Historic Sites

The director of Berkeley County's new convention and visitors bureau is eyeing a plan to coordinate the opening of prominent historic sites for tours one weekend a month as part of a heritage tourism promotion package. Laura Gassler, who presented the concept to the Berkeley County Council on April 11, said the plan aims to address a shortage in volunteers that tourism-oriented groups such as the Berkeley County Historical Society currently face. Historical Society President Todd Funkhouser said the organization has “a good nucleus” of volunteers, but often not enough to staff an entire weekend.

The Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau has announced that a new Washington County Museums and Historic Sites brochure is available. The guide lists the more than 30 museums in Washington County as well as other sites, many which house significant historical collections. The brochure is available for visitors and residents. The guide, produced in cooperation with the Washington County Association of Museums and Historical Sites, describes in detail the 37 museums and historic sites throughout Washington County Bill Knode, the president of the Washington County Association of Museums and Historic Sites, noted in a prepared release that, "Washington County has a large number of museums.

Cell tower ordinance protects historic sites CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - The Jefferson County Planning Commission approved a proposed ordinance Tuesday that would prohibit wireless communication towers from being built on historic sites. The commissioners said they believe the measure will protect the public and cellular phone company interests, although it's not expected to have any effect on plans by U.S. Cellular to build a 260-foot-high cellular tower next to Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.

With the loss of the historic Kammerer house, Fox Deceived plantation home and the Hagerstown Roundhouse fresh in their minds, members of the Washington County Historic Advisory Committee sponsored a forum to educate the public about the financial benefits of preservation on Tuesday. Despite the losses, committee chairman Yvonne Hope said the community must move on and work to save other historic structures. "We need to take all that angst and energy and devote it into 'What we can do so this won't happen again,'" she said.

HAGERSTOWN A man who dresses in black, 19th-century clothing is said to have been spotted on the Hager House porch, and a woman wearing a veil over her face has been seen sitting on a tombstone in Rose Hill Cemetery. The man in black at the Hager House is one of two apparitions that people have said they have encountered at the home that Jonathan Hager, the founder of Hagerstown, presented to his bride in 1740, said John Bryan, historic sites facilitator for Hagerstown. People also have reported seeing a woman wearing Victorian-style dress in the upper hallway of the house in City Park, he said.

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - The Jefferson County Historic Landmarks Commission wants more money from the county commissioners to restore two historic sites and to teach archaeology to members of the Jefferson County Boys and Girls Club this summer Landmarks commission members said Thursday they felt the $500 the county commissioners budgeted for the group was insultingly low. The Jefferson County Historic Landmarks Commission had requested $5,000 from...

BOONSBORO - Volunteers from around the country will team up with Civil War Preservation Trust to clean and restore America's historic battlefields, cemeteries and shrines. The nationwide effort, dubbed Park Day, will include historic sites in many states. South Mountain State Battlefield is one of the sites that will benefit from Park Day-related activities. Park Day will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday, March 27. Meet at Fox's or Crampton's Gap. Volunteers are needed to assist with battlefield clean up, brush removal and museum clean up at both Fox's Gap and Crampton's Gap. For information, call Al Preston at 301-432-0452 or send e-mail to apreston@dnr.

MARTINSBURG, W.VA. -- A plan to develop an exhibit and education center geared toward young people at Martinsburg's train station and adjoining historic railroad hotel won support Thursday from the Berkeley County Commission. The commission agreed to write a letter of support for a $362,500 grant application submitted to the National Scenic Byways Program to develop the "For the Kids, By George" project in the train station and on a couple of floors of the restored hotel building, which was built before the Civil War. The Martinsburg City Council is expected to consider sending a separate letter of support next week, City Manager Mark Baldwin said.

laurae@herald-mail.com BURKITTSVILLE, Md. -Maryland must assess the environmental effects of a proposed communications tower atop South Mountain before the Federal Communications Commission will allow it to be built. "The Lamb's Knoll area is rich with historic sites," Jeffrey S. Steinberg, deputy chief of the FCC's commercial wireless division, wrote in a May 6 letter to the Maryland Department of Budget and Management. The Maryland Historical Trust determined that building the 180-foot tower at the highest point on the mountain would have no negative effect on the historic sites.

