Editing Darnestown, Maryland (section)

==History==
[[Image:Poolesville-Darnestown-Rockville MD 1841.png|thumb|right|Darnestown area of Montgomery County in 1841, close to Rockville and the [[Chesapeake and Ohio Canal|C&O Canal]]|alt=1841 map of Darnestown and surrounding area]][[Image:Darnestown_area_1865.png|thumb|right|Darnestown area in 1865, including Offutts (Black Rock) Mill, Presbyterian Church, Alex. Darne farm, Magruder farm, Seneca, and the C&O Canal|alt=old map of Darnestown area]][[Image:Darnestown MD 1878.png|thumb|right|Darnestown village and major portion of Darnestown District in 1878|alt=old map showing Darnestown]]
The first European (mostly [[Scottish people|Scottish]] and [[English people|English]]) settlements in what would become [[Montgomery County, Maryland]], were established in 1688, near [[Rock Creek (Potomac River tributary)|Rock Creek]] and what was to become [[Rockville, Maryland|Rockville]]. The next stage of settlements was further west along the [[Potomac River]] near what is now Darnestown and [[Poolesville, Maryland|Poolesville]].<ref name="Boyd43">{{harvnb|Boyd|1879|p=43}}</ref> The land had been occupied by [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] of the [[Piscataway people|Piscataway Confederation]].<ref name="MCHShistory3">{{harvnb|Montgomery County Historical Society|1999|p=3}}</ref> Ninian Beall was the first European landowner in the Darnestown area, settling around 1749.<ref name="M24-19">{{cite web
|title=Maryland Historical Trust Determination of Eligibility Form - Darnestown Historic District
|website= Maryland Historical Trust
|publisher=Maryland Government
|url=https://mht.maryland.gov/secure/medusa/PDF/Montgomery/M;%2024-19.pdf
|access-date=2020-03-30}}</ref> His daughter Ruth Beall married Charles Gassaway, who built a brick home named Pleasant Hills around 1765. This was one of the first brick homes in what is now Montgomery County, and still stands today.<ref name="CMpresPleasant">{{cite web
|title=Montgomery County Historic Preservation Commission Staff Report - Pleasant Hills
|website= Montgomery Planning
|publisher=Montgomery County Maryland Government
|url=https://montgomeryplanning.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/I.F-14820-Kelley-Farm-Drive-Germantown.pdf
|access-date=2020-08-12}}</ref> Gassaway purchased land from his father-in-law during the late 1700s—including land that would eventually become the Darnestown village. In the last half of the 18th century, a small village grew at the intersection of what is now Darnestown Road ([[Maryland Route 28]]) and Seneca Road ([[Maryland Route 112]]). At that time, Darnestown Road was called "the road from [[Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)|Georgetown]] to the mouth of the [[Monocacy River]]".<ref name="MHT-19-38">{{cite web
|title=Capsule Summary Seneca Creek State Park
|website= Maryland Historical Trust
|publisher=Maryland government
|url=https://mht.maryland.gov/secure/medusa/PDF/Montgomery/M;%2019-38.pdf
|access-date=2020-08-11}}</ref><!--49th page of PDF--> It was a [[Seneca people|Seneca]] Indian [[Great Indian Warpath#Maryland|trail]] and is one of the oldest roads in Montgomery County.<ref name="Curtis76">{{harvnb|Curtis|2020|p=76}}</ref> Seneca Road led from Darnestown to the Seneca Mill and a landing on the Potomac River—a trip of less than {{convert|4|mi|km|spell=in}}.<ref name="MHT-19-38"/><ref name="1841map">{{Cite map |author = Fielding Lucas Jr. |year = 1841|title = Map of the State of Maryland (from Lib. of Congress)|url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3840.ct000793/|location = Baltimore, Maryland|publisher = Fielding Lucas, Jr.|access-date = 2020-08-21}}</ref>
 
Gassaway's daughter Elizabeth married William Darne in 1798. Darne was a civic leader who served in the [[Maryland House of Delegates]], as a judge, and as director of the [[Chesapeake and Ohio Canal]]. He also became one of the area's biggest landowners.<ref name="MC-DSUP">{{cite web
|title=Montgomery County Department of Parks - Facility Plan for Darnestown Square Urban Park
|website= Montgomery County Department of Parks
|publisher=The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission
