Green Ridge Mountain & Pratt or Prattsville, MD   (MAP IT)

From Thomas Searight's book "The Old Pike":

Two miles west from the Bevans house is Green Ridge, where an old wagon stand was kept by Elisha Collins. His house was a log building, and stood on the north side of the road. Although this house was humble in appearance, old wagoners are unstinted in bestowing praises on its ancient good cheer.

Trudging onward, two miles further to the westward, the old wagoner, and many a weary traveler, found a pleasant resting place at "Pratt's Hollow", where Samuel Hamilton kept a cozy old tavern. It was a frame house, on the north side of the road. Hamilton was a planter as well as tavern keeper, and raised tobacco and owned and worked negro slaves. Levi McGruder succeeded Hamilton as the keeper of this house. This locality derived its name from Pratt, who owned the property at an early day, and, upon authority of the veteran David Mahaney, kept the first tavern there. An incident occurred at Pratt's Hollow in the year 1842, which brings to memory the state of public society in ante bellum times. Among the old wagoners of the road, was Richard Shadburn. He was a native of Virginia, and born a slave, while his complexion was so fair, and his hair so straight, that he readily passed for a white man. When quite young he escaped from his master and struck out for liberty among the enlivening scenes of the great highway of the Republic. On a certain evening of the year mentioned, he drove into McGruder's wagon yard along with a number of other wagoners, to rest for the night. The sun had not yet disappeared behind the western hills, and a stage coach pulled up in front of McGruder's tavern, and stopped for water, as was the custom at that point. Among the passengers in that coach was the owner of the slave, Shadburn. Looking out through the window of the coach he observed and recognized Shadburn, and calling to his aid a fellow passenger, emerged from the coach with a determination to reclaim his property. Dick was seized, but being a man of great muscular power, succeeded in releasing himself from the clutches of his assailants and fled. The disappointed master fired at Dick with a pistol, as he ran, but he made good his escape. The team driven by Shadburn belonged to Parson's of Ohio, who shortly after the escapade mentioned, sent another driver to McGruder's to take charge of it. Shadburn never afterward reappeared on the road, and it is believed that he found a home and at last a grave in Canada.

It was near Pratt's Hollow that the Cotrells, father and two sons, murdered a peddler in 1822. the perpetrators of which crime were all hung from the same scaffold in Frederick. The old tavern at Pratt's Hollow was destroyed by fire many years ago, and was never rebuilt.

Two miles west from Pratt's Hollow, John S. Miller conducted an old tavern, and a good one. His house was a frame building, and stood on the north side of the road. It was a popular stopping place for wagoners, Miller kept this house as early as 1836, and subsequently became the proprietor of the old tavern, five miles west of Washington, Pennsylvania. where he died.