Frederick landmarks endangered FREDERICK, Md. - Last year's inaugural listing of Frederick County, Maryland's Most Endangered Historic Places included 11 historic sites throughout the county. Sponsored by the Frederick County Landmarks Foundation, the program was modeled after the "America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places" list released annually by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Several sites listed last year have yielded positive outcomes- a former Civil War hospital farmstead is currently undergoing rehabilitation, as is one of Frederick County's historic stone mills, and the John Derr house on Route 26 was offered to Landmarks by the developer and plans for restoration as the group's headquarters are underway.

The director of Berkeley County's new convention and visitors bureau is eyeing a plan to coordinate the opening of prominent historic sites for tours one weekend a month as part of a heritage tourism promotion package. Laura Gassler, who presented the concept to the Berkeley County Council on April 11, said the plan aims to address a shortage in volunteers that tourism-oriented groups such as the Berkeley County Historical Society currently face. Historical Society President Todd Funkhouser said the organization has “a good nucleus” of volunteers, but often not enough to staff an entire weekend.

The annual meeting of the Washington County Historical Society in January 1967 featured a presentation on the Mason-Dixon Line, which described he hardships experienced by the surveyors as they passed through the mountainous portions of the terrain and encounters with the American Indians in the 1700s. This sparked a suggestion that the State of Maryland might be encouraged to establish a state park to recognize the Mason-Dixon Line. With Victor D. Miller III at the helm as president, and coupled with a renewed interest in establishing an Elizabeth Town village near the Hager House, the historical society board was looking at the possibility of adopting new projects as they went forward.  Judge Irvine Rutledge was appointed chair of a committee to look at potential locations in Washington County, which incorporates about 40 miles of the Mason-Dixon Line, more than any other county.

The society also lost its president of six years when Edward Tenney died in 1942. The previous president, Harvey Bomberger, had served for 25 years. The group was accustomed to great continuity. Mary Vernon Mish lived on the West Virginia shore of the Potomac River across from Williamsport. She was so involved in historic preservation on both sides of the river, in Berkeley County, W.Va., and Washington County, that she was the apparent choice to succeed Tenney. Interestingly, Mish was the first and only woman to serve as president of WCHS.

Many people love the fall with the crisp air and the beautiful color. They will go to historic sites and remember, or do they? Regular readers know I have a passion for both agriculture and history and I like to share both with anyone who will listen. However, one of my pet peeves is how we all tend to romanticize things. Society romanticizes agriculture as this bucolic lifestyle, sort of a cross between “Mayberry” and “Green Acres.” I wish I had a nickel for every time a person moves to our county, purchases a bit of acreage and wants to grow something.

During those 25 years, the organization worked diligently to save Fort Frederick in Big Pool and Washington Monument in Boonsboro. These two historic structures represent major periods in the history of our nation and our county. The Washington Monument is the nation's first monument built in honor of the United States' first president, George Washington. It was built by citizens of the first county of 31 in the United States named for him (and perhaps the first geographic designation anywhere that was not on lands of his family holdings)

Motorists driving by might assume they are some kind of highway department markers. Those small numbered white obelisks emblazoned with Confederate flags mark spots, or near spots, where incidents, skirmishes or significant battles took place in Jefferson County during the Civil War. In 1910, the local United Confederate Veterans, Jefferson County Camp No. 123, forerunner of today's 50-member local Sons of Confederate Veterans, installed 25...

Volunteers from throughout Maryland are about to team up with the Civil War Trust to help clean and restore Civil War sites in the state. The annual event — dubbed Park Day — is part of a nationwide effort that includes more than 100 historic sites in 22 states. Activities may range from raking leaves and hauling trash to painting signs and planting trees. In exchange for their hard work, volunteers will receive T-shirts and have an opportunity to hear a local historian describe the significance of the site.

“A really companionable and indispensable dog is an accident of nature. You can’t get it by breeding it, and you can’t buy it with money. It just happens along.” — E.B. White, “The Care and Training of a Dog”   Charlotte the dog died Nov. 13, 2010. She was 15. Nearly 2 1/2 months later, her master, Carol Gallant, still cries when she speaks of the loss of her pet. Charlotte, a mutt, came into Gallant’s life by accident when visiting an animal shelter in Charlotte, N.C., to pick up her mother’s two cats who had strayed.

The question posted Wednesday on The Herald-Mail's website was: What should the Washington County Commissioners do about the deteriorating Devil's Backbone Dam? Poll results: Repair it: 395 votes (49 percent) Remove it: 274 votes (34 percent) Partially breach it, leaving portions for historical perspective: 131 votes (16 percent) ----- "Tear it down and build up the embankment!" "I voted to repair it. The newest National Geographic has a full issue on water and water is and will be important.