|url=http://www.montgomeryplanningboard.org/agenda/2007/documents/20070906_Darnestown_opt.pdf
|access-date=2020-08-10}}</ref> The community was called Mount Pleasant until the establishment of a post office around 1803, when it gradually began being called "Darnes" in honor of its leading citizen.<ref name="MHT-24-20">{{cite web
|title=Capsule Summary for the Darne-Purdum Farm
|website= King Farm Dairy Mooseum
|publisher=Maryland government and Maryland Historical Trust
|url=https://map.mooseum.com/sites/default/files/Farm%2054_Boyer.pdf
|access-date=2020-08-11}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|A post office called "Darnes" is listed in an 1803 post office directory.<ref name="USPOp11">{{harvnb|United States Post Office Department|1803|p=11}}</ref> Another post office source uses 1804 as the start date for the Darnes Post Office. (To find United States Post Office start and end dates for Darnestown, go to the Postmaster Finder web site and select Maryland from the drop-down box. Click Search to process.<ref name="USPSpoSearch">{{cite web
|title=Postmaster Finder - Post Offices by State - Maryland Post Offices
|website=United States Post Office
|url=https://webpmt.usps.gov/pmt010.cfm
|access-date=2020-08-10
|archive-date=October 17, 2020
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201017165939/https://webpmt.usps.gov/pmt010.cfm
|url-status=dead
}}</ref>|group=Note}} The Darnes name lasted until the mid–1820s, when the village became known as Darnestown.<ref name="Kenny75">{{harvnb|Kenny|1984|p=75}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|One source says the post office called the village "Darnes" from 1804 until 1824, and then it was called "Darnestown".<ref name="UrbanHistMDPO">{{cite web
|title=Guide to the Checklist of Maryland Post Offices
|website=The Urban Historians
|url=http://www.theurbanhistorians.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Maryland_Post_Offices.pdf
|access-date=2020-08-11
}}{{Dead link|date=January 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> A post office directory for 1816 confirms that the post office called the community Darnes at that time.<ref name="USGWmdPO">{{cite web
|title=Maryland Post Offices 1816
|website= USGenWeb Archives
|url=http://files.usgwarchives.net/md/statewide/history/area/mdpo1816.txt
|access-date=2020-08-11}}</ref> An 1828 post office directory lists a Darnestown Post Office.<ref name="USPO1828p28">{{harvnb|United States Post Office Department|1828|p=28}}</ref>|group=Note}} Darnestown's first store was kept by John Candler, and he is also cited as its first postmaster.<ref name="Scharf761">{{harvnb|Scharf|1882|p=761}}</ref> Leonard W. Candler was the Darnestown postmaster as early as 1828, and he was still listed as such in 1850 when Darnestown was one of 15 post offices in Montgomery County.<ref name="USPO1828p28"/><ref name="USGWmdPO"/><ref name="Tremayne75">{{harvnb|Tremayne|1850|p=75}}</ref> By the 1820s, the community had a wheelwright, mill, blacksmith, physician, and other businesses.<ref name="Scharf761"/><!--<ref name="AcornDarnestownHistory">{{cite web
|title=Darnestown History
|website= Darnestown Civic Association
|url=https://darnestowncivic.org/darnestown-history/
|access-date=2020-12-06}}</ref>-->

Originally, Darnestown area land was used by European settlers for growing tobacco and corn. Construction of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (a.k.a. C&O Canal), which was operating between Georgetown and [[Seneca, Maryland|Seneca]] by June 1832, provided farmers with better access to markets. A network of roads and mills grew to connect farmers with the canal.<ref name="Kelly12">{{harvnb|Kelly|Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission|2011|p=12}}</ref> Mills in the area included the Seneca Mill (circa 1780), Black Rock Mill (built in 1815), and the DuFief Mill (established 1850).<ref name="Kelly12"/><ref name="MHT-19-38"/><!--DuFief spelled his name with a capital F, but the road does not!--> Darne died in 1845, and his farm was eventually given to his son Alexander.<ref name="MHT-24-20"/> By 1860, farmers were growing corn, wheat and oats.