Ellicott City (Business Section), 10.5 miles  (See photos)

(144 alt.,1,216 pop.), seat and principal banking and trading center of Howard County, lies along narrow congested Main Street. The houses, built of dark local granite, appear to be wedged in the rocky hillside. Some of the buildings on the south side of Main Street straddle the narrow Tiber Creek which flows into the Patapsco at this point. The town developed around the Ellicotts' grist and flour mills established in 1774 on the east bank of the river. Following the building of the Cumberland Road westward and the coming of the railroad in 1830, the town grew rapidly. In 1864 many wounded in the Battle of the Monocacy (see Tour 16) were cared for here until they could be sent to Baltimore.

At the east end of the bridge over the Patapsco is the Doughnut Corporation of America Plant (visited 2 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays),an eight-story concrete building that was formerly a flour mill. Its bins have a storage capacity of 500,000 bushels of wheat.

The main building is on the Size of Ellicotts' Mills, founded by John, Joseph, and Andrew Ellicott, sons of Andrew Ellicott, a Quaker who ad emigrated in 1730 from England to Bucks County, Pennsylvania. They bought land and water rights here in 1774 and brought machinery of their own invention by boat from Philadelphia to Elkridge Landing and thence overland to the mill site, where they built comfortable dwellings for themselves and their workers. Two of Joseph Ellicott's sons, who grew up here, became noted surveyors. Andrew (1754-1830) redrew L'Enfant's plans of Washington D.C. for Jefferson, surveyed several Stale boundaries and in 1796 the frontier between the United States and Florida. Joseph (1760-1826) was the surveyor and the western land agent for the Holland Land Company. He founded Buffalo, advocated and later directed early surveys for the Eric Canal. He spent his last years in an asylum suffering from melancholia. For 60 years Ellicotts operated the mill here successfully and Patapsco Flour became widely known. During the panic of 1837, however, the plant was turned over to Charles Gambrill and Charles Carroll, son of Charles Carroll of Carrollton. Thirty-one years later the mill, bridge, dam, and several houses were washed away in a flood, and 43 persons were drowned.

Across the road from the doughnut plant and facing the former mill-race are (R) the George Ellicott House (1789), the Jonathan Ellicott House (1782), and the John Ellicott House (1772), two-and-a-half-story stone structures with dormers. About 200 yards west is the John Ellicott Store, a long three-story yellow stone building erected before 1790.

The first building (R) on Main Street west of the bridge over the Patapsco is the old PATAPSCO HOTEL, a two-story granite structure, now an apartment house. Tradition has it that on a Sunday morning during his presidential campaign Henry Clay appeared on the balcony that extended across the front of this building. A crowd quickly gathered and shouted for a speech. Clay held up his arms for silence. But before he could begin, the sound of a church bell was heard, whereupon Clay called out: “My friends and fellow citizens, the notes of yonder church bell remind me that this is a day for prayer and not for public speaking.” Once more he raised his hands, this time in benediction, and retired to his room.

The exterior of the stone Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Depot, directly opposite, is little changed since the first horsecars were hauled here from Baltimore over strap-iron rails on May 24,1830. The rounded stone wall, extending south from the station and now part of the platform, was the foundation of a turntable.

The old Town Hall, two doors west of the hotel, is a five-story building with a series of cellars dug out of the rocky hillside behind each of the first four stories.

The Ellicott City High School, on College Ave, is on the site of Sam's Academy built in 1827, and of Rock Hill Academy, a boys' school erected here by the Brothers of the Christian Schools 30 years later. In 1865 the academy was chartered as Rock Hill College. After fire destroyed the building in 1922, Rock Hill was merged with Calvert Hall College in Baltimore.

In the Ellicott Burial Ground (key to gate at cottage next door), a few hundred yards (L) on steep Columbia Pike, are the graves of Andrew and John Ellicott and some of their descendants. Beyond the cemetery a private lane leads to the Friends Meeting House (closed), a plain rectangular brick building with low gables, built in 1798; it has served as a meeting house, a war hospital, and a school.

Facing Court House Lane (R) is the Howard County Courthouse (L) on Capitoline Hill. Like most buildings in Ellicott City, it is a Classic-Revival structure of local granite. The battered old British cannon on the lawn, captured at the Battle of Bladensburg in the War of 1812 by “Bachelor” John Dorsey, was one of the few souvenirs the Americans got out of that encounter.

The Angelo Cottage (R), Institute Road, is a Gothic-Revival house built in 1831 by Samuel Vaughn, a French artist. The octagonal-turreted structure, overlooking a ravine from the rim of Tarpeian Rock aroused such curiosity that the Baltimore & Ohio R.R. ran excursion trains from Baltimore in 1831.

On Institute Road, at the top of the hill, is the Patapsco Female Institute (L), a large granite Greek-Revival structure, overlooking the Patapsco River valley. Established on seven acres of land donated in 1829 by the Ellicott family, the school was supported by private contributions and annual grants by the State. For 15 years before the Civil War, the headmistress was Mrs. Vlmira Hart Lincoln Phelps, a pioneer in education for women. Winnie Davis, daughter of Jefferson Davis, and Alice Montague of Virginia, mother of Wallis Duchess of Windsor, were pupils here. After the war the fortunes of the school declined and it finally closed its doors in 1800.

In Ellicott City is the junction with US 29 (see Tour 1B).

At 12.7 miles is the junction with macadamized St. John's Lane.

Right on this to a concrete-paved road. 2.4 miles; and (R) to Mount Hebron (L), 3.4 miles, a two-and-a-half-story stone structure built about 1780. The 15-room house has fireplace in each room and overlook Dorsey's Search, later called Dorsey's Run, one of the oldest grants in this section.

