WASHINGTON COUNTY
Transcribed by Denise Wells
Washington county is located in the western part of Maryland, and includes within its limits the southern portion of the famous Cumberland Valley. This valley comprises almost the entire county. The surface of the land is rolling and in places extremely picturesque. The soil which is very strong and highly productive, is of clayey and limestone formation, with occasional streaks of slate. On the mountain ranges, however, freestone predominates. A very small quantity of good timber remains, as it has been gradually cut to make room for crops. The soil is best adapted for the production of wheat, corn, oats and hay, and these crops are cultivated to the exclusion of others. Very little buckwheat is raised, and no barley is sown. Tobacco has been successfully raised in several parts of the county, and the crop has compared favorably with that produced in Pennsylvania; but no serious efforts have been made to raise it as a permanent product. The experience of several generations of farmers seem to prove that better results are obtained in this county from wheat and corn than any other products.
Washington county has long been noted for its success in producing these cereals. During the fifties, before the west became so thickly settled, this county stood third among the counties of the United States in its production of wheat. In fact, the largest average yield an acre in a test case on record in the United States, was in this county. The yield amounted to slightly over sixty-three bushels per acre. The best land in the county lies between the South and North mountains-the two ranges of the Blue Ridge. This is entirely of clay and limestone formation, with the exception, however, of a strip of slate on the Conococheague Creek. From the North Mountain to the western limits of the county, which is a small section of the county, the soil is not so productive. The best land brings from sixty to one hundred dollars per acre, the price being controlled by the improvements, the fertility and the proximity to the county-seat. Along the Potomac river, excellent land can be purchased for thirty-five to fifty dollars. What is known as the slate land is bringing from five to thirty dollars an acre, although recent cultivation is steadily enhancing its value. This land produces wheat of an excellent quality, but the quantity is small. Fruit is now being extensively cultivated on this soil.
The peach culture has of late years converted the mountain land into the highest priced land in the county. Formerly its market value was about one dollar an acre. At the present time, without being cleared, it readily calls for eight to ten dollars an acre, and with a growing peach orchard it will bring one hundred dollars an acre. The largest peach-grower in the world-a resident of Delaware-gave it recently as his opinion that the Blue Ridge Peach of this county surpassed in color and flavor any fruit of the kind grown in the United States.
There are parts of Washington county, near Pen-Mar, where the Western Maryland Railroad runs through miles of peach orchards as continuous as in the peach belt of the peninsula. During the past season much of the forest growth on the mountain sides has given place to regularly-planted rows of trees, and orchards are gradually covering the whole fact of the border territory in Pennsylvania, as well as extending down into Frederick and Carroll counties of Maryland, so that in a few years, there will be as much business during the summer for railroads in Western Maryland as on the Eastern Shore. The time is not far distant either when every hillside will be covered with orchards and vineyards, for fruits of all kinds adapted to our latitude, such as apples, peaches, pears, cherries, grapes, &c., flourish in all the western counties, and the cultivation of the peach in the mountain region has given value to lands which only a few years ago were worthless, except to the timber and bark of the forests on them. The difference which the change has already made in the aspect of the country is as much a surprise as a pleasure to the eye. Order and the evidences of systematic labor have so transformed much of the mountain land, that the Blue Ridge region has lost a good deal of the wild appearance which was formerly its main characteristic. But the change does not mar the picturesqueness of the mountain scenery in the least. On the contrary, it adds pretty details, and tones down the wild and rugged spurs of the range and brings the hills into harmony with the valley by a continuous strain of prosperous agriculture. Peach orchards thrive equally on the mountain sides and tops and in the valley, and they are gradually, in company with the grape, assuming away at such a rte as in a few years to predominate.
But for the Western Maryland Railroad, there would have been little or none of the remarkable development of the Blue Mountain region, agriculturally or otherwise. Baltimoreans are accustomed to the Pen-Mar and summer resort travel from the city to the mountains, but they are not aware of how large the travel is daily during the summer season from the prosperous border counties of Pennsylvania, from Hanover, Gettysburg and other more distant points in that State. It may be reasonably expected that when the Potomac Valley link is completed from Williamsport to Cherry Run, and the York and Reading and Harrisburg extension are completed, not only general traffic will flow toward Baltimore, but that travel from a large area of the rich State of Pennsylvania will seek our mountain resorts, and that capital will come, too, to help the development, now so well under way. For summer sojourning there could not be a more accessible or more beautiful mountain region than Pen-Mar and the Blue Mountain House overlooking the grand Cumberland Valley, and the magnificent new hotel at Buena Vista Springs, perched on a mountain spur like a great castle. This building is a grand object, not dwarfed or made insignificant by the natural surroundings, but, on the contrary, fitting the scene and supplying a motive for the picture. Besides these extensive establishments, there are a number of smaller hotels and boarding houses, which have all been put up by Baltimore city and local capital and energy. The number of resorts already in the mountains presages further enterprise in this direction. Those which are in the Blue Ridge region will in time make it necessary for others to be put up, for the region is the natural resort of the populous towns and cities of the District of Columbia, of Maryland, of Delaware and of a large part of Pennsylvania. In order to get the full benefit of mountain air and to enjoy the grandeur of mountain scenery, surrounded by every comfort and luxury it is no longer necessary to make lengthy and expensive journeys to the northward. Here, from three States and the District of Columbia, the beautiful blue mountains of Maryland-Pennsylvania are accessible in a few hours.
