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From Little Savage Mountain


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On page 51 of Robert Bruce's The National Road (1916) is a picture captioned "Looking down the western slope of Little Savage Mountain, across Red Bridge to Meadow Mountain (in the extreme distance)". The text adds "On the right, immediately beyond Little Savage, is the farm of Thomas Johnson, a descendant of the first state governor of Maryland; his house is at the fifteenth mile-post west of Cumberland or the fourth beyond Frostburg. Nearly opposite, but a trifle farther west, are Mr. Johnson's spacious barns".

 

In 1950, when George Stewart took his picture of the same spot, which appears as no. 15 in U.S. 40, the scene had by his own admission changed very little. "It shows no change in the alignment of the road at all, and very few changes of any kind. Even the fence in the foreground with its out-of-line posts and old sagging wire is apparently the same", though he might have noted that the telephone poles had been relocated to the other side of the road. Stewart states that "At present the farm, like so many in the eastern countryside, has a city owner. It is given over to stock-raising, chiefly to horses."

 

Thirty years later Thomas and Geraldine Vale found this spot criss-crossed and split up with highways, as it is today. They noted the already deteriorating condition of the house but observed that "the strips of corn and fallow on the hillslope, carefully arranged on the contour, indicate that the farm is not abandoned, although it certainly is not 'given over to stock-raising, chiefly horses', as it was in Stewart's time".

 

It may be that the occupants of the house at the time the Vales passed through was the same in the picture of this house in 1970 that Steve Colby shows on his web site http://www.cumberlandroadproject.com/maryland/garrett/garrett-photo-pages/big-savage-mtn-photos1.html

 

Steve identifies this house as "tenant house B, Chase farm". Where did that information come from, Steve?

 

This is one property I wish could be preserved somehow, but given its present condition I fear that is too late. I would be interested to know the history of this farm, who owned it when, and when did it change hands, and when was it abandoned for good. The connection with the first governor of Maryland gives this property some historic interest.

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On page 51 of Robert Bruce's The National Road (1916) is a picture captioned "Looking down the western slope of Little Savage Mountain, across Red Bridge to Meadow Mountain (in the extreme distance)". The text adds "On the right, immediately beyond Little Savage, is the farm of Thomas Johnson, a descendant of the first state governor of Maryland; his house is at the fifteenth mile-post west of Cumberland or the fourth beyond Frostburg. Nearly opposite, but a trifle farther west, are Mr. Johnson's spacious barns".

 

In 1950, when George Stewart took his picture of the same spot, which appears as no. 15 in U.S. 40, the scene had by his own admission changed very little. "It shows no change in the alignment of the road at all, and very few changes of any kind. Even the fence in the foreground with its out-of-line posts and old sagging wire is apparently the same", though he might have noted that the telephone poles had been relocated to the other side of the road. Stewart states that "At present the farm, like so many in the eastern countryside, has a city owner. It is given over to stock-raising, chiefly to horses."

 

Thirty years later Thomas and Geraldine Vale found this spot criss-crossed and split up with highways, as it is today. They noted the already deteriorating condition of the house but observed that "the strips of corn and fallow on the hillslope, carefully arranged on the contour, indicate that the farm is not abandoned, although it certainly is not 'given over to stock-raising, chiefly horses', as it was in Stewart's time".

 

It may be that the occupants of the house at the time the Vales passed through was the same in the picture of this house in 1970 that Steve Colby shows on his web site http://www.cumberlandroadproject.com/maryland/garrett/garrett-photo-pages/big-savage-mtn-photos1.html

 

Steve identifies this house as "tenant house B, Chase farm". Where did that information come from, Steve?

 

This is one property I wish could be preserved somehow, but given its present condition I fear that is too late. I would be interested to know the history of this farm, who owned it when, and when did it change hands, and when was it abandoned for good. The connection with the first governor of Maryland gives this property some historic interest.

 

Mark,

The caption is from the back of a B&W photo from the Angela & Albert Feldstein Collection. Al has produced a number of Postcard Histories of Allegany and Garrett Counties. The information was also confirmed by Bob Lemmert, a former resident of the area. Apparently, the Race family owned the surrounding property.

I'll see if I can dig up some more info.

 

Steve

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