The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1897-07-02
Written for the CITIZEN, by Charles
L. Shipley, Pikesville, Md.

Seven miles nOrthW est OF PlkesNllle,
Baltimore County, as the crow flies,
lies Soldiers Delight, a wild and pict-
uresque portion of the county, embrac-
ed within the confines of the Second
ana Fourth Election Districts of the
county, and comprising an area of
about four miles square. The Soldiers
Delight of the present day, however,
Is not the Delight of former years in
regard to area of territory. The old
Soldiers Delight of colonial days be-
gan at the Patapsco, not far from the
present Relay House. Its eastern
boundary was the Old Court Road, ex-
tending from Elkridge Landing across
the county to Joppa, the colonial coun-
ty seat.
This road, which still follows its
original bed, crosses the Reisterstown
Turnpike at the Seven Mile House,
one mile south of Pikesville, aud the
York Turnpike at Towson, and is one
of the oldest III the State, if not the
oldest in the whole country. The citi-
zens of Annapolis used it to 60 to Jop-
pa and Philadelphia long before Balti-
more was in existence, and ii was for
merly the old Indian trail from the Sus-
ouehannah to the Potomac at Piscata-
way. At or about the Resterstown
Turnpike, Soldiers Delight Hundred
met Back River Upper Hundred. The
dividing line between these two dis
tricts ran northwest through the sites
Of Taneytown and Westminster, Car
rol County, to the Pennsylvania line,
all of Baltimore County southwest of
that line falling to Soldiers Delight.
This Old Hundred now comprising
an area of fourteen square miles, this
(about the year l670), included what
is now Lisbon District in Howard
County, with parts of what at one
time was termed "CarrOlPs Big |
2 Woods" the Second and Fourth Dis
riots of Baltimore County; the Free
hrom, Franklin, WOolery and New |
NVindsor Districts of Carroll County; |
and the Liberty and other districts of |
what is now Frederick County west |
to the Blue Ridge, comprising an area
of land twenty miles wide by forty in
length, and including the plateau of
Westminster, the Pipe Creek and Mid
dletown Valleys, and the rich bottom
lands of North Branch
The surface portion of the Delight of
the Assent day is peculiar in Its lorna
tion. The bed the tract Is composed
cfHreat waves Of serpentine rock, ira
versed at frequent intervals by square
and diagonal fractures which gives to
its billy and weatherbeaten surface,
the appearance of gaping wounds in
parched skin or integument. Here |
and there the monotony of the scene |
Is relieved by patch of the glistening |
ivy bush, or group of stunted oaks or
"black jacks"
HOW THE TRACT WAS NAMED.
Concerning the origin of the name
of this interesting tract, and the time
1t was applied, calls for several differ
ent versions, and as we cannot say !
which is the true account, the writer
Is left to draw his or her own conclu-
sions. In the year 1886, or seven |
years after the formation of Baltimore |
County, the Susquehannah Indians,
a fierce and warlike tribe, then inhab- |
iting that portion of the county that
bordered on Pennsylvania, were on the |
warpath and broke in upon the settlers |
around the headwaters ofthe Gunpow-
der and Patapsco, and with the fire.
brand and tomahawk carried death |
and destruction far and near For !
fourteen years this warfare, of desul- |
tory character, continued, but withal
t.n SNf
tail Of troops to constantly patrol the
tending from the Patapsco through Sol
diers' Delight, crossing two miles be-
low Owing's Mills and extending
Spring Valley, and from that on
through to the site of what was after
wards the town of Joppa.
The soldiers in patrOlng their beat
frequently lost their way In that part
of the country now called the DE
light" and named the section in irony,
saying that it was delightful country
to get lost in, being full of pitfalls and
treacherous ravines, and it would
some times take them several days to
find their way out. The garrison |
house where these troops were stationed |
was erected on the estate now belong |
ing to Mr.. Charles J. Moore, two miles
northeast of Pikesville. Though |
erected in 1892, the old block house is |
still in good state of preservation.
1t was the erection of this fort, which |
was one of three authorized by the
Maryland Colonial Assembly of over
two hundred years ago. that gave the
name of Garrison Forest" to large
tract of land adjacent TO it. AT the
time of which we write it was under
the command of Captain John Gutter,
or OLDHAM, and who also owned the |
large tract of land on which it was
erected, and from which the farms of |
"Garrison,n Fort Garrison" and
"DunbartOn," owned respectively by |
Messrs. Charles f. Cockey, Charles j.
Moore and John Waters were carved.
Again, the second version il, that /
early In the days of the county, party |
of soldiers and settlers, who had pen
etrated into the wilderness of what is |
now Carroll and Frederick Counties, |
were so harassed by the lurking and
savage Indian foe, that they were COM
PEELED to fall back, and upon reaching |
this section of the country, where they
were safe from their red-skinned ene-
mics, they halted for rest aud to reor-
ganize their demoralized forces tefore
proceeding back to the settlements,
and before leaving. being 80 well
pleased with its situation and aspect,
they termed the tract "Soldiers' De
light" Be it as it may, the tract has
held this name for over two hundred
years.