History of the Greater Darnestown Area

The Darnestown area, which is centered at the intersection of Darnestown and Seneca Roads (map), was settled in the 1750s. Darnestown Road (or Route 28) was an old Indian trail and is recognized as one of the oldest roads in Montgomery County, Maryland. William Darne of Virginia, married Elizabeth Gassaway, the daughter of a wealthy landowner. They settled at the intersection of Darnestown and Seneca Roads and established an Inn and a tavern. The Darne family owned a large amount of land, was wealthy and very respected. In 1812, the area was named Darnestown in their honor. By the 1820's, the town began to blossom and hosted a wheelwright, grist mill, a blacksmith, a physician, a post office and a variety of other businesses. The stagecoach passed through the area from Georgetown to the river at Poolesville.

In 1855, the Darnestown Presbyterian Church, which is located at the corner of Turkey Foot and Darnestown Roads (map), was founded by the generous donation of three acres of land by John Dufief. The church was constructed of stone which was hauled from the local quarry by the men of the congregation. The completed church was dedicated on May 22, 1858. The church was renovated in 1897 and then again in 1953. The stained glass windows are memorials to the Tschiffely, Gassaway and Nourse families --some of the original members of the church.

In 1861, the Federal leadership realized that Darnestown was the natural place from which Washington, D.C. could (and needed to) be defended. There were 18,000 Union troops placed in Darnestown, owing to the relatively shallow Potomac river depth nearby. During the 1870s through 1900, Darnestown was a thriving business hub due to its trade linked to the C&O Canal. Darnestown became an important place for commerce in the area. Seneca Road led to a stone mill and the canal at Seneca Village (near present Old River Road). From Darnestown one could travel either by stagecoach along Darnestown Road or board a "packet boat" on the canal at Seneca.

After the Civil war, Darnestown experienced an economic downturn due to the increased popularity of the railroad, which bypassed the area and obviated canal transport. The mill business decreased and some farmers tried their hand at tobacco farming. This proved to be unprofitable for most and many people left the area. It wasn't until World War II that Darnestown began to grow and prosper again. This was mainly due to the government hiring more employees and the push for an improved road system. Over 6,000 citizens live in the Darnestown area today.

Darnestown Historical Society: Rick Griffin, president, 14101 Berryville Road, Darnestown, MD 20874, 301-869-8969

Detail of Darnestown from Simon J. Martenet
Martenet and Bond's Map of Montgomery County, 1865
Library of Congress, MSA SC 1213-1-464

from mdslavery.net:

Maryland's great variety in geography and population created a unique environment for slave flight. Individual county studies examine the unique features of each county, the strategies used by fleeing slaves, what aid or difficulties were available, and what sources were used in our study.

During the period 1830–1860, Maryland had the highest free black population of all the states. By 1860, the state's free blacks were the largest in the nation in terms of both rural and urban locales. Proportionally, Maryland's blacks ranked near the top as well. In antebellum Maryland, the enslaved population was concentrated in the southern counties: Prince Georges County, Charles County, St. Marys County, Anne Arundel County, and Montgomery County.

By 1860, the approximately 46,000 slaves in the counties of southern Maryland outnumbered those found in all other regions of the state combined. However, the southern counties had a relatively small free black population. The central Maryland areas of Frederick County, Carroll County, Baltimore County, Harford County, Howard County, and Baltimore City, have the largest free black populations by a wide margin. These counties held over 42,000 free blacks, which was more than the total found in the rest of the state. The central Maryland region is most intriguing as it represented a crossroads of sorts.

Baltimore County and Baltimore City were paradoxically both hubs for free blacks and bastions of slaveholding. In Central Maryland, the percentage of slaves as a proportion of the total black population decreased in the mid nineteenth-century. The free black population of Central Maryland counties grew more quickly, but often the enslaved population decreased. With each passing year, the disparity between the two castes of blacks widened. However, friendship and kinship ties transcended social caste and bound all black Marylanders together.

A Small History of the Greater Darnestown Area

adapted from darnestown.org, Sun 19 Dec 2004; originally from the Maryland Historical Society

Geographical center of Seneca (map)

Seneca

Presumably, for thousands of years people moved about the Seneca area to fish, hunt and camp along the Potomac river. Seneca Indians migrated from New York around 1600, planted maize and established palisaded villages. The Algonquin and Piscataways (called "Conoys" by the Iroquois) lived near Seneca within a five-mile area along the Potomac river. Their fish weirs still dot the Potomac up by Mason and Harrison Islands. A 1712 map calls Seneca Creek the "Riviere de Senecards." In the 1950's, local Roy Yinger wrote of finding remnants of an Indian village in a nearby cornfield, including pottery shards, arrowheads, a stone hoe, and broken tomahawks. He estimated that there were many burial sites in the area, untouched at that time.

