Allegany County partied like it was 1789
In 1789, Washington County gave birth to Allegany County. It had some settlements in it at the time, but by and large, the area that would become Allegany County was a frontier. The preamble of the act from the Maryland General Assembly that created Allegany County read: “Whereas, A number of the inhabitants of Washington county, by their petition to the General Assembly, have prayed that an act may pass for a division of said county by Sideling Hill Creek, and for erecting a new one out of the Western part thereof; and it appearing to this General Assembly that the erecting such a new county will conduce greatly to the due administration of justice, and the speedy settling and improving the western part thereof, and the ease and convenience of the inhabitants thereof…” It didn’t stay a frontier, though. Read more…
C&O Canal murder mystery has surprising solution
One of the oft-told stories of the C&O Canal is that of Lockkeeper Joe Davis. “Lock tender Joe Davis and his wife were murdered here by shooting in 1934,” Thomas Hahn wrote in his Towpath Guide. He expanded on the story in The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Lock-Houses & Lock-Keepers writing that Davis took care of Lock 61 in the last decades of the canal’s operation. Hahn wrote that the bodies of Davis and his wife were burned after the murder to try and cover up the murder. George “Hooper” Wolfe told a similar story in I Drove Mules on the C and O Canal. He did not name the lockkeeper and made no mention of his wife. He also wrote that the lockkeeper was murdered to steal his rare coin collection and that the murderer was later caught in Read more…
"Looking Back" newspaper column now in 4 newspapers
I’ve posted many of my history articles to this blog. Many of them come from my newspaper column, “Looking Back.” Beginning in the middle of next month, I’ll be adding the Gettysburg Times to the newspapers to the ones that run my column. It will be the fourth newspaper that runs my column. The others are: The Cumberland Times-News in Maryland, the Chambersburg Public Opinion in Pennsylvania and the Catoctin Banner in Maryland. Though “Looking Back” is a column in multiple newspapers, it isn’t syndicated. It is unique to the newspaper in which it runs. I get to dig through old newspapers and find forgotten or little-known stories in Maryland and Pennsylvania. I find them interesting whether they are simple slice-of-life or a murder mystery. So pretty soon you’ll be able read about some of the interesting goings-on in Adams Read more…
"Canawlers" back in print!
It’s been a couple years since I allowed Canawlers to go out of print. I still kept getting requests from bookstores and some individual buyers to get copies, though. I went back and forth about it, but since I’m hoping to bring the third book in the trilogy out around Christmas time, I figured I would need to have the first book available, too. So I gave in and brought the book back in print. It is available today and it is still only $17.95. You can order a copy from Amazon and if it’s not in your favorite bookstore yet, they should probably be able to order it. Canawlers is a family saga set on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal during the Civil War. Hugh Fitzgerald proudly calls himself a “canawler.” He works on the C&O Canal transporting coal Read more…
The Man Who Made Personalized Movies
Sometimes even heroes need saving. Don Newland showed the country that everyone could be a movie star. One day a person might be driving a taxi, practicing law or simply a mother caring for her children and the next day Newland would have them in front of his movie camera saying lines and becoming a movie star. It was the classic “A Star is Born” discovery except that it wasn’t happening to Lana Turner who was discovered at a soda bar in Hollywood. It was happening to John Q. Public in Cumberland and dozens of other small cities across the country. Don Newland Newland was an “itinerant filmmaker,” which is a filmmaker who traveled from city to city shooting a film with local actors before moving on to the next city. He is known to have filmed dozens of Read more…
How the South Kidnapped Two Union Generals From the Middle of Their Army
With the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Antietam fast approaching, I thought that anyone interested in Civil War history might be interested in another event that took place not too far from Sharpsburg. In February 1865, McNeill’s Rangers pulled off what has been called the most-daring raid against the Union that the South ever undertook. About 60 rangers were able to ride into the heart of Cumberland, Maryland, which at the time had 8,000 soldiers protecting it (the citizen-to-soldier ratio was said to be 1:1). Once in the city, they kidnapped Gen. Benjamin Kelley and Gen. George Crook and escaped with them back to Richmond. I recently published a short e-book about the event called, Kidnapping the Generals. Any of you with Kindles will be able to find the book on Amazon.com. It costs only 99 cents Read more…
For All the Baseball Fans Out There…
“Babe” Ruth was a baseball legend. You can find out why in When the Babe Came to Town. My new ebook shows how the Babe connected with the fans through his many exhibition and barnstorming games.When the Babe Came to Town is a collection of some of these stories highlighting games that Babe Ruth played in Emmitsburg, Maryland; York, Pennsylvania; Oakland, California and Cumberland, Maryland. It was big news when Babe Ruth came to town. Many residents of these smaller towns unused to seeing Major League baseball games in the days before television. They had only read about Babe Ruth’s talent in the newspapers or heard about it on the radio. The Babe came to town and showed them what they were missing as he hit home runs out of the park. There are a lot of these stories out Read more…
Who is “Genl. Scofield”?
As the country remembers the men who fought in the Civil War 150 years ago, a general lies forgotten in a grave atop Meadow Mountain just off of old U.S. Route 40. The only clue to who this man was is a grave marker that answers few questions and raises more. In Memory of Genl. Scofield Civil War Veteran Killed on this Mountain 1894 Donated by A.J. Irwin & Son For years, Marie Lancaster of Addison, Pa., cared for the grave making sure the grave was trimmed and occasionally bringing flowers or a U.S. flag to leave by the marker. “We just saw the grave while we were taking a Sunday drive and, after looking at it up close, my husband and I were of the opinion that a high-ranking military man like Gen. Scofield deserved a more prominent burial Read more…
Coming in June!
I thought I would let everyone have a peek at the cover art for my next book, which should be out just in time for the Heritage Days Festival in Cumberland in June. I think Stephanie E. J. Long did a great job with it. I definitely looks like it is part of the series. This volume is 150 pages and 47 stories from Western Maryland along with 33 black-and-white photos. It contains stories of lost treasure, train wrecks and successful residents. You’ll also find out where Albert Einstein liked to get away in the summer and the story of Allegany County’s lost automobile manufacturing industry. Looking Back II: More True Stories of Mountain Maryland will retail for $14.95.
A Midnight Walk Through a Jewelry Store
Here’s a fun story I found from Cumberland, MD, in 1875. However, as I wrote it, I found myself wondering if it was the truth. I’m not saying that the newspaper got the story wrong, but when I read the story as reported, I thought that maybe the “sleepwalker” wasn’t telling the whole truth. He successfully entered a jewelry store, or at least the store’s upper levels, after hours. Could he have been trying to rob the store, either consciously of subconsciously while sleepwalking? And for it to take an hour to go down a flight of stairs, out the door, orient himself on a street he would have recognized and walk next door? That sounds a little far fetched, too. Might he have been looking around for a few “souvenirs” before he left and finding none, needed an excuse Read more…
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