Weird Western Maryland

Georges Creek Boulevard and woods, today. Whenever I start explaining my Weird Western Maryland project, some student immediately says, “Oh, you mean like Bigfoot.” The modern legend of Bigfoot is certainly one of my research interests, as is the wider field of cryptozoology, or the search for unknown animals. Bigfoot also is one of the modern legends best known to my undergraduates, thanks to Hollywood and to decades of T-shirts, bumper stickers, coffee mugs, chainsaw art, and other merchandise. And as Western Maryland is largely wooded, students tend to assume that Bigfoot, if it exists at all, abounds regionally. In fact, Bigfoot sightings are not all that common in Western Maryland. (Southwestern Pennsylvania, just across the Mason-Dixon Line, is an entirely different story, one we’ll get to later.) The only Allegany County sighting in the excellent database of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO) took place more than 20 years ago and in a surprising, far-from-re...

Previously, I linked to the Roadside America entries for Allegany , Garrett , Washington and Frederick counties, as a baby step toward establishing a canonical list of well-known Western Maryland Weirdness. In the same spirit, I turn now to Atlas Obscura , beginning with Allegany County's five entries. Never fear, Allegany, we will do much better than that! Cumberland: George Washington’s Headquarters . “This one-room cabin where the young colonel slept during the French and Indian War.” Cumberland [actually LaVale]: LaVale Toll Gate House . “Maryland’s first (and last standing) toll house on America’s first federal road established the state as the ‘Gateway to the West.’” Also at Roadside America. Frostburg: The Jail in the Gunter Hotel . “The antique hotel still has a jail in the basement, though the cockfighting ring is long gone.” Also at Roadside America. Lonaconing: Klotz Throwing Company . “A remarkable time capsule of American manufacturing deep in Maryland co...

Last night at dinner, Amy Armiento asked what I would write about first.  This was a reasonable question, but one I hadn't thought about. I have amassed a very long list of weird local topics complex and simple, clear-cut and mysterious, current and historical. Some will require lots of research, others could be written off the top of my head. Where to begin? On the spot, I decided a good start for this blog, at least, would be to list some of the obvious items that everyone who knows the area would expect to see covered, given how often they come up in conversation. I think of this starter list as The Canon. Two pioneering websites that cater to the weird traveler are Roadside America* , "your online guide to offbeat tourist attractions," and Atlas Obscura , "the definitive guide to the world's hidden wonders." Each has a narrower remit than my project, but as both include a handful of canonical sites in Western Maryland, I'll begin simply by listing th...