David S. Spence/The Gazette The McCathran family, Ken, Joli, Rose and Emily, at the Washington Grove town hall, named for Ken's grandfather.

"They asked me to give a personal anecdote," said the sixth generation Washington Grover. "My speech is supposed to invoke an emotional aspect to anti-mansionization. ... I'm saying this can work -- preserving it and not mansionizing it and not developing it can happen."

By sharing her experience of growing up in "the Grove," a town she says has changed minimally over her lifetime, Emily wants to convince people of the importance of preserving the unique and historical aspects of their communities.

"A lot of modern communities look the same, with different decorations inside," she said. "But here, each cottage has a distinct individuality about it, it makes it historical."

Grove residents are preparing to put the town's history and character on display, in an effort to communicate the importance of preserving historical individuality in the face of mansionization at the April conference in Washington Grove's town hall.

The conference is sponsored by Montgomery Preservation, a nonprofit historic preservation organization.

To share its historical character, and shed light on the threats mansionization poses, Washington Grove's Historical Preservation Committee and the Women's Club are preparing a walking tour of the town and a slide show of its historical structures.

Chris Kirtz, a resident and preservation committee member, said the tour will probably cover examples of original cottages, homes restored, modernized, and built to fit the town, and homes that were expanded out of proportion to the town.

The owner of an older home that Kirtz plans to show is considering replacing it with a "pre-assembled modular kit home," he said.

"Here, in my view, is a real example of what could happen. There are no rules as long as [the owner] stays within the height and setback [limitations]. ... We welcome other people coming and modifying and making changes. Absolutely, bring them into the 20th century, but we also value our history."

Inside McCathran Hall, there will also be an ongoing slide show of the town's "contributing structures," built before 1937, when Washington Grove became a town, Kirtz said.

Montgomery Preservation chose Washington Grove as a backdrop for the conference precisely because of its close-knit community, rustic location and history, said Wayne Goldstein, president of the nonprofit.

Since Goldstein plans to discuss the harm of cutting down trees, "I thought a town within a forest was an appropriate metaphor," he said. "It will be a chance to just really soak up the ambiance of the town, show them that we have something worth preserving."

The six-hour conference will feature speakers from other communities, and representatives from the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, among others.