Fort Frederick

Fort Frederick State Park will host Junior Rangers for Sprouts and for Historians.  Sprouts is a hands-on nature program for those 4 to 7. The program involves five sessions and will start at 9 a.m. Monday, June 13, through Friday, June 17.  Historian is a hands-on history program for ages 8 to 12. Five sessions run from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. daily Monday, July 18, through Saturday, July 23. An overnight stay will be held in the fort on...

Two hundred fifty years are fading away at Fort Frederick State Park, where an encampment is recreating the past. It's part of the 17th Annual Market Fair, which runs through Sunday. For four days, the fort is a sea of white tents, while people live as settlers and sell their wares as sutlers. There are plenty of smiths — a silversmith, a goldsmith, a bladesmith. Dressed in 18th-century clothing, others are selling pottery, clothing, furniture and boiled peanuts. The Clear Spring Historical Society is running The Tavern on the Potowmak, a restaurant with a name honoring an historic spelling of Potomac.

Fort Frederick State Park will hold its annual 18th Century Market Fair this Thursday through Sunday. Now in its 17th year, the Market Fair features artisans, craftspeople and sutlers together with an 18th-century encampment. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. There is a service fee. For more information, call 301-842-2155. Historical Society seeks new members The Clear Spring District Historical Association is always looking for new members.

A television program filmed last summer at Fort Frederick Sate Park will air tonight on the National Geographic Channel. "Caught by the SS: The Wereth Eleven" documents the final days of 11 African-American soldiers of the 333rd Field Artillery Battalion who escaped The 18th Volksgrenadiers after their unit was overrun at the start of the Battle of the Bulge, according to a National Geographic Channel promotion. Their 10-mile trek from their battery position to Wereth, Belgium, led them to take refuge with a Belgian family until a Nazi sympathizer revealed their position to an SS reconnaissance patrol.

BIG POOL -- Historical Entertainment LLC of Cascade, in cooperation with Rob Child & Associates, will film a PBS show titled "The Wereth Massacre" July 10 to 13 at Fort Frederick State Park near Big Pool. The film retraces the steps that 11 black GI's from the 333rd Field Artillery Battalion took when their unit was overrun by Germans at the start of the Battle of the Bulge, according to a news release from Historical Entertainment. Their 10-mile trek from their battery position to Wereth, Belgium, was the last journey of their lives, as a local resident turned them in to an SS scouting party.

In films, books and essays, it is claimed that Hessian prisoners of war were incarcerated at Fort Frederick during the American Revolution. Writers about this issue have no reluctance about making direct statements in the affirmative. Nonetheless, after several years devoted to the verification of this "fact," I have not found any reliable evidence for agreement. One important technical fact well known to all writers of history is that you have a footnote to show the authority of your sources.

Many legendary accounts of past events that we inherit as historical facts retain the character of "facts" simply because they go unchallenged. These legends are interesting and, for whatever reason, there is little interest in verification or falsification. Two such stories come to mind and have a local setting to provide interest. One is almost certainly pure folklore and the other has a shaky foundation -- awaiting a future verdict as reliable history. The first story involves a small brass plate on the face of a huge stone fireplace in Woodmont Lodge, a rural retreat for the rich and mighty in earlier times, just west of Hancock.

o If you like reading Tim Rowland, you'll love watching him. See what else Tim has to say Fort Frederick's history as a fort was relatively brief; it spent many more years as a walled farm, operated by an enterprising black man named Nathan Williams, who bought freedom for himself and his wife, and then purchased the fort in 1860 for $7,000. Williams planted fruit trees and vegetables within the stone walls, which is one way to keep the deer at bay. During the Civil War, he sold produce to Union soldiers, as well as to Confederates garrisoned across the Potomac River.

The following animals recently were found and taken to the Humane Society of Washington County. If you think your pet is among those listed, you may visit the Humane Society of Washington County at 13011 Maugansville Road. The shelter's business hours are: Sunday, closed; Monday, 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m.; Tuesday and Thursday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. These animals may be made available for adoption after five days.

HANCOCK - The C&O Canal Association's annual Heritage Hike will be Saturday, Nov. 1. There will be three hiking options along the C&O Canal towpath, all beginning and ending at Fort Frederick. The hikes include a 13-mile hike to Little Tonoloway in Hancock (mile 124.5), a nine-mile hike to Little Pool Campground (mile 120) and a five-mile hike to Licking Creek Aqueduct (mile 116). Restrooms are available on each of those treks. Hike participants will need to park their vehicles and meet a shuttle bus in the Fort Frederick State Park Visitors Center parking area.