Caroline is one of the smaller Maryland counties, and is the most inland of those on the Eastern Shore. Wicomico alone excepted, it is the only one in that section not having an extensive bayside border. The Delaware line bounds it on the east, Dorset on the south, Great Choptank and Tuckahoe rivers on the west, and Queen Anne's on the north. The area of the county is 320 square miles, and it was named in honor of Lady Eden, and its county seat was first called Eden-Town, after Governor Eden. It was erected in 1773. The soil is of sand and clay, adapted to a variety of crops, from wheat to berries. Fruit-growing is a prominent industry, and canneries are operated in every section of the county. A local industry is charcoal-burning. The Queen Anne's railroad has done much to develop the central section of the county and to quicken village growth. The Delaware and Chesapeake railway runs through the northwestern part, and the Cambridge and Seaford line through the extreme southeast. On the Choptank steamboats ply daily to Denton. The population of Denton is 1,481. Ridgely (population 943) and Greensborough are important fruit-shipping stations, and the next largest towns. Federalsburg (population 1,050), on the Northwest Fork of the Nanticoke, has several local industries, and Preston, on the Baltimore, Chesapeake and Atlantic railway, which curves through southwestern Caroline; Hillsborough, Burrsville, Choptank, are progressive towns. Hillsborough Academy was noted among the classical public schools of the post-Revolutionary period. One of the first acts of the people of this county was the promulgation of the "Caroline Resolutions of 1774," pledging resistance to the arbitrary measures of Parliament. The county was distinguished in the Revolution. At Ridgely is an extensive basket and berry-cup manufactory. Washington county was established on the same day as Montgomery and was taken from Frederick, originally including Allegany and Garrett. It is bounded on the north by Pennsyl vania, on the east by South Mountain, which separates it from Frederick; on the south and southwest by the Potomac river, dividing it from Virginia, and on the west by Sideling Hill creek, which separates it from Allegany. It is nearly triangular in shape. The county is abundantly watered by the Antietam, Beaver, Conococheague, Israel, and other creeks tributary to the Potomac. The principal products are wheat, corn, oats, hay, rye, potatoes, wool, live-stock, butter, and honey. The county seat is Hagerstown, with a population of 16,507, and an admirable location as a railroad center. It lies on Antietam creek, 86 miles from Baltimore, and a seminary of high order and other private institutions are among its educational facilities. The Baltimore and Ohio, Western Maryland, Norfolk and Western, and Cumberland Valley railroads traverse the county, and all pass through Hagerstown. The manufacturing establishments of the city are numerous, and some of their products are bicycles, gloves, organs, building materials, agricultural implements, cigars, flour, carriages, etc. Williamsport has a population of 1,571, and is a commercial and industrial center. Sharpsburg, Hancock, Clearspring, Boonsboro, Smithsburg, Leitersburg, Funkstown, Keedysville, and others, are thriving villages. The county ranks high among wheat-producing counties of the United States, and is noted for its mountain-side peach orchards. Its area is 525 square miles. The population is remarkable for intelligence, industry, and thrift. Germans, English, Scotch, Swiss, and French from the border provinces of Alsace and Lorraine were among the original settlers. A number of families were established in the county as early as 1735, and from 1740 onward the numbers rapidly increased. Washington has been the mother of a long line of distinguished men in every walk of life, who have left their impress not only upon Maryland but upon other states and the nation. The county may lay claim to no inconsiderable share in the construction of the first steamboat built in the United States (1785-1786). General Washington and Governor Thomas Johnson were patrons of the experiment of James Rumsey, and parts of his steamboat were made at the Antietam Iron Works on March 14, 1786. Sharpsburg and vicinity was the scene of the most terrible and bloody battle of the Civil War, and in the Antietam National cemetery here lie buried 4,667 Union dead. The Delaware and Catawba battle-ground at the mouth of Antietam creek, the limestone or subterranean curiosity from which Cavetown derives its name, |