E m m i t s b u r g  B o w l i n g  L a n e s Emmitsburg Recreation Center, which once contained the Emmitsburg Lanes bowling alleys, was located across an alley from the existing laundromat on West Main Street and was in operation from the 1940s until 1965.…

Richard D. L. Fulton Residents of the Emmitsburg area were probably not shocked at reading the news regarding the great blizzard of March 1-2, 1914, that “Emmitsburg was in the midst of the severest portion of the storm…” But, in fact, the destruction was ultimately countywide, so much so, that the March 3 The (Frederick)…

The Mountain Seaside by James Rada, Jr. It was supposed to be a Maryland seashore on a mountaintop. In 1889, the Buena Vista Ice Company bought 400 acres of land where Fort Ritchie would eventually be built, and set aside 20 acres for a lake. “The business had counterparts on the East Coast below the…

by James Rada, Jr. The Year Catoctin Mountain Burned During 1920, Catoctin Mountain was plagued by fires that burned thousands of acres across both the eastern and western sides of the mountain. The first fires started at the end of March. “It is said that the flames started along the Jefferson road and attracted very…

James Rada, Jr. The Year was 1969 Students at both Thurmont High and Emmitsburg High left school at the end of the day on Friday, February 7, 1969. However, when they boarded their school buses or walked to school the following Monday, February 10, they wound up at Catoctin High School. Students from the two…

2by James Rada, Jr. Note: This is the second of three articles about the wreck of the Blue Mountain Express between Thurmont and Sabillasville in 1915. On June 25, 1915, the Blue Mountain Express, bound for Hagerstown, crashed head-on with a mail train traveling east from Hagerstown, crumpling the two engines and sending a baggage…