The town of Seneca had a strange beginning. It was originally laid out in lots on the west bank of the creek by a John Garrett. In 1787 he sold lottery tickets with the lots as prizes; however, it was not the success that he had envisioned. Not until the coming of industry and the C&O Canal, the Seneca Sandstone Company, and the Seneca Mill did Seneca begin to flourish.

The Seneca area is well-known for its 400 acres of swampland donated to the State of Maryland including a 200-acre wild duck sanctuary. Just below Seneca is Beech Tree Island (map), once an outpost of Maryland's disappearing river otter population.

Seneca facilitates almost any outdoor activity. As the closest unpolluted boating area to Washington, the waters by Seneca are the only really navigable natural water on the upper Potomac. They are known for catfish, carp, bluegill and bass. Boaters know that the river is over a half mile wide and never less than 3 feet deep at any point.

Riley's Lock (Lock #24, milepost 21)

Less than two miles west of Violette's Lock, very near the IMF/World Bank country club of Bretton Woods, is Riley's Lock, the Seneca Aqueduct with its adjacent canal turning basin, and the remains of the once thriving Seneca Stone Quarry. During its heyday, Seneca Creek clamored with the familiar ring of hammers on steel, "stone drills", and shouts of "hey locks!" as boatmen approached the canal's lock.

Canallers boated day and night, sometimes shouting or blowing a horn to alert the lock keeper. An Old-timer recalled "old man Johnny Riley," the last locktender at Seneca, as one who was never caught napping: "any hour of the night you went to his lock and holler ... there was the lantern waving you ahead." The parking lot below the lock house was once a large basin where boats took on grain and flour from adjacent warehouses stocked from nearby Tschiffely Mill.

Milling in Seneca dates to 1780 as local farmers began to experiment with wheat. At the intersection of Seneca Creek and River Road are the remains of Tschiffely Mill (map), a grain mill built in 1866, which continued to operate into the 1930's. Seneca Creek State Park has developed a display along Black Rock Road to show how the similar Black Rock Mill operated. A narrow gauge railroad carried flour and other products from the boats tied up near Riley's Lock. Riley's Lock is the only one that duirectly abuts an aqueduct. The Girl Scouts give tours of the Lock house on weekends.

From Kate Mulligan's Towns Along The Towpath: "Pennyfield Lock is only about five miles from Great Falls Tavern, which is probably the most popular spot on the canal, but it is a scene far removed from the bustle and crowds down the towpath. Walk past two abandoned houses, complete with sagging porches, cross a footbridge to the shuttered lockkeeper’s house, which overlooks the canal. ... The Potomac is in full throttle here, with an island tantalizingly close. Less than a mile upstream along the towpath is a the Dierssen Waterfowl Sanctuary, a series of ponds that attract birds and birdwatchers. The latter say that on a spring morning it’s possible to spot as many as 80 different species. ... The towpath continues past beautiful cedar-topped cliffs, which turn into rolling countryside. Violette’s Lock is a favorite spot for fishing and launching canoes for the trip to Georgetown. A 2,500-foot rubble stone dam supplies water from her to Little Falls. Water skiing is popular in the slackwater behind the dam. ... Riley’s Lock and Lockhouse, about a half-mile upstream along the towpath, is the canal’s version of civilization. Seneca Creek Park, which has picnic areas, public toilets, and a parking lot, adjoins the area. Seneca Aqueduct, the first of 11 aqueducts between Georgetown and Cumberland, carried canal boats over nearby Seneca Creek. At Sycamore Landing, about five miles upstream, a footbridge across the canal bed leads to Sycamore Landing Road the McKee-Beshers Wildlife Area. "

Seneca Aqueduct

Built in 1829-30, Seneca Aqueduct is the first of 11 aqueducts along the C&O Canal that connects Georgetown and Cumberland. Back then, the duct was filled with water and carried canal boats over the creek. In September 1971, a bad freshet stone collapsed the aqueduct's west arch. Flood markers from the historic Potomac floods of 1899 and 1936 can be found on a sandstone post on the southeast corner of the parapet.

Seneca Stone Mill (map | tour) Just west of Lock #24 (Riley's Lock)

Down a path west of the aqueduct are the remains of the Seneca stonecutting mill, the oldest stone cutting mill in the United States. Built of local sandstone known as "Seneca Brownstone" about 1837, the mill was used to cut and dress stone from the quarries nearby to the west. Seneca quarry worked about 100 men, and at one time took out the red sandstone used to build the Seneca Aqueduct and neighboring homes such as Montevideo, as well as the Smithsonian Institution, the Washington Aqueduct (often called the Cabin John aqueduct), the Library of Congress, and the Washington Monument (used as a backing stone), the Museum of Natural History in New York, as well as most of Washington's post-Civil War architecture. Freshly cut stone reached the mill on a narrow gauge railroad, in mule drawn gondolas. Water from the turning basin, which ran in a large channel through the center of the mill, powered a large turbine which drove the mill's machinery. (The remains were the setting of an independent short film entitled "From Hell, With Love" that was produced in 2002 as a project with Mt. St. Mary's College.)