The new Ellicott City by-pass joins old US 40 at 14.2 miles.

At 14.7 miles is the junction with a macadam road.

    Left on this road is (R) Burleigh Manor {private), 1.2 miles, a yellow brick house built about 1785 by Colonel Rezin Hammond. The main two-and-a-half-story structure is connected with a wing; of the some height by a short gallery. The late Georgian Colonial structure is notable (or its beautifully carved marble mantels. An unusual feature is the wide L-shaped hall. Near the road and behind the house are old outbuildings and slave quarters. The 2,300-acre estate has been held intact by descendants of the first owners.

An old house (L), 16.3 miles, formerly the gate house of Doughoregan Manor and a good example of Gothic-Revival architecture, marks the junction with Carroll Lane.

    Left on Carroll Lane to the tree-lined entrance (R) to Doughoregan Manor (open for Howard Co. Horse Show end of April), 0.7 miles, the home of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, who survived all other signers of the Declaration of Independence. The two-story manor house, built about 1727. is 300 feet long with two ells; the whole exemplifies the eighteenth-century passion for axial symmetry. The south ell contains servants' quarters; the north ell is a richly furnished Roman Catholic chapel, a reminder of the days when Roman Catholic services were conducted privately. The chapel has been remodeled several times but still retains the same general lines as the manor house. The central section is surmounted by a railed roof platform and octagonal cupola. From the roof promenade could be seen a great part of the original estate of more than 13,000 acres with beautiful lawns shaded by great elms, and farm buildings and quarters that housed almost a thousand slaves. A Doric portico with chamber above has been added to the front The interior is paneled with oak and decorated with hunting scenes and family portraits by Kuhn, Sully, and other early American painters.
    Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the third of his name in America, was born in Annapolis, September to, 1737. His grandfather, land agent for Lord Baltimore, had acquired thousands of desirable acres in the Colony including the manor of Carrollton near Frederick. Young Carroll spent several years in France and completed his education with the study of law in London. Returning to America when he was twenty-eight, he found himself barred from practicing his profession because of the restrictions surrounding Roman Catholics. In 1768 he married his cousin Mary Darnall.
    With the growth of unrest in the colonies, Carroll began to play an increasingly important role in politics. A delegate to the Maryland convention in 1776, Carroll was instrumental in effecting the resolution of separation from England and, on July 4th of the same year, as a member of the Continental Congress, signed the Declaration of Independence. After the Revolution he was Senator from Maryland in the first Federal Congress.
    A brilliant lawyer and a shrewd business man, Carroll was involved in many of the major commercial and industrial enterprises of the young nation. He was a member of the Potomac Company and of Its successor, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, and a director of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. With his vast land holdings and the fortune he had accumulated, Carroll was known as the wealthiest man in America at the time of his death in 1832. He was buried in the chapel here.
    A subsequent occupant of the manor, John Lee Carroll, was governor of Maryland (1876-80). The estate, held intact until about 1870, now contains about 3,000 acres, farmed by tenants. On Thanksgiving Day members of the Howard County Hunt Club attend pre-hunt services here, perpetuating an English custom of blessing the hounds.

At 16.6 miles on US 40 is the junction with graveled Folly Quarters Road.

    Left on this 3.3 miles, to Rolling Road which becomes the main side route.
    Left (straight ahead) 1.8 miles on Folly Quarters Road to Walnut Grove, a two-and-a-half-story gray stone house with gables and dormers built about 1740 on a knoll some distance from the road. It was the home of Captain Gassaway Watkins, commander of the Fifth Maryland Regiment at the battle of Cowpens during the Revolution and of troops at Annapolis during the War of 1812.
    Right on Rolling Road 3.8 miles. to the Novitiate of the Franciscan Fathers, a large marble structure with two ells facing an open court. It was erected in 1930 and patterned after the Convent of St. Francis at Assisi, Italy. The Folly Quarter Mansion, a two-and-a-half-story house built in 1832 with matching front and rear porticoes, is used now as a recreation ball. Large granite blocks laid in coursed ashlar, and portico columns carved from single granite blocks, give the house solid dignity. The name of the estate is said to be derived from Charles Carroll of Carrollton's disgusted remark,' Folly I,' when he learned that his son had bought still more land.
    The house was planned by the elder Carroll for his daughter at a cost, it is said, of more than $100,000. Long neglected, it was finally bought by Van Lear Black (1875-1930), Baltimore newspaper publisher who staged rodeos and other spectacular entertainments for guests prominent in journalistic, governmental, and diplomatic circles.
    At 4.9 miles is the entrance lane (L) of Glenelg Manor, now called the Governor George Lowndes Estate. The large ivy-covered Gothic-Revival house is surrounded by giant hemlock and locust trees and overlooks rolling farmlands. The main two-story U-shaped house has a three-story crenelated tower at the left wing. Behind it is a remodeled house, built about 1700. There are several gray stone outbuildings, one of which is a Gothic-Revival “prospect tower”.
    At 6.3 miles (R) on the macadamized Triadelphia Road to the Howard County Hunt Club (L), 6.4 miles a two-story frame clubhouse on 50 acres of land.
    The Triadelphia Road continues to a junction with US 40 at 9.5 miles

At 17.3 miles on US 40 is the junction with a dirt road.

    Right on this road to Waverly (R), 1.4 miles, whose two-story, L-shaped stone house has a one-story curtain connecting it with a two-story wing. The house, built about 1750, is still surrounded by more than 200 acres of the original 1,300-acre estate It was formerly the home of Governor George Howard son of John Eager Howard of Revolutionary fame. A neighborhood story tells of Howard's frustrated ambition to own 1,000 slaves; death always kept the number down to 999. Although some outbuildings have been torn down, the overseer's house and the slave jail still stand. The latter has barred windows and iron fetters. In the yard is the gravestone of the governor's son, John Eager Howard the Younger, whose body was removed to Frederick.

