Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1911-09-13
GORMAN AND GORMAN|A
Two Towns In The Fastnesses Of
The Allegany Mountains
NAMED FOR LATE SENATOR
Cultivated Lands Knobs and Ridges
Great Plains in The LordIy Noun
tains And Everlasting Hills
(Contributed.)

German and Gormania are twin
towns in the Businesses of the Allie.
gany mountains. The Potomac sepa.
rates the towns, the counties of
Grant and Garrett, and the states of
Maryland and West Virginia. German
is in Maryland and Gormania in West
Virginia. German has about a hun
dred inhabitants and Gormania three
hundred. The advantages that Cor
man has over Gormania~are that the
railroad station of the Western Mary
land road, once known as the West
Virginia Central, and the Grist Mill
of the section are in it, while Gorma-
MAS industrial and business superior
tiles consist in the postofice, na-
tional bank, four stores and a large
leather tanning factory Besides, it
has a school house and three churches,
respectively of the Presbyterian,
Methodist and Catholic denominations
and shoemaker's shop and three
hotels.
Both German and Gormania were
named after the the late Senator Ar
thur p. German, of Maryland. This
nomenclature is in keeping with the
policy of the West Virginia Central
in selecting titles for its stations.
Casting aside the old rule of naming
them after localities or residents of
the several sections, in which they
are located, the stations on this road
were designated by the names of
public men in active political life
when the road was built. Amongst
its stations in this locality and it's
vicinity are: Barnum, after Senator
VIM. II. Barnum, Democratic Sen
ator from Connecticut; Shaw, Mr..
Alex. Shaw, of Baltimore; Blaine,
Harrison, Wilson, Douglas, Bayard
and Hendricks.
A bridge over the Potomac connects
German and Gormania, and, nesting
amongst these high hills, there are no
levels. of any moment, in either place,
and thus the streets and houses rise
in beautiful terraces on the precipi-
tous slopes of the mountains. The
houses are of good size, newly built
or painted, and the town, besides it's
picturesqueness, has the appearance
of enjoying a solid prosperity. Indeed,
its general air is that of a place that
had either just been born or is deter
mined to keep every house in it clean,
painted and in full repair.
Though apparently, with so many
high SUBMITS about and above them,
down in the valley, they are 2,319 feet
above sea level, and just beyond the
towns on the Maryland side, so me six
miles distant, is the backbone of the
Alleganies, where one point rises to
the height of $500 feet.
There are several prominent domes
in this region that give fine views of
the surrounding county-Table Rock,
Conoway's Hill and Bald Rock. In
the three days visit that l paid to
German, the guest in one of it's hos
trips to two of these-Table and
Bald Rocks, and passed under the
shadow of Conoway's Hill. Table
Rock lies directly alongside of the
public road (the old National Pike,
from German to the "Redhouse. "
1t is about 3,100 feet above sea level.
The landscape from this point is
semi-circular, disclosing the scenery
from the northeastern and southwest
ern views, the utmost point of the
horizon encompasses a distance of fif-
teen or twenty miles. Great mountain
heights rise on the northwestern
cloudlines and between lie beautiful
fields, wooded ridges and farm houses.
The scene discloses more lands in
this section under cultivation thar
which remain in woods and forest.
Bald Knob, known on the map as
the Heights of the Alleganies, is
9,1S7 feet high. 1t is at the end OF
a 200-foot ridge of sandstone rock,
six or seven miles north of German
Here the great boulder lies, bald anC
bare, not even lichen being able t.
find sustenance enough to keep it alive
on its exposed face. In a sea of rocks
on every hand, this high knob rises
above them all, and but for the clos
proximity of a few trees, woult
present a landscape visible at ever,
point of the compass. From tn,
northwest and southwest the viev
from either rim of the periphery t
the other comprises a distance o
thirty-five miles.
Continued