Bell makers maintain booming family business

Hot metal, horse manure and the constant ringing of bells ? sounds like heaven to William Parker Jr.

Parker is president of McShane?s Bell Foundry, a Glen Burnie-based bell manufacturer that constructs bells for churches, ships and universities. The company, run by Parker and his two sons, William III and Ryan, was originally founded in Ireland in 1856 by Henry McShane. Parker?s family bought the company in 1933 and still clings to the original bell-making methods.