At 19.7 miles is the junction with Triadelphia Road (see above).

At 26.2 miles is the junction with graveled Daisy Road, State 96.

    Left on this to the hamlet of DAISY, 2.9 miles. (553 alt.,25 pop); (R) from Daisy on a macadamized road to the entrance lane (L) to Oakdale {private) 3.4 miles. The massive three-and-a-half-story brick structure with Classic portico was built in 1838 and overlooks the 1,300 acres that remain of a vast tract patented to Captain Richard War-field in 1763. Oakdale was the home of Edwin Warfield, governor of Maryland from 1904. to 1008. The interior is richly paneled and ancestral portraits decorate most of the downstairs rooms. Wide lawns are shaded by old maples, hemlocks, and oaks. To the right of the house is an artificial lake on the north bank of which stands the kiln where the bricks for the house were made.

In New Market, 38.4 miles. (575 alt., 274 pop.), trading center for a farming area, is the junction with State 75 (see Tour 15).

Jug Bridge, 43.6 miles (Photos), spanning the Monocacy River was so named because of a huge stone jug (R) at the eastern end. This is said to contain a demijohn of whiskey sealed up with loving care by the trowel master. The bridge was constructed in 1807 for the turnpike company building the Frederick road. Lafayette was met here in 1824 by a delegation from Frederick and escorted into the city.

Jug Bridge circa 1930s

Frederick (MD), 46.3 miles

(300 alt., 14,434 pop.) (See Frederick).

Points of Interest: The Barbara Fritchie House, the Roger Taney House, Hood College, Rose Hill Manor, the Maryland State School for Deaf, and others. Frederick is at a junction with US 15 (see Tour 15) and US 340 (see Tour 2B).

Frederick (MD) to Hagerstown (MD,) 26.5 miles

Between Frederick and Hagerstown, US 40 traverses rolling, fertile countryside and crosses Catoctin and South Mountains. From Braddock Heights the Middletown Valley spreads south to the Potomac and west to South Mountain, the highest point on this route east of Hagerstown. This section was largely settled by Germans from the Palatine, whose descendants are successful wheat and dairy farmers and horse-breeders. Their thrift and industry are evident in their great red barns, visible from the road, that are often more impressive than their farmhouses. In the vicinity of Hagerstown the farm buildings are decorated with 'hex' signs to ward off evil spirits. Braddock's troops and later the armies of the North and South marched along this route, and these peaceful fields were the scenes of numerous conflicts.

A dual highway, now being built (1940) north of the present narrow winding macadam road, will shorten the route between Frederick and Hagerstown by several miles and eliminate dangerous curves.

West of Frederick, 0 miles, US 40 follows an eastern extension of the old Cumberland Road.

At 1.8 miles is the eastern junction (R) with the new National Road (under construction 1940).

Braddock, 3.5 miles

(720 alt., 150 pop.), called Old Braddock to distinguish it from Braddock Heights, was a stagecoach stop where teamsters deemed it their right and privilege to celebrate with uproarious drinking bouts.

An early nineteenth-century inn, Hagan's Tavern (R), 4.6 miles, is now a tourist home. In 1830, according to neighborhood legend, a guest buried a chest of jewels on a near-by mountainside. Two years later he returned and while attempting to recover his cache was fatally injured in a mountain storm. As he was dying the stranger confessed the jewels had been stolen from a grand duchess in France. The landlord dug fruitlessly, but residents of the vicinity insist the treasure awaits the persistent or lucky prospector.

During the Antietam campaign in September 1862 a detachment of Confederate cavalry stopped at the tavern for refreshments and was captured by Federal troops.

Braddock's Spring (L), 4.8 miles, said to have been used during the French and Indian War by Braddock's troops, is now covered and provides its water through a small pump.

Braddock Heights, 5.3 miles

(950 alt., 150 pop.) (swimming pool, other recreational facilities), is a summer resort founded in 1896 on the peak of Catoctin Mountain, which is only 250 feet wide here. From the observation tower, parts of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Virginia are visible.

Middletown, 8 miles

(575 alt., 818 pop.), settled in the eighteenth century by people of English and German stock, was incorporated in 1834. Although it has no factories, the town has an air of modest wealth and comfort, founded chiefly on the prosperity of the agricultural region it serves. It is immaculately clean and has solidly built and well-appointed houses. The Valley Register, a weekly newspaper, has been published here since 1844 by four generations of the same family.

Several Civil War skirmishes took place in the vicinity and Middletown homes and churches were crowded with wounded after the battles of South Mountain and Antietam. Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes, commander of the 23rd Ohio Volunteers and later President of the United States, was among those injured at South Mountain.

Zion Lutheran Church (R), Main Street, was built in i860 to replace an earlier church building erected about 1783. A 12-foot marble shaft in the yard is a memorial to 31 Lutheran ministers born in the Middletown Valley.

The Nancy Crouse House (L), Main Street, is a small brick dwelling with a low front porch. Here, according to Middletown historians, seventeen-year old Nancy Crouse stood with the Union flag wrapped around her when Confederate cavalrymen galloped into town. Nancy, unfortunately, overestimated Southern gallantry, for the flag was wrested from her and destroyed.

In the Lutheran Cemetery is a 12-foot marble shaft marking the Grave of Sergeant Everhart, a local hero credited with having saved the lives of General Lafayette and Colonel William Augustine Washington. Lafayette was wounded at the Battle of the Brandywine on September 11, 1777, and was carried to safety by Everhart. On July 17, 1781, at the Battle of Cowpens, Everhart came to the aid of his commander, Colonel Washington, who was engaged in a personal encounter with a British officer. The cemetery is on the site of the Martenbox Church where Everhart, a Methodist minister, preached after the Revolutionary War.

