The distance from Hagerstown to Cumberland is 65 miles and the highway follows a somewhat irregular westerly direction. Road conditions are usually the very best and excellent time can be made thru this section. The country is more or less mountainous in character and frequent grades are encountered west of Hancock where the highway enters the Allegheny Range. The Potomac River flows in a northwesterly direction in close proximity to the highway for ten miles from Hagerstown, but changes its course at Hancock to southwest, then winds its way in an irregular semicircle to Cumberland. Quite a number of small towns are passed thru, including Clear Springs, Indian Springs, Hancock, Belle Grove, Piney Grove and Flintstone, and numerous small streams are crossed at intervals.

With the plantation of Maryland began the third stage of English colonization of America. The "Ark" was the name of the ship which brought the first settlers there. The charter granted to Lord Baltimore's son in 1632 by the King of England for settling Maryland, gave the most ample rights and privileges ever conferred by a sovereign. It was a goodly land of broad streams, fertile plains, sloping hills and luxuriant woodlands. Flocks of wild turkeys and herds of deer ranged in the timber, and enormous clouds of wild fowl, geese, ducks, brant, and swan, filled the bays and rivers. The Indians met the early settlers in a friendly manner and the beginning of the colony was favored with a most promising future.~ So. Cal Auto Club Guide