Farmhouse

A fire Tuesday night destroyed a 71-year-old farmhouse at 340 Cove View Lane, fire officials said. Needmore, Pa., firefighter Robert Fleegle said heavy smoke was coming from all sides of the two-story oak house when he arrived at 9:15 p.m. The Needmore Fire Department called for additional tankers and manpower, bringing firefighters from six counties in three states. A woman was treated at War Memorial Hospital in Morgan County, W.Va., for smoke inhalation. Resident Mark Palmer said his grandfather built the house around 1939.

WILLIAMSPORT -- A fire caused about $5,000 in damage to a two-story farmhouse Wednesday evening at 11151 Hopewell Road near Williamsport, the Maryland State Fire Marshal's Office said. The cause of the fire, which began at about 6 p.m. on the second story of the stone and wood structure, remained under investigation Thursday, according to a press release from the Maryland State Fire Marshal's Office. Twenty-five firefighters from Williamsport, Halfway, Funkstown, Maugansville and Clear Spring took about one hour to control the blaze, the release said.

BRUNSWICK, Md. - A fire early Saturday destroyed a 100-year-old farmhouse on Boss Arnold Road, said Wade Watson, assistant chief of the Brunswick Volunteer Fire Co. The call for the fire at the two-story, five-bedroom house at 2701 Boss Arnold Road came in Saturday at 7:25 a.m., rescue officials said. Damages were estimated at $250,000, Watson said. When the first Brunswick firefighters arrived on the scene, they found the homeowner trying to douse the fire with a garden hose.

kimy@herald-mail.com Vandals caused more than $40,000 damage to a historic Village Mill Drive farmhouse in what was the most recent in a series of theft and vandalism incidents in Maugansville, a Washington County Sheriff's deputy said. The damage to 13772 Village Mill Drive was reported Tuesday but it is believed to have occurred between early August and Sept. 8, Deputy 1st Class James Grimm said. Grimm said he believes the vandalism was the work of several people because of the extent of the damage.

SMITHSBURG - Firefighters from eight departments responded Friday night to a blaze at a farmhouse off Kiefer Funk Road near Bovey Lane, according to Washington County emergency dispatchers. Emergency officials said units were dispatched at 9:02 p.m., and there were no reports of injuries. Volunteer firefighters from Smithsburg, Mount Aetna, Funkstown, Boonsboro, Fairplay, Halfway and Leitersburg, along with personnel from Hagerstown Fire Department, Washington County's emergency air units, the Maryland State Fire Marshal's office and Community Rescue Service responded, officials said.

A historical advisory group has asked the Washington County Commissioners to sell a farmhouse in the hopes the structure can be restored and permanently preserved. The farmhouse, built in 1818, is on 35 acres between Md. 63 and Hopewell Road. The two-story structure is eligible to be included on the National Register of Historic Places. "It's deteriorating rapidly, but it's worthy, we think, of preservation," Preston Law, chairman of the Washington County Historical Advisory Committee, told the County Commissioners Tuesday.

waynesboro@herald-mail.com GREENCASTLE, Pa. - Three years ago, the old farmhouse was deemed to be too termite-ridden, of no historical significance and too far gone for the Greencastle-Antrim School District to put it to any good use. The district decided to tear it down. That was then, this is now. Suddenly, the century-old frame Hager farmhouse near the road at the edge of the Tayamentasachta Environmental Center campus has real value again. It will be reborn as a district-wide computer technology center for the storage and repair of equipment and to house its main computer servers.

SHARPSBURG -- The first phase of an exterior restoration project at the D.R. Miller house, a farmhouse on Antietam National Battlefield, has started. The D.R. Miller house was built between 1790 and 1800, according to a press release from the National Park Service. The house survived the Civil War's Battle of Antietam in 1862, and has remained standing for more than two centuries. "We need to return it to what it looked like during the battle in 1862," said Jane Custer, chief of cultural resources at Antietam National Battlefield.

DOYLESBURG, Pa. - A 19-year-old woman and a 14-year-old girl were transported to Hershey (Pa.) Medical Center following an accidental shooting Monday night at a farmhouse on the 22000 block of Path Valley Road in Metal Township, Pennsylvania State Police said in a news release. The victims, Fannie M. Stoltzfus, 19, and an unidentified 14-year-old, had non-life threatening injuries, the release said. Both live at the farmhouse, police said. The shooting took place at about 9:15 p.m., the release said.

LEITERSBURG - Jim and Mindy Marsden smiled as they watched flames spread up the walls of their 19th century farmhouse on Sunday afternoon. [cont. from front page ] About 25 firefighters from Longmeadow, Maugansville and Greencastle, Pa., fire departments were busy putting out the blaze that gutted the two-story structure at 19570 Leitersburg Pike. Sunday's fire was no surprise and it won't leave the couple homeless. It was planned as part of a practice session by Longmeadow Fire Chief Richard M. Roche.

