The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1931-09-24

~
were carried over the mountains to
the Potomac, in the neighborhood of
Cumberland, and fioated downstream
on RATS. Nearly a century before
the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal was
completed, there was a canal around
Great Falls, a few miles above what
is now Washington, and the massive
masonry is still in place and may be
seen today.
Beyond Cumberland much of what
became known as Braddock's Road,
was previously known as Nemacolin's
Path. Nemacolin was an Indian hired
! by Colonel Cresap to cut path over
the mountains suitable for pack an
imals and foot travellers. In places
this path is now the National Road.
In 1888, it was decided to route the
National Pike through The Narrows,
by way of North Mechanic street.
The old road over the hills was aban-
doned for many years, but is now be-
ing used again. You can take your
choice.
Of course, it may be that you have
no desire to go over the mountain.
What is one mountain more or less
when there are dozens of them :?
And it is entirely possible that an
cient trails, Braddocks' or Washing
toms or Oliver Martins, have no par
ticular interest for you. Besides, you
may want to see The Narrows. You
should. If you go over the mountain
on the way westward, be sure to go
through The Narows on the way back.
That's what we did.
You'll probably wonder why Brad
dock (and the U. S. engineers after
him) chose to build road over hill
when they didn't need to. For here's
perfectly good pass, although a bit
narrow. Still it is wide enough for
the road, plus couple of railroad
tracks and the creek, although they
have to jockey for position at times.
The road here passes though a
high, rocky gorge, part of which is
800 feet above the stream. l could use
up lot of fancy language in describ-
ing the wild beauty of this pass to
you, but it wouldn't be quite fair.
There's nothing that l can tell you
about it that you cannot see for your
self.
Emerging from the pass, you con-
tinue in a level valley and through a
village called LaVale, which may be
French for "the valley" and along
side a small steam called Braddock's
Run. (That man certainly did sue
coed in smearing his name all over
Western MarylandD
Where the two branches of the
road come together there was tav-
ern in ancient days called Gwynne's,
and later one called the Six Mile
House. Although the later one was
destroyed by fire 20 years ago I heard
a small boy in Frostburg refer to the
fork of the road by that name only a
few months ago.
At this point there is a road that
goes south to Cresaptown, Nd, and
Keyser, w. Va. This road is older
than the National Road.
After leaving the tavern site the
long climb starts which will take you
over Big Savage Mountain and Little
Savage Mountain. I wonder if they
were named for the father and son of
an Indian family. Big Savage is $3.50
feet high and Little Savage is 120
feet shorter than the papa. But be-
fore passing over either you pass
through Clarysville, Ecbart and
Frostburg and you pass out Of Allie
gany county and into Garrett county.
If it wasn't for the big hotel, once
a roadside tavern, you would probably
pass through Clarysville without
knowing it. 1t is interesting to note
how large these old taverns were and
how we'll preserved they are. Many
of them are doing business as mod
ern hotels.
When the stagecoach and wagon
traffic declined after the building of
the railroads, the taverns hung on and
were sustained by farmers who stop
ped over night while hauling goods
to the nearest railroad town. When
the automobile truck came it enabled
the farmer to get back home the same
day. But the automobile tourist ar
rived on the scene about the same
time and gave the taverns enough
business to justify them in keeping
up the sign. Evidence of this change
in the type of customer may be seen
on one hotel along the way. 1t was
originally tavern catering to wag-
oners. Later it appeared as the Far
mer's Hotel, as you can see by a
nearly obliterated sign. 1t is now an
inn, with some fancy modern name
catering to tourists.
Clarysville is just little village