Christ Reformed Church, built in 1819 and enlarged in 1897, is the third church on this site. It is a brick building with a tall, graceful spire. This church conducted a school here from 1847 until the present public school was opened.

In Middletown is a junction with State 33 (see Tour 2B).

US 40 crosses Catoctin Creek, 9.1 miles. At the western end of the bridge is a macadam road.

    Left on this road to Fox's Tavern (L), 1.9 miles, a stone building erected shortly after the Revolutionary War. During the War of 1813, it is said, soldiers came to the tavern seeking shelter from the rain and “all got Galory and engaged in a free fight, laying aside Captain Smith's commission, while King Whiskey took command.”
    The Reno Monument (L), 2.8 miles, marks the spot where Major General Jesse Lee Reno, commander of the 9th Army Corps, U.S. Volunteers, was killed during the Battle of South Mountain.
    A few yards from the monument are foundation stones and part of the fences of Old Wise's Cabin. 'Old Wise' was paid by the Government $5 each for burying soldiers but is said to have unceremoniously tossed 50 bodies into a near-by well. As a result disgruntled ghosts haunted the mountain, demanding decent burial, and one threatened to haunt him forever unless its body was turned over. After dark the old man reburied the body and the ghost disappeared.

US 40 crosses South Mountain at 13.3 miles

(1,100 alt.) On the crest is the Mountain House (L), an old tavern that included among its guests several presidents and many statesmen traveling this route between the West and Washington D.C. In 1876 the building was remodeled as a summer residence but is again being operated as an inn.

The Little Stone Church (R) was built in 1881 by Mrs. Madeleine Dahlgren, widow of Admiral John A.B. Dahlgren, expert on naval ordnance. The admiral's grave is inside the church, which is no longer used.

The Battle of South Mountain was fought here and at Fox's Gap, one mile south, on September 14,1862, during Lee's first invasion of Maryland. Opposed to Lee's forces were Federal troops under General George B. McClellan. The battle began at Fox's Gap and continued there and along South Mountain throughout the day. Lee and General Longstreet were at Hagerstown when they received word of the desperate straits of the Confederates on South Mountain. Longstreet's men reached the scene about four o'clock in the afternoon, but the Confederates were outflanked and at nightfall were forced to retire toward Sharpsburg. Federal losses in killed, wounded, and missing totaled 1,831, and Confederate losses were approximately the same; however, the heroic defense of their position by General D.H. Hill's forces probably saved the Confederate army from destruction as it gave Lee time to concentrate his forces at Sharpsburg.

South Mountain has been the subject of many legends and superstitions. As late as 1859 many residents of the section believed that bands of Indians still passed over the mountain secretly. lights moving at night along the mountainside long were known in the vicinity as 'the Saxon's fire'. According to the tale, a youthful Saxon among troops marching through here on his way to the Seminole War, stopped at the Mountain House Tavern and fell in love with the innkeeper's daughter. He deserted and hid on the mountain until the troops moved on, so he could marry the girl.

At 13.9 miles, about half-way down the mountainside, is the junction with the Zittlestown Road.

    Right on this macadam road through Zittlestown, 0.2 miles, so named for the large Zittle family here, to Washington Monument State Park (free picnic grounds), 1.3 miles A monument erected here on July 4,1837, was completed in one day by citizens of Boonsboro. During the Antietam and Gettysburg campaigns in the Civil War this mound, which had almost fallen to pieces, was patched with togs and used as a Union signal station. In 1934 ten acres of land, including the monument, were deeded to the State, and additional land was subsequently acquired for a State park. A copy of the earlier monument was built of local stone by the Civilian Conservation Corps and rededicated July 4,1936.
    From the tower, reached by an interior stairway, the Hagerstown, Potomac, Cumberland, and Middletown Valleys, and parts of neighboring States arc visible.

At 15 miles is the junction with State 67, the Weverton Road (see Tour 2B)

Boonsboro, 15.8 miles

(530 alt.,824 pop.), a closely built residential town, is the home of retired farmers. The solid brick and stone houses have low front porches close to the sidewalks. Boonsboro has not always been a quiet town. It was settled in 1774 by George and William Boone, whom legend has related to the more famous Daniel. The town was prosperous in the 1830's when the pike was alive with westward-moving traffic; its blacksmith shops and stores were busy and its inns and taverns were filled with travelers and teamsters.

'Stonewall' Jackson narrowly escaped capture on the outskirts of Boonsboro on September n, 1862. Colonel Henry Kyd Douglas, one of his staff officers, was advancing into town with a few cavalrymen when a detachment of Federal cavalry dashed out of the Sharpsburg road and drove the Confederates back toward their main column. On the way back they met General Jackson, unmounted and leading his horse, far ahead of his troops. The Confederate detail wheeled about, called to imaginary reinforcements, and charged the Federals. The ruse succeeded and the Federal cavalry withdrew before what they believed to be a superior force.

Four days after the Battle of South Mountain, Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry, while protecting the rear of Lee's army as it moved toward Sharpsburg, had a skirmish in the streets of Boonsboro with advancing Federal troops. After the battle of Antietam Boonsboro's churches and many of its private homes were used for the care of the wounded.

On July 8, 1863, Federal cavalry holding Boonsboro had an all-day engagement here with General J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry.

Rose Hill (R), Main Street, a two-story house constructed of heavy timbers encased with mortar, was built in 1814. Rows of lilac bushes and boxwood and a number of fine old maple trees surround the house. This was one of the settings for David Belasco's play, The Heart of Maryland, first produced in 1895. Several scenes of the film version were photographed here.