Seneca Quarry

Just west of Seneca Stone Mill are a series of overgrown quarries, developed from the high sandstone bluffs. This red sandstone deposit, which underlies most of Western Montgomery County, is of the Triassic Age (about 200 million years ago) and is part of a larger formation that erratically spans from Connecticut to the Carolinas. As far back as the 1790's, Seneca stone was quarried and rafted eight miles down the Potomac to Great Falls, where it was used in a "skirting canal" that enabled riverboat men to bypass the falls. When first cut, Seneca stone is relatively easy to work, but it hardens on prolonged exposure to air. Across the marshland north of the bluffs was a settlement of free black quarrymen, some of whose descendants now live in the Berryville Road area.

From Kate Mulligan's Towns Along The Towpath: "Tschiffley Road, near the store, runs from River Road to abandoned quarries and the remains of the Seneca Stone Mill, which was the center of the sandstone industry. According to local historian Jane Sween, the Seneca Sandstone Company used the facilities of the canal, which opened in 1830, to process the sandstone. The company installed a gate in the canal west of Seneca Creek, diverting water into the plant. Mules pulled uncut sandstone boulders in gondolas out of the quarries over a narrow gauge railroad track. Water from the mill race, fed by the canal, ran the turbines, which furnished the power for cutting. ... Seneca was once intended to be the starting point of a canal extension to Baltimore, an effort that never materialized. But it did become a bustling canal town during the second half of the 19th century. The canal was used for personal transportation between Seneca and Georgetown, as well as commercial shipping. ... The sandstone company closed in 1900, and the canal company ended operations in 1924. The area’s natural beauty remained, however, and many loyal residents owned summer or year-round cottages. In 1957, Roy Lee Yinger, a columnist for the 'Montgomery County Sentinel,' wrote, 'Seneca, believe me...is an enchanting and romantic spot.' ... Repeated flooding—and ironically, the reincarnation of the canal as a federal park—decimated the community. Hurricane Agnes destroyed many homes, and Montgomery County officials denied owners permission to rebuild on a flood plain. In the late 1970s, federal officials bought up property to enlarge the C&O Canal National Historical Park."

Seneca Marsh: Canal Turning Basin (map)

Here boats tied up to load stone from the nearby Seneca Stone Mill. Since canal boats were over 90 feet long, occasional basins like this one were the only places to turn around. Stone shipped from this basin went to the docks in Georgetown, or up canal to Point of Rocks for trans-shipment on the B&O Railroad, often carried on a steamboat especially adapted for the canal, the "Aunt Chercy".

Poole's General Store (map)

Across River Road, on Old River Road, is Poole's General Store and the Upton Darby House. It was built in 1901, by Frederick Allnutt, who previously owned a store along the canal in Seneca. One of the few surviving turn-of-the-century commercial structures in Montgomery County, this authentic general store remains a vital part of the community.

From Kate Mulligan's Towns Along The Towpath: " Poole’s General Merchandise Store, at 16315 River Road, is about 15 minutes away by car from the upscale Potomac Shopping Center, but it’s decades away in spirit. Built in 1901, the white frame building had counters on either side and a pot-bellied stove in the middle until 1963. Even after modernization, it remains a country store with crowded aisles, farm tools and open bins of grain. The store is the most tangible sign of modern commerce in the midst of what used to be a thriving community. During the second half of the 19th century, thousands of tons of sandstone were quarried in the area. The red stone still can be seen in well-known structures, such as the Smithsonian Institution and Library of Congress."

Allnut House or The Upton Darby House

Adjacent to Poole's General store, the house was built in 1855 by Upton Darby, a prominent miller. The Frederick Allnutt family purchased it in 1900. It is currently owned by the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission to be incorporated into Seneca State Park.

Seneca School

Funds to build this one room schoolhouse were raised by local miller Upton Darby through subscriptions solicited from the neighbors. Construction was completed in 1863. Parents paid for their childrens' books, and tuition was covered by several means. Families could pay cash toward the single teacher's $200.00 per year salary, give wood or coal for the heat (a pot bellied stove remains the only heat source), or help to "board" the teacher.

The age range of students was 6 to 16, with approximately 25 pupils at any given time. Grade levels 1 through 7 were taught and students were separated roughly by level of study in each particular subject, rather than by age as they are now: a child might have studied 3rd grade math while also doing 6th grade reading or history.

Gender separation was maintained by seating girls and boys on opposite sides of the room. The larger boys were expected to help bring in the wood or coal and carry out the ashes. Misbehavior begot corporal punishment. Black students were not permitted. Clearly, attitudes were very different back then.

The school ceased operation in 1900 with the opening of Seneca Mills School. Today it is owned by the Historic Medley District, whose members dress in period attire to give tours of the school on weekends.

