Introducing... Chromite Man!

Volunteer ranger and SDCI Vice President Lynell Tobler, left, and Laura Van Scoyoc, SDCI President, flank Chromite Man, a cardboard cutout of 18-year-old David Shore, who succeeded in getting chromite declared Maryland's  state mineral in 2025

In celebration of Chromite being declared the official state mineral of Maryland on June 1st, 2025 by Governor Wes Moore, the members of Soldiers Delight Conservation, Inc., the Friends group for Soldiers Delight Natural Environment Area in Owings Mills, erected a life-size cardboard cutout of the young man whose nine-year odyssey to pass a bill naming chromite the state rock was finally successful. In tribute to David's almost decade-long endeavor, SDCI mining historian Johnny Johnsson gifted a 98-pound sample of chromite to young David Shore, who was nine years old when he began his journey to have chromite's significance in the state's history recognized. Now eighteen, David Shore finally got it done. 

Soldiers Delight is home to the country's first chromium mine, which was opened by Isaac Tyson in the 1830s. But there hasn't been any chromite anywhere at Soldiers Delight in decades, and it was important for SDCI to emphasize that fact in order to prevent visitors from venturing off-trail in search of chromite specimens and damaging our fragile habitat and the rare and endangered plants that live here. 

So we took a photograph of David Shore holding his 98-pound chromite sample and had the image blown up into a life-size cardboard cutout, which we dubbed "Chromite Man." Chromite Man has taken up residence in the Exhibit Hall at the Soldiers Delight visitor center, located at 5100 Deer Park Road in Owings Mills. Come take your picture with Chromite Man and learn all about chromite's rich history at Soldiers Delight NEA!