Mt.Nebo Church (R), Main Street, was built in 1868 to replace a log structure erected by the United Brethren in 1832. Before that date the congregation worshiped in Shonk's Church, the site of which is marked by a graveyard on the outskirts of Boonsboro. Bishop Philip W. Otterbein (1726-1813), who with Martin Boehm founded the United Brethren in Christ, frequently preached at Shonk's.

At Main and Church Streets is (R) the former United States Hotel (1811) where many celebrities stopped. Little changed, the old place is still operated as a hotel.

Trinity Reformed Church (R), Church Street near Main, occupies the site of the Salem Union Church in which Lutheran and Reformed congregations jointly worshiped from 1810 to 1870, when the present building was erected. The earlier church served as a military hospital during the Civil War. The Salem Church became the center of a town controversy. The Lutherans advocated round-topped windows, while the Reformed members of the congregation insisted on square windows, contending that the other type was 'sinful.' A compromise resulted in square windows on one side of the building and round on the other. Toleration again was necessary when dispute arose concerning heat in the church. Some brethren demanded comfort, others felt heat would be 'sacrilege and gross impiety.' In order that both body and spirit might be satisfied, the elders installed a stove on one side of the church. It is said that the body finally won out completely in the conflict when the more rigid members scuttled one by one to the warmer side of the building.

In the adjoining graveyard a monument to William Boone, one of the town's founders, was erected in 1935 to replace the simple stone that had marked the grave for 137 years.

On Main Street near Church Street is an old cannon (R) that was cast in a local furnace for use in the War of 1812. For many years it was used in political celebrations here.

Weldon, two blocks R. from the corner of Main and St.Paul Sts., was built about 1741 by Moses Chapline. The brick mansion is surrounded by fine trees, and its garden is noted for its boxwood hedges. In the rear of the house is a log cabin said to have been used as a church and later as slave quarters. Weldon was a hospital base after the battles at South Mountain and Antietam. This old mansion was another of the settings used by David Belasco in The Heart of Maryland.

Records indicate that members of the Chapline family had a flair for giving odd names to their estates. Among the family grants were Hunting the Hare, Loss and Gain, Strife, Tuckett, Tweedle, Little Thought, and Badham's Refuse. To Moses Chapline, in addition to his original tract, Well Done, there were grants of Resurvey of Well Done, and Jonah's Last Bit.

In Boonsboro are junctions with State 66 (see Tour 2C) and with State 34 (see Tour 2D).

At 16.8 miles is the junction with macadamized State 68.

    Left on this road, which follows the route said to have been cut through the forest by General Braddock's army and used by 'Stonewall' Jackson's troops on their match to Harper's Ferry in 1862.
    The Delemere Budge, 3.3 miles, a three-arched limestone structure, was built over Antietam Creek in 1833. At the west end of the bridge is the entrance lane (R) of Delemere, a house built about 1776 by the Reverend Bartholomew Booth, who had come from England a few years before. The large rambling structure of bricks and logs was weatherboarded in later years and is still occupied. Many distinguished figures of the Revolutionary period were guests at Delemere. Here General Horatio Gates, then a widower, met and courted Mary Valence, wealthy daughter of a Liverpool merchant. The fortune of nearly half a million dollars that she brought to the general was generously spent in aiding his indigent comrades in arms during the Revolution. Near the house is the site of the school operated by Booth. Among; his pupils were the son of Robert Morris, financier of the Revolution; Bushrod Washington, nephew of General Washington and later a justice of the United States Court; and the two young sons of Benedict Arnold. When he entered his sons in the school, Arnold wrote to Booth: “I wish their education to be useful rather than learned. Life is too uncertain to throw away in studies that perhaps one man in ten thousand has the genius to make a figure in. You will pardon my dictating to you, Sir, but as the fortune of every man in this country is uncertain, I wish my sons to be educated in such a manner that with prudence and industry they may acquire a fortune; as well as become useful members of society . . . I will expect them to write to me frequently—of this they will doubtless want reminding.” In their first year here the boys gloried in their fathers exploits, but the following year brought the news of his treason and disgrace. Shortly afterward the boys were sent to relatives in Philadelphia.

In Benevola, 18.8 miles (410 alt.,50 pop.), is an old limestone building with a first-floor store. A tale is told that the proprietor of this store at the beginning of the Civil War painted a large American flag on his building. When, however, he heard that the Confederates were advancing on the town discretion overcame his valor, and he quickly whitewashed his painting.

A few hundred yards north of US 40, on the outskirts of Benevola beside Beaver Creek, was an Army of the Potomac Headquarters, where on July g-14, 1863, General Meade held several councils of war with his corps commanders, deliberating over President Lincoln's orders to attack Lee before the latter could retire south of the Potomac.

At 22.5 miles is the junction with Garris Shop Road.

Left on this narrow macadamized road is Rose's Mill Bridge, 0.6 miles, a three-arch limestone structure built in 1830 over Antietam Creek. Near the bridge is a stone mill house (R) of about 1800. Opposite this is the site of Claggett's Mill, erected in Revolutionary times when it was one of the largest in this section of the country. The point where the water wheels were attached is still readily seen. On a hill (R) is Valentia (visited on written application to E.R Roulette, Hagerstown, Md.), a well-preserved two-and-one-half-story limestone house, with a high-pillared porch. The rooms are large and high-ceiled, and the hand-carved mantels, hand-fashioned window and door frames are in excellent condition. In the rear are whitewashed stone slave quarters- On the estate is also a giant sycamore tree more than 100 feet tall, the largest in Maryland according to records of the State Forester.