From Kate Mulligan's Towns Along The Towpath: "Life by the Canal—On selected weekends, Girl Scouts dressed in period clothing tell the story of a lockkeeper and his family at the restored lockhouse at Riley’s Lock. Call 301-299-3613. ... Seneca School House—Less than a mile past Poole’s Store, on the left of River Road going west, is a small building that often looks deserted. Fans of "Little House on the Prairie" will guess the purpose of this structure. Built in 1865, the Seneca School House served the local farming community for more than 45 years. Girls sat on one side of the one-room schoolhouse and boys, on the other. Heat came from a potbellied stove; water was dipped from a spring, and a solitary teacher instructed students ranging in age from six to sixteen years. ... In 1980, the Historic Medley District restored the schoolhouse with the help of state funds and now administers the property. Area schoolchildren visit to learn what life was like for their counterparts 100 years ago. Call 301-972-8588."

Blockhouse point

This was the site of a Union outpost during the Civil War. The inland area beyond the cliffs is Blockhouse Point State Park, which can be reached from River Road. This is one of the most distinctive scenes along the river, where the rocky-forested cliffs are reflected in the still water of the canal, just a few precious feet of earth from the rough rapids of the Potomac. (C&O Canal Guide)

Rowsers Ford (Violette's Lock, Lock #23, Milepost 20)

This was an important river crossing during the Civil War. John Mosby used Rowsers Ford on his raid up to Seneca. Jeb Stuart is thought to have crossed here just before the Gettysburg campaign in the summer of 1863. After the Union Army crossed at Edwards Ferry on June 25 and 26 in pursuit of the main body of Lee's Army, Stuart's cavalry came from Dranesville down to the banks of the Potomac at Rowsers ford. The water was higher than usual --too high for artillery and ambulances-- but Stuart decided to cross there anyway. His men unloaded and carried the boxes of ammunition across the river by hand. The guns and caissons were dragged across the river completely submerged. The night was dark and moonless, so the men could not see clearly where they were to enter and exit the water, so they stayed close to each other, drifting down the river with the current until someone would appear from the Maryland shore to tell them how to straighten their lines. After they crossed the river, the soldiers captured a number of canal boats in the area of Violette's lock, turning one sideways to creating a bridge for his soldiers to cross. They abandoned their plan to burn the other boats after the boat captains persuaded them to have mercy on small businessmen. Instead, Stuart's men transformed the boats into obstructions by turning them sideways and then draining the water from that section of the canal.

Violette's lock was named for Ab Violette, the last lock keeper, whose house has disappeared. Standing on the lock looking toward Seneca, Violette's Lock is on the right, a liftlock that raised and lowered canal boats about eight feet. The lock on the left is a guard lock through which local grain boats were admitted to the canal. Both locks were built of Seneca sandstone. North of the locks was once the small village of Rushville, where thirsty canallers or quarrymen purchased moonshine whiskey from "Aunt" Pricilla Jenkins.

Crossing the river by Violette's lock are the remains of a 2,500 ft. wide rock dam (map) built by the C&O Canal Company around 1828 of quarry waste from nearby Seneca quarry in order to impound water fed into the 18-mile section of canal down to Little Falls. Waters impounded by this dam flow into a five-mile pool known as Little Seneca Lake (map site), which now supports heavy recreational use by people from the entire metropolitan area (25 feet average depth; 70 feet max depth; 505 acres; 15 miles shoreline). Violette's lock is a haven for canoers and kayakers who use its shores as a launching site above the Seneca "breaks" or rapids. Boaters can cross to the Virginia side and enjoy mild whitewater through one of the original skirting canals excavated by George Washington's Patowmack Company.

C.M.E. Church

On the hilltop to the left off Violet's Lock Road a weathered clapboard shell was built about 1900 to serve the local Colored Methodist Church congregation. The African American community at Seneca was established as much as 125 years ago by ex-slaves who worked in the sandstone quarries.

Darnestown

Darnestown was first settled in about 1730, when Maryland was still a colony of England. The first settlers in its general area were Scottish or Irish frontiersmen, descendants of men who had fought in the Revolutionary War under Washington, who had helped put down the Whiskey Rebellion in Pennsylvania, and who had fought with General Braddock in the French and Indian War. They were mostly Calvinists. One of them was Ninean Beall, a tavern keeper, who came about 1750. He had a number of daughters who married community leaders, including Chas. Gassaway, who built an estate to become known as "Pleasant Hills" (now known as the Kelley farmhouse in Spring Meadows). For a while the town also took the name of the large tract of land on which it was built "Mount Pleasant". When a post Office was later built, Charles Gassaway's son-in-law, William Darne, had become the largest landowner, and the town was renamed Darne, then later Darne's Town, and eventually Darnestown.