They probably were hoping for a restroom that they could use. What they got was a lot more than that. As bicyclists stepped away from the wooded trail along the C&O Canal, they were greeted by many voices raised in song, soaring from the windows of a 1780s farmhouse. Accompanying them were the rapid tempos and breakdowns of acoustic stringed instruments playing in harmony. The C&O Canal National Historical Park's Bowles House Visitor Center in Hancock was hosting the Porch Pickin' Bluegrass event featuring live music by local musicians.

A Hagerstown man was sentenced this week in Washington County Circuit Court to eight years in state prison for his role in a 2010 fire that destroyed a vacant farmhouse, while an accomplice received a suspended sentence. Jonathan Warren Carroll, 20, of 435 George St., pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary Monday in the Sept. 15 fire that destroyed the house on Hopewell Road near Hagerstown.  Judge Daniel P. Dwyer gave Carroll 16 years in prison, suspending eight years and ordering a judgment in the favor of victim, Joan Baer, in the amount of $289,957, according to court records.

Washington County is preparing to auction a historic farmhouse given to the county in 1998 during a nearby development project, Real Property Administrator Joseph F. Kuhna said. The property, known as the “French Lane farmhouse,” is off Greencastle Pike southwest of Hagerstown, between the Pilot Travel Center and Your Other Warehouse Inc. A date has not been set for the auction, but Thomas Bikle of Cochran Auctioneers said it likely would be scheduled for the first week in June.

Jean Toms was known as someone who always went above and beyond. Gifts spilled far beyond the base of the family Christmas tree, with each carefully selected present wrapped, then topped with expertly tied ribbons. “She could look at you and figure out your size, and bought you just the right gift,” said daughter-in-law Cinda Toms, who is married to Jean’s oldest of four children, Rick. “She was always buying you things and surprising you, things you didn’t know you needed,” said daughter Susan Toms.

A fire Tuesday night destroyed a 71-year-old farmhouse at 340 Cove View Lane, fire officials said. Needmore, Pa., firefighter Robert Fleegle said heavy smoke was coming from all sides of the two-story oak house when he arrived at 9:15 p.m. The Needmore Fire Department called for additional tankers and manpower, bringing firefighters from six counties in three states. A woman was treated at War Memorial Hospital in Morgan County, W.Va., for smoke inhalation. Resident Mark Palmer said his grandfather built the house around 1939.

WILLIAMSPORT -- A fire caused about $5,000 in damage to a two-story farmhouse Wednesday evening at 11151 Hopewell Road near Williamsport, the Maryland State Fire Marshal's Office said. The cause of the fire, which began at about 6 p.m. on the second story of the stone and wood structure, remained under investigation Thursday, according to a press release from the Maryland State Fire Marshal's Office. Twenty-five firefighters from Williamsport, Halfway, Funkstown, Maugansville and Clear Spring took about one hour to control the blaze, the release said.

The Washington County Board of County Commissioners recently presented the annual John Frye Historical Preservation Award to "Captain" South Lynn. The commissioners received the nomination for Lynn from the Washington County Historical Advisory Committee. Ralph Young is the chairman of the committee. The 2009 John Frye Historic Preservation Award was presented to Lynn in recognition of his efforts to promote historic preservation in Washington County. Lynn is the owner and restorer of the historic Kennedy Farm.

SHARPSBURG -- Some historians say the Civil War began in the small Sharpsburg farmhouse where abolitionist John Brown planned his historic raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859, said Sprigg Lynn, who owns the property with his father. On Saturday and Sunday, the public was invited to tour the Kennedy Farmhouse on Chestnut Grove Road during an open house to commemorate the 150th anniversary of John Brown's stay at the home where he began planning and staging the failed raid. Dennis Frye, chief historian for Harpers Ferry National Historical Park and head of the committee overseeing the John Brown commemoration in four states, said about 300 people attended the event Saturday and another 200 were expected Sunday.

SHARPSBURG -- The first phase of an exterior restoration project at the D.R. Miller house, a farmhouse on Antietam National Battlefield, has started. The D.R. Miller house was built between 1790 and 1800, according to a press release from the National Park Service. The house survived the Civil War's Battle of Antietam in 1862, and has remained standing for more than two centuries. "We need to return it to what it looked like during the battle in 1862," said Jane Custer, chief of cultural resources at Antietam National Battlefield.

DOYLESBURG, Pa. - A 19-year-old woman and a 14-year-old girl were transported to Hershey (Pa.) Medical Center following an accidental shooting Monday night at a farmhouse on the 22000 block of Path Valley Road in Metal Township, Pennsylvania State Police said in a news release. The victims, Fannie M. Stoltzfus, 19, and an unidentified 14-year-old, had non-life threatening injuries, the release said. Both live at the farmhouse, police said. The shooting took place at about 9:15 p.m., the release said.