Funkstown, 23.8 miles

(524 alt.,700 pop.), is named for Henry Funk, to whom in 1754 Frederick Calvert granted a tract of land on which this town was laid out. First called Jerusalem, Funkstown missed its opportunity to grow when in 1776 shrewd Jonathan Hager, proprietor of Hagers-Town, rode to Annapolis and had his settlement named the county seat. Hardly more than a suburb of Hagerstown, it now has an appearance of modest prosperity, and its sturdy old brick and stone houses are tidy and well kept. Most of the residents of Funkstown bear names indicative of their German descent.

On US 40, near the center of town, is a house (R) that was South's Hotel in the turnpike era. John Brown stopped here in June 1859 when he was transporting pikes to arm the slaves in preparation for the great projected uprising.

Between Funkstown and Hagerstown Confederate cavalry and troops held back Federal forces from July 7 to 10,1863, then withdrew to Hagerstown.

US 40 crosses Antietam Creek at 24 miles. The bridge here, though widened and repaired, still rests solidly on limestone arches constructed in 1823. Within sight is another bridge (L) of approximately the same age. Both were scenes of conflict during the Civil War and withstood frequent efforts to destroy them.

US 40 crosses the line of battle of Genera! Meade's Army of the Potomac at 24.2 miles, where on July 10-14, 1863, the Confederates held the heights while awaiting recession of the flooded waters of the Potomac before crossing into Virginia. Both armies threw up breastworks; the Confederates hoped to avenge their Gettysburg defeat, and the Union command hoped to hold the advantages already gained. By July 14 the Potomac had receded enough to permit Lee's army to withdraw.

Hagerstown, 26.3 miles  (Photos)

(552 alt.,30,861 pop.) (See Hagerstown).

Points of Interest: Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Rose Hill Cemetery, Washington County Free Library, Moller Organ Works, and others.

Hagerstown is at junctions with US 11 (see Tour 17), State 65 (Tour 2D) and State 64 (Tour 2C), and the western junction with the new National Road (under construction 1940).

Hagerstown, MD to Cumberland, MD; 64.8 miles

West of Hagerstown, MD, 0 miles, US 40 passes through fertile hill country, much of it under cultivation though fields are small and some of them on steep slopes. There are many peach and apple orchards along the highway, and in season the fruit is sold at roadside stands.

This section of road, built between 1816 and 1821, was called the 'Bank Road' because the banks of Maryland financed its construction by purchase of stock.

Moonshine whiskey and applejack have been manufactured for generations in western Maryland mountains. Actually very few of the hill people are engaged in this illicit manufacture; nor do they carry on feuds nor believe that the world is flat, as some outsiders like to think. In general they are as well read as the people of other sections; and many hear world events and the latest fad in swing music over small radio sets—assembled and kept in operation by the most ingenious methods.

Old Conococheague Bridge (R) (Photos), 7.1 miles by a modern concrete structure, was built of limestone in 1819 and served as a model for more than a score of similar bridges in Washington County.

Wilson Bridge over the Conococheague

At 8.4 miles is the junction with a macadamized road.

Right on this road to the Cushwa Trout Rearing Station (R), 2 miles, operated by the Conservation Department of Maryland.

At 10 miles is the junction with a macadam road.

Right here to Stafford Hall (R), 0.4 miles, a large, two-story brick and stone structure with nine double chimneys. It was built probably about 1835 by Judge John Thompson (1815-73), descendant of Colonel George Mason who came from Staffordshire, England, about 1651. Natives of the countryside have believed for years that there is a secret room in the house and that anyone who attempts to find the room will die. It is told that a prominent citizen of Hagerstown searched for the room in 1924 and died within the year; that two years later a nine-year-old child, who had spent many afternoons seeking the room, was taken ill and on her deathbed told what she had done and begged members of her family never to look for the room.

Clear Spring, 11.5 miles. (566 alt., 539 pop.), a banking and trading town, was named for a spring so large that at one time it turned a mill wheel. The spring is behind the hotel.

    1. Right from Clear Spring on a macadamized road to Montpelier (R), 2.2 miles, whose two-story brick manor house was built about 1770 by Colonel Richard Barnes. John Thompson Mason, father of the builder of Stafford Hall, owned Montpelier for many years and is buried on the estate. He was a brilliant lawyer but because of ill health could not accept public offices frequently proffered ban. President Jefferson once visited Montpelier to urge Mason to accept an appointment as Attorney General of the United States.
    2. Left from Clear Spring on the macadamized Ft. Frederick Road to a graveled road, 4.2 miles, which forks a few yards beyond the macadam.
    a. Right on this graveled road (bear R.) about 100 yards to the Site of Green Spring Furnace (R), identified by a millrace and part of the stack of a later furnace (1848). The Green Spring Furnace, built about 1768 by Lancelot Jacques, a Frenchman, manufactured cannon for the Continental Army. Thomas Johnson was a partner in this enterprise until 1776 when he became the first governor of the State of Maryland.
    b. Left on the graveled road, which is rough and narrow, to the Site of McCoy's Ferry, 1.2 miles, where the first Civil War skirmish in Maryland occurred in May 1861 as a party of Confederates attempted to take the ferryboat.
    The macadamized road becomes State 56 and continues westward. The Jacques House (R), 4.3 miles (visited by written application to A.B. Perrott, Hagerstown,Md.), is a two-story, weather-boarded structure with a hip roof, built about 1766. In front of the house is a log cabin, possibly built about 1755 by Denton Jacques, nephew of Lancelot It is strongly constructed, with doors and shutters thickly studded with large-headed nails.
    At 5.9 miles is the junction with a macadamized road.
    Left on this 0.6 miles to Fort Frederick (L) in the State park of the same name. The fort, now restored, was erected in 1756 for defense against the French and Indians and was named for Frederick Calvert, sixth Lord Baltimore. It is square with large bastions at the corner of the walls (which are 17 feet high) and as a whole is typical of contemporary fortifications. The stone for its heavy walls was brought from the mountains. The fort was garrisoned during both the Revolution and the Civil War but never suffered attack.
    The park is a 188-acre tract extending to the Potomac River (free campsites; permits for overnight parking from superintendent). The administration building, near the fort, contains relics and watercolor paintings relating to the history of the post.
    State 56 continues northward to a junction with US 40 at Indian Springs (see below), 8.7 miles.