The Darnestown area became a town between 1815 and 1820, but tobacco farming in the area had so impoverished the soil that it didn't attract many farmers until the Quaker farmers of Sandy Springs introduced crop rotation and Peruvian guanos fertilizer. Residents continued to farm tobacco, which they sent on barges down the river to Georgetown. By 1820 the intersection of Seneca Rd. and Darnestown Rd. had a postmaster and merchant, a tavernkeeper, a blacksmith and a wheelwright. Nearby was Benjamin Edwards, a Doctor (whose grandson married Elizabeth Todd, elder sister of Mary Todd Lincoln).

When the C&O Canal was constructed at Seneca, Darnestown began thriving as a commercial crossroads. By 1871 Darnestown had a population of 99 people and was the 9th largest town in the county. By 1879 its population had grown to 200, doubling in a ten-year veritable boom time. The community was very close-knit with a lot of intermarriage. In its heyday between 1880 and 1890, farmers from around the area would bring their grain to the mills of Darnestown to transport it directly from there down the canal to Georgetown. After the railroad came to Gaithersburg and Germantown in the early 1900's, there was no more need for the mills in Darnestown and they petered out by the 1930's.

In the 1800's mail was brought by stagecoach from Rockville three times a week, and the people of the neighborhood rode out on horseback to be there when it arrived. The ladies dressed for this occasion in long riding skirts, hats with drooping feather, gauntlets, and always carried riding whips. As they cantered up the dusty road (Rt. 28, based on an old Indian trail) to Darnestown, dogs, chickens, and pigs flew out before them. They would arrive early and draw their horses under the shade of nearby trees where they gossiped and flirted with the young men of the community. After dropping off the mail, the stagecoach then continued on through Dawsonville to Poolesville.

Residents would sometimes take a "packet boat" to Washington or Georgetown for shopping. It took nearly all day to travel from Seneca to Georgetown, and the time could vary by several hours. Passengers would impatiently pace the canal bank or wait inside Johnny Riley's stone lock house. The packet boat had a saloon, captain's room and a kitchen, and could hold as many as 50 passengers. It ventured out onto the river at points but was more frequently on the canal. The boats were drawn by two tandem horses driven by a boy who rode the rear horse. When the boat reached the wide, long levels, known as the eight-mile level and the six-mile level, the horses galloped and their bells carried along the water. Later the boats used steam engines, which often stalled. The boats could only run up to 8mph to avoid damaging wakes.

When it was too cold for the packet boat to operate, residents made the trip to Washington by horse and carriage, slowly plodding through mud over the horse's ankles as they traveled Old River Road, the shortest way to Washington.

When the Civil War broke the Federals immediately knew that the shallow waters of the Potomac River's Seneca Rapids were a natural point for the Confederates to cross in order to invade Washington from the North. Union encampments were soon positioned in Darnestown by Windsor School, Kelley Farm, Kirkhel Farm, Magruder Farm, as well as near the C&O canal. The presence of troops of course boosted the economy. By guarding all of the fords as well as the C&O Canal, searching canal boats and wagons along area roads, and checking the passes of travelers through the area, the 18,000 soldiers were the main defense against attacks on Washington from the north. The troops were callow, and they "borrowed" what they needed from the beehives and orchards of local farmers, which did not make for a congenial relationship with the residents. When the army left, most of the fences had become firewood, and not a cow, hen or hog remained. A number of newspapers throughout the nation had reporters stationed here, including the famous artist and novelist Daniel Strother. Using the nom de plume Porte Crayon, he wrote war stories and made sketches in the Darnestown area that were published in Harper's Magazine.

Maryland remained in the Union, but many Darnestown residents fought for the Confederacy:

William Darne, a graduate of the U.S. military academy and son of Alex Darne, a West Point graduate, joined Company B, 35th Battalion of the Virginia Calvary at the age of 16.

Walter Peter Gibson, son of Major George Peter, grew up in a home still known as Montaverde on Berryville Road. He joined the 7th Brigade of the Confederacy, fought at Balls Bluff, and was later caught with a cousin in Tennessee dressed as a Federal officer. They were charged with spying and subsequently hung.

George Rice joined the 1st Maryland Calvary, CSA, and was captured twice by Federal troops. In 1866 he married Elberta Tschiffely, and in 1881 built the Dr. Richard Beall house on Darnestown Road near Turkeyfoot.

As one Yankee soldier put it, sympathetic as they were to the South, during the Civil War years, "Darnestown went to making money with more than Yankee shrewdness, and Darnestown was Union when the army came." He went on to describe the little village: "most of its homes are of the log and mud style. It boasts no hotel, though some hospitable people would afford entertainment for man and beast. It has three country stores where hardware, dry goods, groceries, boots and shoes, quack medicines, and whiskey are sold in rather small quantities --barring the whisky as to the small. The few houses of more than usual pretention would hardly pass muster in a new England village, and the poorer ones were sadly dilapidated. Two or three houses were enclosed with fences, and had a few flowers in front, but as a whole, the village of one street was of the Rip Van Winkle order."