<ref name="MCHShistory6-7">{{harvnb|Montgomery County Historical Society|1999|pp=6–7}}</ref> At the beginning of the [[American Civil War]], [[Union Army]] leadership realized that the Potomac River area near Seneca was a possible crossing point for a [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] invasion that could include Washington. The Darnestown area was occupied during 1861 by 18,000 Union troops. About halfway between the canal and Darnestown, Major General [[Nathaniel P. Banks]] kept his headquarters at the Samuel Thomas Magruder farm where the Potomac River could be observed from high ground.<ref name="Kelly216">{{harvnb|Kelly|Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission|2011|p=216}}</ref> Troops from the [[13th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment]] occupied the Pleasant Hills home originally built by the Gassaways.<ref name="Kelly208-209">{{harvnb|Kelly|Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission|2011|pp=208–209}}</ref> After the war, Darnestown continued to be a farming community. An 1879 atlas lists 19 of 22 Darnestown "patrons" as farmers.<ref name="Hopkins28">{{harvnb|Hopkins|1879|p=28}}</ref>

In the 1870s, Darnestown's favorable transportation location suffered two setbacks that would affect future growth. First, freight traffic on the C&O Canal peaked in 1871, starting a downward trend that would end with the canal closing permanently in 1924.<ref name="NPSCONHP">{{cite web
|title=Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park
|website= [[National Park Service]]
|publisher=[[United States Department of the Interior|U.S. Department of the Interior]]
|url=https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/wash/dc6.htm
|access-date=2020-07-07}}</ref> Second, the [[Baltimore and Ohio Railroad]]'s new [[Metropolitan Subdivision|Metropolitan Branch]] opened in 1873 and bypassed Darnestown—running through Rockville, Gaithersburg, and Germantown.<ref name="MontTrains">{{cite web
|title=The Montgomery County Story - Train Stations and Suburban Development Along the Old Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
|website= The Montgomery County Historical Society
|url=http://montgomeryhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Vol37No1_MCStory.pdf
|access-date=2020-08-20}}</ref> These factors limited growth for Darnestown, as nearby communities on the new rail line had "unprecedented facilities" for "personal travel and transportation of productions and supplies".<ref name="Boyd83">{{harvnb|Boyd|1879|p=83}}</ref><!--The community of Gaithersburg, once half the size of the Darnestown village, began a period of growth once the railroad station was established.<ref name="M21-178">{{cite web
|title=Maryland Historical Trust Determination of Eligibility Form - Meem's Addition to Gaithersburg
|website= Maryland Historical Trust
|publisher=Maryland Government
|url=https://mht.maryland.gov/secure/medusa/PDF/Montgomery/M;%2021-178.pdf
|access-date=2020-08-27}}</ref>--> The Darnestown Post Office, which had been operating for over 100 years, was discontinued May 31, 1911.{{#tag:ref|To find United States Post Office start and end dates for Darnestown, go to the Postmaster Finder web site and select Maryland from the drop-down box. Click Search to process.<ref name="USPSpoSearch">{{cite web
|title=Postmaster Finder - Post Offices by State - Maryland Post Offices
|website=United States Post Office
|url=https://webpmt.usps.gov/pmt010.cfm
|access-date=2020-08-10
|archive-date=October 17, 2020
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201017165939/https://webpmt.usps.gov/pmt010.cfm
|url-status=dead
}}</ref>|group=Note}} The region around the Darnestown village did not exceed its 1890 population until after 1940, and the nearby villages of [[North Potomac, Maryland#History|Hunting Hill]], [[Travilah, Maryland|Travilah]], and [[Seneca, Maryland|Seneca]] became essentially ghost towns.{{#tag:ref|The Hunting Hill Post Office closed in 1905, and its only store was converted to a residence in 1929.<ref name="M20-22">{{cite web
|title=Individual Property/District Maryland Historical Trust Internal NR-eligibility Review Form - Hunting Hill Store and P.O.