On Fairview Mountain, 14 miles (975 alt.), at a point approximately one mile north of US 40, was a Union signal station from which messages could be relayed during the Civil War to Washington. D.C.

In Indian Springs, 15.8 miles, (500 alt.,75 pop.), is the junction with State 56 (see above).

The Parkhead Evangelical Church (R), 18.4 miles, erected in 1833, was used during the Civil War by the Federals on picket duty along the Potomac. The gallery formerly used by the slaves has been preserved.

The stretch of country along the river west of this church is known as Parkhead Level. Below the highway is the abandoned bed of the old Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, fringed with trees and bushes and choked with weeds.

Somewhere in the hills, approximately a mile north of the highway, a small log outpost was erected in 1756 and named Fort Mills for an early settler. It was one of a chain built to protect Fort Frederick.

Hancock, 27 miles

(450 alt., 947 pop.), is the center of a sand-mining and fruit-growing region. This section of the State, less than two miles wide in the vicinity of Hancock, is called Maryland's Neck. In 1755, after Braddock's defeat, a stockaded block house, called Fort Tonoloway, was erected on the Potomac not far from this point but was abandoned after Fort Frederick had been completed. As early as 1790 three-day race meets were being held at Hancock, and after the construction of the Cumberland Road the town was a stop-over point for travelers. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, completed to Hancock in 1839, further stimulated the growth of the town.

St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Church and High Sts., a brick structure with a square belfry, was built in 1835. In 1861 and 1862 the church was used to shelter Federal wounded, and batteries were placed near it as a defense against Stonewall Jackson's guns across the river.

Old Mr. Flint's Home (R), 28.4 miles, a two-story house about 200 yards from the highway, was constructed of heavy logs, now covered with white stucco. The exact date of its erection is unknown but a cast-iron fireback dated 1762 was discovered when a large chimney was being repaired. 'Old Mr. Flint' was an Indian trader, several times visited here by George Washington.

At 30.8 miles is the junction with a macadamized road.

    Left on this to the Woodmont Rod and Gun Club (L). 6.7 miles (visited by permission; apply at clubhouse). The club was founded in 1870 by Grover Cleveland and Admiral Robley D. 'Fighting Bob' Evans. Several presidents have been members or guests of the club. The new clubhouse, built in 1930, is of stone and has a wide veranda overlooking the Potomac. Wild fowl are bred here; there are several hundred deer on the 5,000-acre preserve; and the lakes are stocked with trout and bass.     Right from the club entrance on a graveled road 1.8 miles to the Washington Covnty Game Preserve, a 3,000-acre tract owned by the State. Hunting is permitted from November 10 to December 31 on a part of this refuge.

From the summit of Sideling Hill Mountain, 33.9 miles (1,595 alt.) is a view of the Potomac and the Hagerstown and Shenandoah valleys. To the west the Alleghenies are seen.

On US 40 at 43.7 miles is the entrance (L) to the 606-acre Bill Meyer Game Refuge, and the contiguous 50-acre Perry Barnes Game Refuge.

Between Fifteen Mile Creek, 45.8 miles, and the summit of Polish Mountain, 49.4 miles (1,340 alt.), the highway traverses the northern tip of the Green Ridge State Forest (roads good in summer; hunting in season; inquire at State Forestry office, Cumberland Court House). Most of this 16,888-acre tract lies between US 40 and the Potomac and takes in parts of Town Hill, Green Ridge, and Polish Mountains. It is stocked with wild turkeys, deer, and small game.

The houses of Flintstone, 52.1 miles (828 alt, 150 pop.), line the road for about three-quarters of a mile in the fertile valley between Polish and Martin Mountains. Most of the townspeople are descendents of the early Scotch, German, and French settlers.

US 40 ascends to the summit of Martin's Mountain, 55.9 miles (1,675 alt.)

Evitt's Creek, 62 miles, was named for Evart, an Englishman who fled from civilization to this wild region in the early part of the eighteenth century. In hermit-like seclusion he died in 1750 on Evitt's Mountain, the shaggy 2,300-foot range to the northeast.

Hoyes's Crossroads, 62.1 miles, is the junction with a mile-long road (R) connecting with US 220 (see Tour 18) north of Cumberland.

At 63.7 miles is the junction with Henderson Boulevard, which by-passes the business center of Cumberland and reunites with US 40 at Mechanic Street.

Cumberland, 64.8 miles

(641 alt.,37,747 pop.) (See Cumberland).

Points of Interest: Rose Hill, Site of Fort Cumberland, Washington's Headquarters, the Dent House, and others.

Cumberland is at junctions with State 51 (see Tour 2E) and State 220 (see Tour 18).

Cumberland, MD to Pennsylvania Line, 34.4 miles

Between Cumberland and the Pennsylvania line is a wooded mountain region producing coal, some corn, wheat, fruit, and maple sugar. Some of the farms are submarginal, but others are very fertile. There are many rail fences along the steep hillsides.

In 1808, two years after Congress had voted to build a road connecting the East Coast with the Mississippi River, construction was begun westward from Cumberland, but it was nine years before the road reached Ohio. Named for its starting point, the entire route was originally called the Cumberland Road. This old route, which this section of US 40 follows, parallels the Braddock Road, an Indian trail Braddock's army tried to follow in 1755.