The end of the C&O Canal spelled the end of Darnestown as a commerce center, and residents resorted to farming. One of the largest area milk producers was Kelly's "Pleasant Hills Dairy" which operated well into the late 1950's.

Darnestown Presbyterian Church

As the desire for worship centers developed, a log cabin church was built at what is now the corner of Route 28 and Route 118. This building was shared by Baptists, Methodists, Episcopalians and Presbyterians. It was called the "Free or Union Church". On May 12, 1855, under the direction of Rev. Daniel Motzer, the ten communicant members of the Presbyterian congregation decided to build their own church, as a "Missionary Point" of the Neelsville church. They formed part of the Presbytery of Baltimore, a conservative branch of the Presbyterian Church made up largely of Southerners who refused to take a stand against slavery. In 1858 a schism developed in the Presbyterian Church. The "Old School" churches became the Confederate Church. The "new school" churches became the Presbyterian Church USA. Darnestown Presbyterian church joined the new school, which first became part of Presbytery of the Potomac, and later part of the Presbytery of Washington City. The Presbyterian Church USA admitted blacks to the congregation, who sat in a small balcony at the back of the church.

A gift of three acres by John DuFief, a French immigrant who was a miller and landowner, provided a site for the Presbyterian church. Having only meager funds, they chose a very simple design without a bell tower or stained glass windows. A side entry led to a basement room where a Sunday School was held (current location of the DCA members meetings). The cornerstone, which can no longer be located, was laid in 1856, and the building was dedicated on May 22 1858. The iron fence along the cemetery at the back of the church was taken from the Rockville Courthouse. The stones for the foundation were rolled by the male members, and the women raised money by cutting long strips of cloth, which they sold to a manufacturer of braided rugs. At first there was no heating, and each family provided its own rug for its pew, giving the church the look of Joseph's coat of many colors. Within three years their membership had grown to 44 people.

The Manse was built on an adjacent donated lot of twelve acres. The minister spent three quarters of his time at the Darnestown Church, and one quarter at the Neelsville church, to which they were still joined. A gift of $5,000 from a Scottish businessman named Andrew Small, who was a contractor on the C&O Canal, and then a subsequent bequest by him for $35,000 led to the construction of the Andrew Small Academy. This was the largest and finest academy in Montgomery County. It had boarding as well as local students, and went up through three years of high school. Up until 1892 the minister of the church was also principal of the academy and received a salary of $600. The school became the cultural center of the community with concerts, plays, recitals, and a literary society. In 1892 the academy got its first full time principal. Then in 1907 it was taken over by the Montgomery County school system, and in 1927 it was changed into an elementary school. This ended its service as a cultural center. A new elementary school (now Darnestown Elementary) was built to replace it in 1955.

A women's club, called the "Mutual Improvement Club" was formed in 1905. This club was one of the first members of the Montgomery County Federation of Women's Clubs.

Pleasant Hills

One of Darnestown's first landowners was Ninian Beall, a tavernkeeper. In 1763-1765 his first daughter Ruth Beall and her husband, Charles Gassaway, built one of the earliest houses in Darnestown, a large brick house called Pleasant Hills on property known at Mount Pleasant. The house, which today is located on Kelley Farm Drive in the center of the Spring Meadows community, is on the Maryland Historic Registry. At one time Charles Gassaway owned as much as 1700 acres. Gassaway, who was well respected in the community, served as a Captain in the Militia, and was coroner for Montgomery County.

Both of Gassaway's sons found wives across the river in Virginia. As river travel was easier in those days than road travel, Leesburg was much closer than Georgetown. Gassaway's daughter Elizabeth, married William Darn in 1798. Charles Gassaway gave 505 acres of Mount Pleasant Tract to Elizabeth and William Darne, who lived on part of the Mount Pleasant tract east of the Pleasant Hills house. Darne served on the Maryland legislature, and was a director of the C&O Canal.

In 1824, following the death of Charles Gassaway's widow, the house and some of the land was sold to James Hawkins, whose heirs sold it to John Thomas Kelley. Kelley, a merchant in Georgetown for the past 20 years, lived in the home with his five children. One of the daughters, Nellie, married Millard Rice who took over the management of the farm. Two wings have been added to the original home, one in 1900 and a second in 1918. The wings are made of bricks taken from old slave quarters on the farm and laid in Flemish bond to match the original house. His son, Thomas C. Kelley became a prominent lawyer and Judge, and was instrumental in the change to the county council system of government in Montgomery County.

Descendant Tom Kelly farmed much of the land around the Pleasant Hills homestead and was famous for his "Kelly Corn" farm wagon of fresh dairy produce during the summer months, as well as the corn that fed visitors to the Montgomery County Fair each August, and his pumpkin patch in the Fall.

Until 1833, worshipers of all denominations congregated at a little log cabin near the Pleasant Hills homestead that was built by the Methodists. A one-room schoolhouse was also located on the same lot.