The farms of Washington county contain from fifty to five and six hundred acres. Very few of the latter farms now remain. The average contain about one hundred and fifty acres.
The average yield of wheat throughout the county is about twenty-five bushels to an acre, although crops as high as forty bushels have frequently been gathered. The average production of corn is fifty bushels to an acre. In 1891, however, fifty flour barrels to an acre of this crop were produced on small and highly-cultivated patches.
Farming through the county is conducted on intelligent and scientific principles, and the very best improved machinery is used. Of late years many farmers have been using up their inferior corn and other products in fattening cattle over winter for market. These stall fed cattle are generally purchased in West Virginia, although a large number are raised in this county.
The raising of poultry has become an additional industry, and considerable attention is now given to it. This is because of the easy access to the city markets. No county has such excellent facilities for the transportation of its products as Washington county has. Four railroads, which make direct connection with important trunk lines, traverse the greater part of the country in all directions, and the western or remaining portion, is paralleled by the main stem of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. The canal follows the entire southern trend of the county, and offers as excellent local market and facilities for shipment of farm products. Every farm in the county is within easy reach of a railroad.
Besides the railroads, this county possesses one of the finest systems of macadamized roads in the country. Eight pikes radiate from Hagerstown, and these are intersected by others in different parts of the county.
Within the last fifteen years great attention has been bestowed upon fine-bred stock. The finest strains of imported Percheron, Clydesdale, French coach and standard bred horses are now owned in large numbers throughout the county, while nearly every farm is stocked with Durham, Short-horn, Jersey, Hereford, Holstein or other imported cattle. This is true also in reference to hogs and sheep. Hagerstown is one of the most important horse markets in the country. Local firms ship almost weekly large consignments to Washington, Baltimore, and as far east as Boston. Most of the seaboard cities are within a distance of three to nine hours from Hagerstown.
The local market is, however, rapidly developing. Hagerstown, the county set, is already an important railroad center, and it is fast becoming a large manufacturing place. New industries re springing up rapidly, and before many years it will be the principal manufacturing locality in the State, outside of Baltimore. Besides the industries which are backed by local capital, several extensive foreign plants have already been located there, and others are in contemplation. At least two thousand persons are now engaged in the manufacturing enterprises of Hagerstown. Washington county, besides its generous soil for agriculture, contains good iron ore in paying quantities, excellent brick clay, quarries of the very best quality of blue limestone for building purposes, and large deposits of cement rock, which is now being extensively converted into the very best hydraulic cement.
The water system is very extensive. The Antietam and Conococheague creeks, with their tributaries, drain the greater portion of the county, while the Potomac river flows the entire length of the county on the south. Innumerable springs and running streams of pure and wholesome water are found in every section of the county. There is scarcely a farm that has not running water upon it. The farms are generally improved with large brick and stone buildings. Of recent years, however, there have been many frame barns and houses erected.
The society throughout the farming districts is sociable, intelligent and refined, and will compare favorably with any other rural section of the country. The climate is excellent. It is the most healthy section of the state; an epidemic is scarcely known. Churches of different denominations are located all over the county and are within a short distance of every home.
The school system is most excellent. The teachers are intelligent and painstaking. There are now 137 school houses owned by the county. In addition to the houses, the county rents 210 rooms for educational purposes. Four new school buildings were erected during the past year. The value of the school property owned by the county is $162,638, and the disbursements for school purposes during the year ending July, 1891, were $68,921.50. The rate of taxation is: State 17 ¾ cents, and county, 78 cents, on the one hundred dollars.
The area of the county is 435 square miles. According to the census of 1890, the population was 39,782, an increase of 1,221 since the census of 1880. There are in the county 37,191 white, and 2,590 colored persons.
There are a number of thriving towns in the county. Hagerstown, the county seat, is beautifully situated in full view of the mountains, is supplied with gas and water, has two fine large hotels and a number of smaller ones, many handsome churches, stores and private residences, banks, etc. It has a population of 10,118, an increase of 3,491, over the census of 1880, or 52.68 per cent. Williamsport is the next largest town, with a population of 1,277, and Sharpsburg comes next, with a population of 1,163. Hancock, situated on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, and the great National Pike is also a prosperous place. The town is stretched about a mile along the pike and contains a variety of industries. Here are located several saw mills, a sumac mill, and a famous Round Top cement works of Messrs. Bridges & Henderson. The town contains a Catholic, a Protestant Episcopal, a Methodist, a Presbyterian, and a colored church. The scenery in this locality is picturesque and there are many places of historic interest. Old Fort Frederick, the last relic of the French and Indian war in Maryland, is situated a short distance from the town, and the house of Michael Cresap, the indian fighter, is still standing in fair preservation.
SOURCE: Scharf, J. Thomas, "The natural & industrial resources and advantages of Maryland: being a complete description of all counties of the state and the city of Baltimore: together with an accurate statement of their soil, climate, antiquities, raw and manufactured products, agricultural and horticultural products, textile fabrics, alimentary products, manufacturing industries, minerals and ores, mines and mining, native woods, means of transportation, price of land, cheap living, ready markets, excellent homes, and the material and social advantages and unequaled opportunities Maryland possesses for those seeking homes, and for capitalists who wish to invest in industries that are sure to pay big dividends," C.H. Baughman & Co., Publisher; 1892, pp. 69-76.