West of Cumberland, 0 miles, US 40 passes through the Narrows, a mountain gorge, discovered in 1755 by Lieutenant Spendelow of Braddock's army. In the Narrows US 40 crosses Will's Creek at 1.2 miles Old Will's Creek Bridge (L), constructed in 1834, was used for nearly 100 years.

On Will's Mountain, 1.5 miles, is (R) the lover's leap of this vicinity, a limestone cliff rising more than 1,000 feet. The legendary lovers were, as usual, Indians. It was named for Will, an Indian who lived near here late in the eighteenth century.

At 2.2 miles is the junction with State 35 (see Tour 18A).

The old road over the mountain meets US 40 at 6.1 miles. It follows the trail used in 1754 by Washington on leaving the place that became Fort Cumberland. A year later Braddock started west over it with his troops, hacking down trees as they went. When they had advanced only five miles in two days and had wrecked three wagons, another route was sought. It was then that lieutenant Spendelow discovered the Narrows.

The six-sided Toll House (L), 6.5 miles, a two-room, two-story whitewashed building, bears a sign showing what the rates of toll for vehicles and livestock were a century ago. By the house, which was built about 1833, are the old tollgate posts.

Clarysville Inn (L), 8.5 miles, called Eight Mile House, was built in 1807. The two-and-a-half-story structure of brick and stone painted white is little changed externally. During the Civil War it was used as headquarters for a large Federal hospital camp.

In Eckhart Mines, 9.2 miles (1,720 alt.,1,500 pop.), a high-grade bituminous coal has been mined for more than a century. Coal was first mined in this vicinity about 1804 but extensive operations did not begin until the 1830's. Some of the houses lining the highway are of stone or logs and were evidently built before the Civil War.

Frostburg, MD, 11.5 miles (1,929 alt.,5,588 pop.), is a trading point for a coal-mining and firebrick making area. Most of its inhabitants are descendants of English, Scotch, Irish, and Welsh immigrants.

After Meshach Frost established a tavern here in 1812, a settlement grew up that Frost called Mount Pleasant and everyone else called Frost's Town. In 1820 the Post Office Department decided to call it Frostburg.

The Braddock Road Milestone, in a field off Midlothian Road about 100 yards from Park Ave., is a sandstone slab about three feet high. On one side the inscription, now very difficult to read, gives the distances to 'Ft. Cumberland' and 'Captn Smyth's Inn & Bridge', and also 'Red Stone Old Fort'; on the opposite side is 'Our Country's Rights we will defend.' Many years ago this stone was split; half was used as a doorstep and the other half as a foundation stone. The halves have been cemented together.

In Frostburg is the junction with State 36 (see Tour 18A).

Big Savage Mountain, 13.8 miles (2,850 alt.), was named for an early surveyor, John Savage. In 1755 Braddock's soldiers “entirely demolished three wagons and shattered several descending Savage Mountain.”

For 35 years the Stone House Inn (R), 22.2 miles, a large, two-story structure built in 1818, was a popular tavern on the National Road. It stands on or near the site of Red House Tavern, built after the French and Indian War.

At 22.4 miles are junctions with US 219 (see Tour 19), which unites westward with US 40 for about 9 miles, and with a dirt and graveled road.

    Left on this into Savage River State Forest, 3 miles. (free camping; permits issued by resident warden at New Germany), a 17,000-acre tract of great natural beauty. From New Germany, 4.7 miles. (2,471 alt.,10 pop.), roads branch to all parts of the preserve.

Stanton's Mill (R), 24.6 miles, a three-story, white structure about 50 yards from the highway is on a stone foundation, now partly encased in cement. This foundation was probably built in 1797 when a saw and grist mill was erected here. The old mill was rebuilt in 1856 and enlarged in 1900. Old burr stones are used as steps to the door.

US 40 crosses the Castleman River, 24.7 miles. Old Castleman River Bridge (R), still used for a side road, was considered the largest of its kind in the country when it was built in 1816. Many persons doubted that the masonry would stand up when the supporting framework was removed. According to local tradition even the contractor was worried and on the night before the formal opening he had his workmen remove the framework to see if it would collapse.

Grantsville, 25.5 miles. (2,351 alt.,400 pop.), serving miners and farmers, was settled by Daniel Grant, a Baltimorean, during the last decade of the eighteenth century. Much of the maple syrup and sugar produced in the region immediately south of the town is purchased by northern dealers and marketed under a Vermont label.

    Left from Grantsville on macadamized Slate 495 to Bittinger, 8.5 w. (2,660 alt.,150 pop.}, a mountain village named for Henry Bittinger or Bedinger who acquired land here in 1814 and of whom it was said that “he mostly raised a large family.”
    This section was settled by Pennsylvania Germans, including many Amish who still cling to peculiarities of dress adopted by their ancestors in Switzerland as protests against taxes on buttons and mustaches. The men wear dark gray or black suits and wide-brimmed black felt hats; the women wear black bonnets and long black dresses fastened only with hooks and eyes. The men have beards but no mustaches. They abstain from worldly vanities and maintain their own schools, lest their children come too much in contact with the world. They are noted for their well-kept farms, great red barns, and spotless homes. Shelves of flowering plants serve as a substitute for window curtains and shades in their homes.

On Negro Mountain, 28.6 miles. (2,908 alt.),is the highest point on US 40 in Maryland. During the French and Indian War a force under Colonel Thomas Cresap had a skirmish with a band of Indians on this mountain and one of Cresap's men, a giant Negro, was killed and buried here; hence the name.

At the summit of Keyser's Ridge, 31 miles. (2,881 alt., US219 (see Tour 19) branches south. US 40 continues to the Pennsylvania Line, 34.4 m., which it crosses at a point about 29 miles southeast of Uniontown, Pa. (see Pennsylvania Guide).