Magruder Farm

The North established a Signal Corps school on Magruder farm, where an especially large chestnut tree was fitted with platforms for signalers to use. Signal flags and telescopes were used to exchange information along a chain of signalers that stretched from Harpers Ferry to Georgetown (Signal Tree Lane). As one local resident stated, "Magruder overlooked the river, bristled with cannon and fortifications, just waiting for the Rebs to ford the Potomac at Seneca."

Mrs. Magruder's nephew Colonel Nicholas Dorsey joined the Confederacy and was captured at Baltimore (Dorsey road, a street racing hotspot, near Baltimore). He escaped and took the back roads to Magruder farm, arriving the same day as General Banks of the Union, and was again caught. When confusion arose as the Federals were assigned to quarters, Dorsey, dressed in Mr. Magruder's civilian clothes, walked out, waving to the sentries, and then caught a wagon ride to Seneca where he was rowed across to safety.

Montevideo

By 1812 the land on which Montevideo would be built had been given by Robert Peter, the first mayor of Georgetown, to his son Thomas. Thomas Peter married Martha Parker Custis, the granddaughter of Martha Washington. They lived at Tudor Place in Georgetown and built a summer home near Darnestown that is no longer standing called "Oatlands" (no relation to The Oatlands Plantation west of Leesburg). Montevideo was a summer home built for Peter's son, John Park Custis and his wife Elizabeth Henderson Peter, in 1830 from the red sandstone of Seneca Quarry. The walls are of local redstone nearly two feet thick, covered with stucco and painted white. The house was restored in 1960.

A widowed tutor named Charles Nourse, who was also an ordained Presbyterian minister, lived in the Peter household. Thirteen months after Mr. Peter's death, widow Peter and Rev. Nourse were married, giving to much talk of propriety in the local community.

From Kate Mulligan's Towns Along The Towpath: " For a look at what remains of this 19th-century community, begin at Poole’s store. To your left is a large white frame house constructed in 1855. Turn right off Old River Road onto Montevideo Road. At the first bend, you’ll see the Rockland-Mann Farm. Built in 1870, the house was the social center of the community and shows the use of sandstone. It has five bays, a hip roof, gable chimneys and outbuildings, including a smoke house and corn crib. ... Montevideo, one of the most striking houses in the area, is out of view, down a private driveway. Surrounded by 400 acres, the house is owned by the Kiplingers, of the publishing empire. Its original builder was descendent of Martha Custis Washington. "

Montanverde

Montanverde on Berryville Road was owned by another son of Robert Peter named George Peter. George ran away at 15 to join the Maryland troops in the Whiskey Rebellion. George Washington, a family friend, personally sent him home. After graduating from Georgetown University five years later, George rejoined the army, rising to the rank of Major. One of his assignments was to investigate and testify at the Aaron Burr trial.

After receiving a large inheritance from his father, he purchased a home in Georgetown and built Montanverde as a summer home. George Peter retired from the military after the War of 1812 and was elected to Congress as a representative of the 6th District of Maryland, serving afterwards in the Maryland House of Delegates. He had 16 children, 8 of whom lived to maturity. Abraham Lincoln stayed at the house after a political rally with 600 guests held by major Peters. William Barnum, brother of P.T. Barnum of circus fame, purchased it from the Peters. It is said to be haunted by a ghost who throws wine glasses into the fireplace.

The Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin publishes a collection of maps. Map Two covers Pennyfield Lock to Goose Creek. Check with NPS bookstores. Sween, Jane Chinn. "Seneca." The Montgomery County Story 1 (1971). This monograph and other information about Seneca is available at the Montgomery County Historical Society Research.

From http://www.gazette.net/livepages/131.shtml

The 9.93-square-mile municipality, located in the center of Montgomery County, can be called a high-technology business hub. It also is the home of Olde Towne Gaithersburg, a quaint downtown area featuring shops, offices and restaurants that is undergoing a revitalization effort.

Before it was Gaithersburg, residents called the area Log Town. Then in 1802, Benjamin Gaither built the first house in what is now Gaithersburg, and the town's name was changed shortly after. The Gaither family also helped to bring the railroad to the city in the 1850s.

Gaithersburg, with an estimated population of 56,300, operates under a council-manager form of municipal government. The city manager is appointed by the five-member City Council and serves as a city employee. The manager acts as the city's chief executive officer and answers to the mayor and council concerning city affairs.

The mayor and City Council are elected officials who serve staggered four-year terms. The mayor serves as the president of the City Council and offers his input without voting on the issues.

Other areas around Gaithersburg include Washington Grove, with a population of 530 at the edge of East Diamond Avenue; Darnestown, an unincorporated area just outside the city surrounding the intersection of Route 28 and Seneca Road; and Laytonsville, an incorporated town with a population of about 300 north of Gaithersburg.

