Maryland Daily PhotoEvery Week Day a New Picture from MD

I’m sneaking in one last cherry picture with some Maryland history.  These trees line the streets of Falkland Chase, a rental community in silver spring, famous for being one of the first affordable housing communities of the new deal.  It was a project so important that Eleanor Roosevelt was present to cut the ribbon when the community first opened.

The community took it’s name from the land’s prior owner Montgomery Blair, who is famous for a number of reasons, including being postmaster general and for a role as Dred Scott’s counsel.  Blair took ownership of the land from his father and named it after it’s former British grantee: Lord Falkland.  Blair’s Falkland house, located just east of present day Falkland Chase, was burned, though the question of if it was by order or not is still debated, by confederate soldiers under the command of Jubal A Early (who was prominently featured on MDP two days ago)   That home was rebuilt but razed in the mid 20th century to make way for a supermarket.

Today, the Falkland chase community still spans a few different blocks of the town, but one section (here pictured) may be demolished to make way for new apartments and retail, anchored by another grocery store: a project which altogether has the feel, especially when you view the artists renderings, of belonging to northern VA.  Of course, that may very well be what a lot of people want, including some folks who live there now.

The wall of the White’s Ferry store shocked me when I was on my way back from the ferry.  The flood markers on the wall seemed outrageously high.   That the Potomac flooded to around 32 feet in this spot is amazing.   This is a river that, especially in this region, has fairly shallow banks.   So it would take a fair amount of volume and speed to get the water that high.

When I saw those marks, I immediately thought of the flood post in Ellicott City (link here).  The two markers, showing floods on two different rivers, share only one date: 1972.  Undoubtedly, this is the work of Hurricane Agnes.

Most of this picture is in Maryland, though the opposite shore is Virginia.  This is White’s ferry, a service that has been operating since just after the civil war.  Though the shallows of this area of the Potomac had led to people starting a ferry here in the early 1800′s, this ferry service across began when a former confederate soldier took over the old ferry after the war, renaming the service after himself (his last name was White) and renaming the boat after his general.   The ferry is still privately operated and, though they’ve gone through a few boats, the name has remained.

I got a real kick out of these signs posted every 200 feet along this fence, which was located around a  farm 4 miles outside of Poolesville.

The historic centerpiece of Poolesville is the John Poole house, built by the son of the man for whom the town is named.  This building, which dates to the late 1700′s was a general store and a home for the young Poole.

The town of Poolesville is probably most well known for being a civil war Crossroads. At the time it was a relatively large town.  It was also near an area just a few miles west where the Potomac was shallow and where crossings were regular.  It was in the middle of major routes in any direction.

The town was occupied by union garrisons in the early stages of the war. It would see the same later in the war.  However, in mid 1862 the union had left Poolesville.  While they saw some skirmishers in town, the confederate cavalry had little trouble moving through town in  September 1862.    Poolesville became the site where Confederate cavalry grouped before heading north and eventually ending up in Antietam.  Their march from Poolesville served as a screen between the union army to the east and the regular confederates marching to the west.

Shallow points in the Potomac are not too common. These points would be crucial in defining the direction of confederate retreats after both Antietam and Gettysburg.  Lincoln was displeased (I didn’t know him, but that’s the just of what I’ve read about it) with McClellan for not following through and re-engaging the confederates after Antietam.   They moved out of the state and crossed the river without problem.

However, that’s nothing compared to the situation after the confederate retreat from Gettysburg, as the river could have been a major factor if Meade had chosen to chase after Lee.  Though they had nobody following after them, the confederates sat and waited on the Maryland riverbanks becasue even at the shallows the water was too high to cross, forcing the army to stay in enemy territory.