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Burkittsville is a well
preserved, virtually unchanged example of an American townscape
of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, when the town was a
service center for the rural area around it. Churches, houses,
and trade establishments strung along Main Street were bordered
at the rear by fields surrounding the town. The mountains rose
to the west. To this day, the town retains those early visual
characteristics. Main Street’s buildings still are bordered by
fields of crops and dairy farms, although there are no longer
any commercial establishments in the town.
In 1810, Henry Burkett (or Burkitt, as it was later spelled)
bought a part of the “Merryland Tract” that had been granted to
the family of Governor Thomas S. Lee before the Revolutionary
War. Then Joshua Harley settled on land adjoining Burkitt’s
farm. Soon, a village grew on parts of the Burkitt and Harley
properties at the intersection of two well traveled roads.
Joshua Harley opened a store about 1820 and in 1824 became the
first postmaster of the village, which at that time was called
Harley’s Post Office. In 1829, Henry Burkitt commissioned a
survey of his land and platted what was to become the town that
bears his name. From then until the Civil War the village
flourished, with many of the trades of the times being housed in
the structures that were built.
Burkittsville became closely involved with the Civil War on
September 13 and 14, 1862, when forces of the Union and
Confederate armies engaged in the Battle of Crampton’s Gap, a
bloody prelude to the Battle of Antietam. The town’s inhabitants
fled for safety to nearby villages.
Noted Maryland author George Alfred Townsend came to live in
the Burkittsville area in 1865. Eleven years later, he was
instrumental in the creation of the War Correspondents Arch, a
memorial to the newspapermen of the Civil War. The memorial
stands at Crampton’s Gap in Gathland State Park about a mile
from Burkittsville.
Today, many of Burkittsville’s residents commute to jobs in
the nearby metropolitan areas, but the town maintains a strong
sense of community through its many services, social activities,
special events, and town meetings.
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