Maryland Daily PhotoEvery Week Day a New Picture from MD

As part of MDP’s continuing efforts to photograph its way up and down the C&O canal, here is what’s left of lock 33 and it’s keeper’s house, located just north of the bridge to Harper’s Ferry.

This outrigging belongs to the previously pictured railroad bridge between Harper’s Ferry and MD.  I am a fan of the picutre becasue it shows the masss of wires that used to be needed for communication across the river at key points.  I’m also interested becasue there are no more insulators on that post.   Typically those little posts would all have a glass insulator sitting on top of them.  The wires would then wrap around the insulator, preventing their contact with each other and with the support structure.    You see a lot of these insulators for sale in antique shops and other places.   So when I see this I have to wonder if some collector made his way out there to pluck the insulators off of each of those posts so that they could earn themselves a dollar or two a piece.

From the tunnel through the Maryland Heights cliffs, this bridge and it’s sister to the north pass into harper’s ferry.  You can actually walk along this bridge next to the tracks as it crosses the Potomac. 

How can I get away with this picture?  Am I in West Virginia? 

I can get away with this becacuse,from shore to shore, the Potomoac (excluding the part of the river flowing through DC) is considered part of the state of Maryland.   With it, this bridge is in Maryland.  

This is Strong Mansion, which is located on Sugarloaf Mountain.  The house, like the town of Stronghold at the foot of the mountain, was named after Gordon Strong who owned the mountain at the begining of the 20th century.  It seems odd for one person to own a mountain, but it is somewhat common.   (While not owned by a person, the summit of Backbone Mountain, the highest point in MD is owned by a coal company.)  

In October, people flock to the countryside to pick up pumpkins from the patch.   It’s a time when people remember how much of the state is actually occupied by farmland, either for cows, crops or horses.   This isn’t a pumpkin farm, but it’s a nice picture.  I especially like the cows lying down in the top left, a sign of poor weather to come. 

Congratulations to Bryan for correctly guessing yesterday’s steeple location.   I was considering finishing out the week with a number of different, “guess the steeple” posts, but I had second thoughts.

Today’s post is going of in a completely different direction, far north-west of College Park.  This is Cunningham Falls state park, a 5,000 acre park situated in the Catoctin mountains.   While the Catoctin National Park to the north of Cunningham Falls gets much of the fame and the spotlight as it is the home of Camp David, is neighbor offers some excellent sites as well as a glimpse into the area’s past.  You can hike to the falls themselves, climb to the top of the mountain range, or visit the only remaining iron furnace in the area.   Obviously, mdp has done few of these things.   So what we have to offer you is this appealing and welcoming sign. 

This is the view from the summit of Sugarloaf Mountain – 1282 feet.  The hike up to the top gets quite steep, but the trail has been improved to include some steps and even railings at some points.  From this summit you can see the Monocacy Valley stretching out beneath the mountain. 

During the Cival War, the Confederate and Union troops both at times used the view from this summit as a lookout for advancing troops through the Monocacy valley.