayor was hired as a chef at Mike Palm’s Restaurant, called by the Washington Post, “one of Capital Hill’s best-known restaurants.” As younger children, we recalled going to the restaurant as a family, excited to see that the person actually cooking for the important people of Capitol Hill was our dad, Marcellous Taylor.
In the time that he carved out a living, Taylor and Shirley seemingly wove a culture of academics, history, athletics, and hard work into the DNA of our family. We can all recall the times where he would load up his truck, or sporty 2-seater car, taking us to our weekly games with the Beltsville Boys and Girls Club. If it was related to our schooling, both parents emphasized the importance of understanding our history. When bussing came to our African American community in 1971, some of the children of Vansville left our beloved Chestnut Hills Elementary School and went on to attend Bond Mill Elementary School. We were not totally welcomed by everyone at the new school, but Taylor and Shirley, along with the parents of the neighborhood, fought to make our transition equitable and competitive. When we subsequently returned to Beltsville for middle and high school, Martin Luther King Jr, Middle School was newly built, and we felt like we were back home. The years at High Point High School arrived and once again, the children of Vansville received the best that Beltsville had to offer. High Point’s Principal at the time, Mr. Tracy, was long remembered as saying, “If it is to be, it is up to me!” Little did anyone in Beltsville know that a child of Vansville, and Marcellous and Shirley Taylor, Dr. Lori Taylor would grow to be a principal at Beltsville’s own and our alma mater, High Point High School.
A favorite season of Taylor’s entrepreneurial life was bringing his children into his business. From working on the bread truck, as his sons and daughters, we learned how to run his business. As a family, we were weekly participants at the D.C. Open Air Farmers Market, where they sold bread and home baked goods. Early in the mornings, three days a week, after dropping off stacks of bread, Taylor made deliveries to the stores, and his wife and children ran the bread stand. In the early 1980’s, due to a health scare, Taylor had to take off for several weeks. One of his daughters, along with Shirley and several neighbors, picked up the helm and ran his routes until he was able to safely return to work. Taylor’s influence on those around him was significant enough that when he retired, he sold a portion of his route to a son of the neighborhood as well to his son-in-law.
Once Taylor retired from the bread business, his work life pivoted to him starting his own contracting business. He began purchasing more land, which eventually led him to building his own four-story rowhouse style apartment building as well as completing several semi-constructed homes. Additionally, using his knowledge with the science of agriculture, Taylor once again pivoted his skillset, and began his landscaping business. He purchased his beloved blue tractor, and set about designing yards, concrete barriers, and teaching others about plants.
When age met the wisdom of years, Taylor picked up his pen and began to write. Life was his muse, and his first book, The Lane - The Beginning, was published in 2012. It is a fictional story that closely resembles the life of Taylor. An excerpt from the book states, “the main character is a young boy who was on a journey, struggling to find and understand himself and his relationship to everyone and everything around him. Michael, the young African American boy was, ‘born in the early part of the 20th Century in the rural mountains, before the United States of America's entrance in WWII.’ This story follows Michael through his trials and tribulations, dealing with issues of race between his best friend, Ronnie, who was white and shared Michael's age. The majority of these conversations, episodes, tragedies, joys, events, take place on, “The Lane", where it all began.”
In 2024, Taylor published, “Returning Down the Lane.” In this sequel, the main character, Michael, “Continues to struggle with dichotomies between love and hate, life and death, equality and inequality, causes him to rely even more on his fantastical animal-like, but very real, mentors, who always came to Michael in times of his greatest need, in times when he suffered the most.” In this book, Michael is now older than he was as the main character in The Lane-The Beginning.” He has a better understanding that while 'things happen', he is still left with pain and confusion about how and why.” After publishing both books, Taylor began writing poetry where he has now settled in this latest occupation. Both friends and family have now come to enjoy the emails and texts with Taylor and his sometimes daily inspired poems, detailing the dreams, his wishes, and the years he’s spent taking in what the universe has offered him.
Now, as a resident of many years in Vansville, there have been many events to look back upon, some not very fondly, and others, nostalgically. Taylor has seen the burning of the house owned by Hester King, the founder of the first Prince George’s County Branch of NAACP, founded in 1935. He himself was at home and witnessed the attempted cross-burning in his own front yard in 1998. He has also seen the growth and development of a new culture in Van Horn Estates. As one of the longest residents of the neighborhood, Taylor reminisces about the friends he has made over the years, many who have passed on. He also smiles when he meets or sees new neighbors who come to greet him. Whether it’s the new family who purchased the parsonage home from Historic Queen’s Chapel UMC, or neighbors across the street who look in surprise as he speaks to them in their native language. But he is most proud of his next-door neighbor who is also his youngest son. They are connected by more than blood, but a shared backyard and a stake in their shared community.
When Marcellus Taylor, Sr. is not looking out of his back window into his yard or his son’s yard, you may find him seated in his driveway, along with his dog, Zee, waving to those who walk or drive by. Taylor welcomes his local neighbors to stop and say hello. Taylor, aka, “The Professor” has a wealth of knowledge to impart, a recipe to share, and a smile to welcome anyone back home to Vansville.