The original full name of Washington Grove was the Washington Grove Camp Meeting Association of the District of Columbia and Maryland. Although the town does not know when the name was shortened or why that name was chosen, they believe it is related to how the town was founded as an outdoor religious summer camp. Washington was probably chosen because the majority of the people who founded the camp were from Washington, D.C., churches, and grove was chosen to advertise that meetings would be held in a place filled with trees.

Darnestown was named after William Darne, who settled in the area in the 1750s. The Darne family owned a large amount of land in the area and was very wealthy. In 1812, the area was named Darnestown in their honor. Laytonsville was established in 1789 on a tract of land granted to James Brooke. It was originally known as Cracklintown, named after the popular cracklin bread — bacon corn bread — that was baked locally. Laytonsville received its current name after the local post office was moved to John Layton's saddle shop. The town was incorporated as a municipality in 1892.

Potomac: 12,000 Years of Human Endeavor
September 14, 2005
from connectionnewspapers.com

Based on evidence of habitation discovered along the banks of the Potomac River, the area known as the Potomac Subregion was initially settled by Paleo-Indians some 12,000 years ago. European explorers settled the area in the early 1700s, establishing large estates and tobacco plantations that employed slave labor. Tobacco was the most suitable crop for the region's climate and soil, and eventually the most profitable.

When the continuous cultivation of tobacco led to depletion of nutrients from the soil, local planters turned to wheat, and from the end of the Revolution until the mid-19th century, wheat was the area's most widely planted crop. However, agricultural production continued to decline and by 1840, many farmers became discouraged and moved west on roads that followed Indian trails. Along the Potomac, River Road developed from a trail to a wagon road built to help farmers carry produce to the market. Eventually, public roads connected Georgetown and its urban markets with the farmlands of Potomac and Rockville.

Seven Locks Road was a wagon road that became so well used that land owners petitioned the county to have it designated as a public thoroughfare. Other roads designated and improved in this fashion included South Glen Road, Kentsdale Drive, Tuckerman Lane, Bells Mill Road and Brickyard Road.

Other transportation improvements led to growth in Potomac. In 1828, President John Quincy Adams broke ground for the C&O Canal near Little Falls, and by 1831, there were approximately twenty miles of canal in use between Georgetown and Seneca. By 1850, the canal extended to Cumberland. Fertilizer was imported by canal into the area to enrich the soil, and with easier access to markets, farms located near the canal began to prosper. By 1859, despite competition from the railroad, the canal was thriving, transporting grain, flour, coal and farm produce.

Other industries in the area included stone quarrying. The Seneca Stone Quarry's distinctive reddish sandstone was mined from 1774 until 1900 and was used in the Smithsonian Institution building (now the Arts and Industries Building). Many of the lockhouses and most of the aqueducts along the canal were also built of Seneca sandstone.

Construction of the Washington Aqueduct in the 1850s contributed to the area's growth. This project was designed to tap an abundant supply of clean water above Great Falls for use in the rapidly growing District of Columbia. A dam was built at Great Falls to divert water into a conduit which ran to reservoirs in the District. Not only did this project bring new workers to the area, it also improved access with the construction of Conduit Road above the piping system.

DURING THE CIVIL WAR, area residents divided their loyalty between North and South. Darnestown was the scene of Civil War activity due to its strategic location near Potomac River crossings and its proximity to Washington. Some 18,000 Union troops were garrisoned in and around Darnestown in 1861, and in 1864, large numbers of both Union and Confederate troops moved through the area.

After the Civil War, the county's population increased, the canal boosted the local economy and the Great Falls aqueduct encouraged further development. When Civil War soldiers discovered gold, they envisioned another California Gold Rush. As word of the gold spread after the war, mines were established along Rock Run and the canal. Although the success of the mines varied, they attracted newcomers to the area.

After emancipation, many African Americans were able to buy land and establish relatively autonomous communities where they made their living as laborers for neighboring farms while providing food for their families on their own small farms. These communities included homesteads near Oaklyn Road, and in the Cropley community near Great Falls, where Angler's Inn now stands.

THROUGH THE 1930S, area farms and orchards were generally productive, but in the late 1940s and early 1950s, many farms between Potomac Village and Rockville were developed for housing. During the 1960s, development accelerated and Potomac experienced a rapid 287 percent population increase. These development trends have continued as Montgomery County has become more populated. In the past three decades, much of the farmland and woodland in the Potomac Subregion has been subdivided for residential use. Spreading suburbanization, the loss of agricultural open space and the impact of roads and traffic on a formerly rural area present major challenges for the creation of communities and the preservation of historic and environmental resources.

http://historical.maptech.com/quad.cfm?quadname=Seneca&state=MD&series=15
Historical USGS Maps from maptech.com
Seneca, MD Quandrangle, USGS 15 Minute series
Lat. 39.1250N, Lon. 77.375W, Surveyed 1907, printed 1908

Ongoing National Park Service C&O Canal Events: http://www.nps.gov/choh/Calendar/Canaller.html

Nice site, lots of good pictures: http://mcmullans.org/canal/downloads.htm