The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1951-11-08


l believe is well worth repeating.
So here it is:
Smithsburg was founded in 1913
-131 years ago-by man named
Smith. Besides the founder, names
familiar in Smithsburg history are:
Bishop, Towson, Lyday, Bachtell,
Kimler, Oswald, Hollingsworth, Sim
mers, Vogel, Spielman, Delisoer,
Sigler, Pike, Hildebrand, Brown,
Gardenhour, Lechler, Beard, Bing-
ham, Gehr, Pierson, Barkdoll, Bur
gesser, Myers, West, Long veteran
shoemaker), Diffendal, Foltz, Fogler,
Fessler, Unger, Ferguson, Riddle
moser, Richardson, Rohrer, Adams,
Hoover, Flory, Shank, Slick, Hites-
chew, Norford, Martin, Reynolds,
Robinson and Ridenour.
Lucius j. Bremen was a merchant
of Smithsburg for many years, con-
Quoting store on the public square.
L. J. Bell had a drug and accessory
store on Water Street and was also
a minister of the Lutheran denomi-
nation. Dr. E. Tracy Bishop and his
father were we'll known physicians
The Wishard Hotel is an old land
mark on the corner of the square.
The old Bell house IS still stand
ing, it was built 1872 years ago-be
fore the Incorporation of the town.
The house contains IA large rooms
and three halls. A skirmish took
place on the elevation now occupied
by the Nicodemus orchards, at the
time of the Civil War and the Bell
house was used as a hospital. When
two soldiers, one a Union and the
other a Confederate, were wounded
in the fight, they were taken care
of there and when they died were
buried in the graveyard of the Lu-
theran Church.
In the east end of the Forest home
on the same street, several houses
east, shell can be seen today en-
bedded in the wall. Surrounding
Smithsburg are orchards of peaches,
apples, ETC., and grown in mountain
soil they are considered of excellent
quality. A number of orchardists
live in Smithsburg, but are general
ly busy in their orchards, cultivating,
pruning, fertilizing and spraying the
trees, for the most perfect fruit.
One of the first houses in Smiths
burg is the roughcast dwelling on
the southeast corner as you turn
from Water Street to 60 to Ringgold
and Waynesboro. The present Ii
brary was the George Long home
years ago and at one time the build
ing was used as the town lookup. 1t
is of course an old landmark.
The Western Maryland Railway
passes through the town, as we'll as
the Hagerstown to Waynesboro high
way. A bus line is maintained be-
tween Hagerstown and Smithsburg,
and Hagerstown and Waynesboro.
Now for some legendary lore as
it was told to us on a visit to Smiths
burg:
There is a section not far from
Smithsburg, known as Bull Tail
Valley" How did it get its name?
we inquired. An old resident said
that one time bull was killed by
some one (black market maybe) and
hid in a stone fence for secrecy as
the bull did not belong to him. But
when the man hid the bull in the
stone fence, he carelessly let its tail
hang out to view. In this way the
stolen bull was discovered. Hence
Bull Tail Valley to this day
In the mountain above Smiths
burg is high peak known as ''Buz-
Yards Knob" getting its name from
the fact that it was a favorite place
for buzzards to roost. Living in the
Smithsburg neighborhood Cat least
frequent visitor to Smithsburg)
was Bill Wilmer He was a man
who seemed to have a great way with
snakes, frequently bringing them
to Hagerstown, carried in his bosom.
Well, this story concerns the mode
of capture of the snakes by Wilmer.
On one occasion he took with him
George Garnand and Dwight Dut-
row on snake hunting expedition
to Calico Rock. Mr.. Garnand tells
it this way: Wilmer, after peering
around into the crevaces of the rocks,
said there's a fine one" No soon
er said, than Wilmer had it looped
around with a string. There's an
other one," he said and soon had the
other one looped up. AS Wilmer
caught one snake he handed it to
Garnand to hold. The same process
was followed with Dutrow. Gar
.E