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Item Count: 4558

Railroads Once a Spark to Industry

Publication Year: 2012

Author: Mary Ann Ashcraft

As I rode the train to New York City over Christmas vacation, I was appalled at how the countryside looked on the outskirts of almost every city.

Area should be Proud of Early Anti-Slavery Sentiment

Publication Year: 2012

Author: Mary Ann Ashcraft

The Quaker faith, also known as the Religious Society of Friends, was practiced by families who settled in the Union Bridge area prior to 1750.

Shoe Company Becomes Community Staple

Publication Year: 2012

Author: Mary Ann Ashcraft

“Carroll County Boy Makes Good.” Such might have been the headline of a local newspaper article in the early twentieth century.

Medford was Once a Bustling Hub of Activity

Publication Year: 2012

Author: Mary Ann Ashcraft

As the Western Maryland Railroad wound its way across Carroll County from Finksburg to Union Bridge eighty years ago.

Methodists Trace Back to Wakefield Valley

Publication Year: 2012

Author: Mary Ann Ashcraft

The Wakefield Valley seems to have attracted many of the early converts, probably because of its association with Strawbridge himself.

Farmer’s Accounts Give Glimpse of 19th Century Life

Publication Year: 2012

Author: Mary Ann Ashcraft

Spring for the farmers of nineteenth-century Carroll County meant work from dawn until dusk – hours.

Dorothy Elderdice ‘One of Our Best’ Native Daughters

Publication Year: 2012

Author: Mary Ann Ashcraft

Twentieth century Carroll County was enriched by the presence of a most amazing native daughter - Dorothy Elderdice.

Bygone Wedding Traditions Full of Color

Publication Year: 2012

Author: Mary Ann Ashcraft

June, the traditional month for weddings, is just around the corner.

Local Brews Arrived in Early 1800s

Publication Year: 2012

Author: Tim Bowers

Locally brewed beer is easy to find in Westminster these days. One need only go downtown to Johansson’s Dining House.

Soldier Positively Affected by Events

Publication Year: 2012

Author: Mary Ann Ashcraft

In our effort to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, we sometimes overlook the war’s effects on the men themselves.

Photo Collection is a Local Gem

Publication Year: 2012

Author: Mary Ann Ashcraft

Small museums sometimes hold big surprises. Such is the case of Leister’s Store: Pleasant Valley Memories Museum in Carroll County.

Proprietress One of County’s Strongest Figures

Publication Year: 2012

Author: Mary Ann Ashcraft

The formidable-looking woman in the accompanying photograph was Emily Jane Wampler Grammer Rinehart Rippard.

Native American Tools Found All Over Carroll

Publication Year: 2012

Author: Mary Ann Ashcraft

By the time Europeans began building homes in Carroll County, most if not all Native Americans had migrated out of the area.

Branton Manor is a Hidden, Historic Gem

Publication Year: 2012

Author: Mary Ann Ashcraft

Driving east along Liberty Road in Eldersburg, passing one strip mall or shopping center after another.

Maps Show County’s Progress in Road Paving

Publication Year: 2012

Author: Mary Ann Ashcraft

From the sprinkling of dirt tracks crossing the county and maintained by individuals during the 1700s to today’s complex of paved roads.

Residents Help Preserve County’s Past

Publication Year: 2012

Author: Mary Ann Ashcraft

For seven years in the 1990s, Carroll County was lucky to have architectural historian Ken Short working as its “historic planner.”

Carroll County’s ‘almshouse’ Has Rich History

Publication Year: 2012

Author: Mary Ann Ashcraft

When Maryland’s legislature approved the formation of Carroll County in 1837, it required the citizens to build a courthouse, jail, register’s office, clerk’s office and a poorhouse.

Story of County Copper Mines

Publication Year: 2012

Genealogy, geology and history are passions of mine. They don’t mesh very often, but this true story combines all three.

30 Hours without Power a Great Reminder

Publication Year: 2012

After thirty hours without electricity thanks to Superstorm Sandy, I decided that writing about life in the eighteenth or nineteenth century for “Carroll’s Yesteryears”.

1800s Saw Evolution of Bankruptcy Laws

Publication Year: 2012

Author: Mary Ann Ashcraft

It’s hard to believe people in Carroll County were sent to prison in the 1840s if they couldn’t pay their debts, but it’s true