|website= Maryland Historical Trust
|publisher=Maryland Government
|url=https://mht.maryland.gov/secure/medusa/PDF/Montgomery/M;%2020-22.pdf
|access-date=2020-08-27}}</ref> The Seneca school closed in 1910.<ref name="Buglass2">{{harvnb|Buglass|2015|p=2}}</ref> In 1918, the Travilah Hall Company defaulted on its mortgage for the community's town hall.<ref name="M25-10-1">{{cite web
|title=Maryland Historical Trust Inventory form for State Historic Sties Survey - Travilah Hall
|website= Maryland Historical Trust
|publisher=Maryland Government
|url=https://mht.maryland.gov/secure/medusa/PDF/Montgomery/M;%2025-10-1.pdf
|access-date=2020-08-27}}</ref>|group=Note}} Darnestown grew very little until the 1960s, when wealthy families began buying farmland for living quarters and horseback riding. From 1970 to 1976, the population along Maryland Route 28 from Rockville to Darnestown nearly tripled.<ref name="WPostRoute28">{{cite news
|title=Route 28: Road from the Rural Past to the Urban Present
|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1977/07/21/route-28-road-from-the-rural-past-to-the-urban-present/a8b28fa9-a648-4eb8-8ec9-2ded577d809e/
|access-date=2020-08-28
|newspaper=Washington Post
|date=1977-07-21
|last1=Sableman
|first1=Mark}}</ref>

===Historic places===
[[Image:Darnestown Presbyterian Church old part.jpg|thumb|right|[[Darnestown Presbyterian Church]], constructed in 1858, as it appears in 2020|alt=old white church]][[Image:Black Rock Mill entrance.jpg|thumb|right|Black Rock Mill, constructed in 1815 and still standing in 2020|alt=old stone mill without roof]][[Image:Lock 24 Rileys Lock with Lockhouse .jpg|thumb|right|C&O Canal Lock 24 with Riley's Lockhouse in 2016|alt=canal lock and old house]]
The cornerstone for the [[Darnestown Presbyterian Church]] was laid on September 14, 1856 by a congregation organized in 1855. John L. DuFief, a community leader and owner of the DuFief Mill, donated {{convert|3|acres}} of land for the church. The completed structure was dedicated on May 22, 1858.<ref name="Kelly218">{{harvnb|Kelly|Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission|2011|p=218}}</ref> The building was expanded in the late 1890s, and a bell tower was added at that time. Stained glass windows were installed in 1905, and a rear wing was added in the 1950s. The church's cemetery contains the graves of some of the area's early settlers, including members of the Darne, [[Travilah, Maryland#History|Clagett]],<!--both spellings are used: Claggett & Clagett--> [[Potomac, Maryland#History|Offutt]] and [[Kentlands, Gaithersburg, Maryland#History|Tschiffely]] families; Chesapeake and Ohio Canal lock keepers [[Pennyfield Lock|Pennifield]], [[Violette's Lock|Violette]], and [[Riley's Lock|Riley]]; and philanthropist Andrew Small.<ref name="Scharf761-762">{{harvnb|Scharf|1882|pp=761–762}}</ref><ref name="Kelly218"/>  Small's donation of $40,000 ({{Inflation|US|40000|1868|fmt=eq}}) became the Andrew Small Academy, and its building was said to be the largest school house in the country at the time of its construction in 1869.<ref name="Scharf762">{{harvnb|Scharf|1882|p=762}}</ref> The three-story building became a public high school in 1907, and was demolished in 1955 when the present-day Darnestown Elementary School was built.<ref name="MHTSmall">{{cite web
|title=Capsule Summary for Andrew Small Academy Site
|website= Maryland Historical Trust
|url=https://mht.maryland.gov/secure/medusa/PDF/Montgomery/M;%2024-18.pdf
|access-date=2020-07-26}}</ref>

Additional historic places include Black Rock Mill, located in [[Seneca Creek State Park]].<ref name="Curtis75">{{harvnb|Curtis|2020|p=75}}</ref><ref name="SenecaCreekSP">{{cite web
|title=Seneca Creek State Park - Trail System and Maps
|website= Maryland Park Service
|publisher=Maryland Department of Natural Resources
|url=https://mht.maryland.gov/secure/medusa/PDF/Montgomery/M;%2024-5.pdf
|access-date=2020-05-16}}</ref> The mill began operating in 1815, was run by Nicholas Offutt (a grandson of Ninian Beall) from 1866 until 1891, and continued operating into the 20th century.<ref name="MHTBRMill">{{cite web
