Oldtown, Maryland is a short ninety-minute drive from my hometown of Leesburg, Va. Oldtown, whose population is currently eighty-six, yes, eighty-six, is a very interesting place with a more interesting history.
Here is some background.
In September 1784, one year after the successful conclusion of the American Revolutionary War, George Washington, now fifty-two years old, wrote in his diary, “Having found it indispensably necessary to visit my Landed property West of the Apalachean Mountains…Having determined upon a tour into that country, and having made necessary preparations for it, I did, on the first day of this Month (September) set out on my journey.”
(The details of that journey are beautifully described by Joel Achenbach in his book “The Grand Idea” which is highly recommended for your summer reading and from which I derive significant parts of this article).
Washington continues, that the expedition consisted of “3 Servants and 6 horses, three of which carried my baggage.” He was also accompanied by his close friend Doctor James Craik. On September 2nd, they arrived in “Leesburgh” and dined at Thomas Roper’s Tavern. Washington also made some last-minute purchases in Leesburg, buying a horse-bell and a frying pan.
Washington further revealed in his diary, that besides checking on tenants, collecting rents and expelling squatters, “…one object of my journey being to obtain information of the nearest and best communication between the Eastern and Western Waters; and to facilitate as much as in me lay the Inland Navigation of the Potomack.” The project to make the Potomac River navigable was Washington’s dream and the following year in 1785 he founded the Potomac Company in an attempt to make that dream come true. For more on the Potomac Company check out the article “The Potomac Company and the Great Falls Canal,” on my website www.PotomacRocks.com.
The General continued on his journey stopping at Bath Virginia (Berkely Springs) on September 5th. The following day, he met inventor and inn keeper James Rumsey who showed him his model of a boat which could travel upstream via mechanical means using poles. He was very impressed and gave Mr. Rumsey a signed paper certifying he approved of the invention. Washington’s excitement about Rumsey’s invention is understandable. Remember, the General was committed to making the Potomac River navigable and Rumsey’s invention might solve the problem of upstream navigation.
A few years later Mr. Rumsey added a steam engine to his boat which, similar to a modern jet ski, sprayed a stream of water out its stern pushing it forward and so, the steamboat was born.
Washington had such confidence in Rumsey that in 1785 he was appointed the superintendent of the Potomac Company.
Getting back to the General’s diary, on September 8th, he and his entourage arrived at “the old Town” and “lodged at Colo Cresaps.”
“The old Town” was settled for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans. Between 1711 and 1727 the Shawnees called it after their king, King Opessa’s Town. When the Europeans did arrive, it was changed to Shawnee-Oldtown but they brought disease which devastated the native people and, as a result, the survivors fled over the mountains. Soon it was simply known as Oldtown.
It is located at a convenient place to ford the North Fork of the Potomac River and even today, one could easily drive an SUV across the river, leaving Maryland and entering West Virginia. Of course, there is no need to do that as one of the last privately-owned toll bridges in America provides easy access to West Virginia for only $1.50. More on this toll bridge later in this article.
“Colo Cresap” is Thomas Cresap who in 1784 was pretty much the only resident of Oldtown. Washington was familiar with this ornery critter, now blind and in his eighties, from previous forays out west. Cresap’s trading post provided any provisions one might need, and even Indian tribes traded furs there for ammunition and guns.
As Joel Achenbach writes: “Cresap was a prototypical frontiersman, a hustler, incapable of fear, foul-mouthed, mean as a rattlesnake. That’s one of the things that people called him: ‘Rattlesnake Colonel.’ Also, ‘a vile rascal’ and ‘the Maryland Monster.’”
Seemingly, he was personally responsible for the 1730 border war between Pennsylvania and Maryland, so much so, that the history books call it: “Cresap’s War.” Captured by Pennsylvania forces, he was held as a prisoner of war in a Philadelphia jail where he reportedly annoyed jailers by declaring loudly and often, that Philadelphia was one of the prettiest towns in Maryland. He was soon let go.
It may be difficult to imagine General George Washington spending the evening around a campfire with “the Maryland Monster,” but they had much in common. They were both land holders and original explorers of this wilderness. They were both tough men who were undaunted by bad weather, bad food, dangerous Indians and desperate white men and they had both forged paths through this country when it was quite wild. Washington does not record his conversation with Cresap in his diary, but it was probably about their common past and their visions of the future.
The reason I journeyed to Oldtown this week with my friend and fellow explorer Jon Wolz was to photograph the junction between the North and South Fork of the Potomac River, which is just two miles, or so, downriver from Oldtown. This never happened for reasons too hilarious to reveal here and those photos will have to await a second expedition later this month.
But we did discover the neat toll bridge mentioned earlier in this article. Built in 1937 and now owned by a local lady, Lori Roberts, the single-lane, 318-foot bridge services about 350 vehicles a day. The bridge is a “low water” bridge which means it is designed to allow flood waters to flow over its deck. It is supported by a dozen concrete pedestals which support rails over which wooden slats are placed creating quite a racket when passing over. Take a look at the video I have included.
There is also a museum in Oldtown highlighting the Cresap family, in particular, Thomas Cresap’s son Michael Cresap. Unfortunately, this was closed when we arrived and will also have to await our next expedition later this month.
There is much more to see in Oldtown, but I will wait until my next installment to detail it for you.
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