|title=Addendum - Black Rock Mill
|website= Maryland Historical Trust
|publisher=Maryland Government
|url=https://mht.maryland.gov/secure/medusa/PDF/Montgomery/M;%2024-6.pdf
|access-date=2020-05-16}}</ref><ref name="MHTBRMillHouse">{{cite web
|title=Capsule Summary for Black Rock Miller's House
|website= Maryland Historical Trust
|publisher=Maryland Government
|url=https://mht.maryland.gov/secure/medusa/PDF/Montgomery/M;%2024-5.pdf
|access-date=2020-05-09}}</ref> The Samuel Thomas Magruder farmhouse, now privately owned, was headquarters for Major General Nathaniel P. Banks in 1861 during the American Civil War.<ref name="WPostMagruder">{{cite news
|title=Maryland Farm has a Notable, and Notorious, History
|publisher=Katharine Weymouth
|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/where-we-live/wp/2018/02/16/maryland-farm-has-a-notable-and-notorious-history/
|access-date=2018-02-16
|newspaper=Washington Post
|date=2013-02-08
|last1=Orton
|first1=Kathy}}</ref><ref name="M24-29">{{cite web
|title=Capsule Summary for Samuel Thomas Magruder Farm
|website= Maryland Historical Trust
|publisher=Maryland Government
|url=https://mht.maryland.gov/secure/medusa/PDF/Montgomery/M;%2024-29.pdf
|access-date=2020-04-06}}</ref><ref name="Kelly216"/> After Magruder and his wife died in the 1880s, the farm became the home of their daughter Mary and husband Wilson B. Tschiffely, who purchased the Seneca Mill in 1902.<ref name="M24-29"/> Further south, Riley's Lock and Violette's Lock are located along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (a.k.a. C&O Canal), and are now part of the [[Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park]]. The Pennyfield Lock, also part of the park, is located less than {{convert|3|mi|km|spell=in}} east of Violette's Lock—outside of the Darnestown census-designated place and within the [[Travilah, Maryland|Travilah census-designated place]].<ref name="LocksBirding">{{cite web
|title=C&O Canal – Pennyfield, Violette's and Riley's Locks
|website=Maryland/DC Birding Guide
|publisher=Maryland Ornithological Society
|url=https://www.mdbirdingguide.com/C%26O_Canal_Pennyfield
|access-date=2020-05-09
}}{{Dead link|date=January 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="COTLock23">{{cite web
|title=Lock 23 (Violettes Lock) & Dam No. 2
|website= C&O Canal Trust
|publisher=C&O Canal Trust
|url=https://www.canaltrust.org/pyv/lock-23-violettes-lock-dam-no-2/
|access-date=2020-05-09}}</ref> The community of Seneca exists on the edge of the Darnestown census-designated place, on Seneca Creek close to Riley's Lock and the Potomac River.<ref name="MHT-19-38"/><!--50&51 page of PDF--> With the demise of the C&O Canal, Seneca lost its relevance. Today, a few homes, a schoolhouse, a store, ruins of two mills, and ruins of a [[Seneca Quarry|quarry]] are all that remain.<ref name="HSWseneca">{{cite web
|title=Tour of Historic Seneca Maryland with the Historical Society of Washington, DC
|website=DC Preservation League
|url=https://www.dcpreservation.org/event/tour-of-historic-seneca-maryland-with-the-historical-society-of-washington-dc/
|access-date=2020-08-11
|archive-date=July 9, 2021
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709184924/https://www.dcpreservation.org/event/tour-of-historic-seneca-maryland-with-the-historical-society-of-washington-dc/
|url-status=dead
}}</ref><ref name="CurtisTschiffelyMill">{{cite web
|title=Tschiffely Mill at Seneca
|website=Gaithersburg Then and Now
|publisher=Shaun Curtis<!--author of books "Around Gaithersburg (Images of America)" and "Gaithersburg (Then and Now)"-->
|url=https://gaithersburghistory.com/tschiffely-mill-seneca-creek-potomac-river-stone-cutting.html
|access-date=2020-08-11
|archive-date=May 6, 2021
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506065202/https://gaithersburghistory.com/tschiffely-mill-seneca-creek-potomac-river-stone-cutting.html
|url-status=dead
}}</ref>