Editing Travilah, Maryland (section)

==History==
[[Image:DuFief Mill-Travilah-C&O.png|thumb|right|DuFief Mill, Travilah crossroads, C&O Canal|alt=map showing proximity of Dufief Mill, Travilah crossroads, and C&O Canal]][[Image:TravilahGlennHouse.jpg|thumb|right|150-year-old house at Travilah|alt=big white house]]The Travilah community has a long history that dates back to the 1800s at a crossroads at what is now Travilah Road and Glen Road.<ref name="ConnectionTOak">{{cite news
|title=If These Leaves Could Talk - Birthday Party for Centuries-Old Tree in Travilah
|publisher=Mary Kimm
|url=http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/news/2003/oct/07/if-these-leaves-could-talk/
|access-date=2020-03-26
|newspaper=The Connection - Potomac Almanac
|date=2003-10-07
}}</ref> A small unnamed agricultural community grew at this intersection in the mid-1800s because it was less than {{convert|2|mi}} from the [[Chesapeake and Ohio Canal]] (a.k.a. C&O Canal).{{#tag:ref|Construction of the C&O Canal, which began in the 1830s and was completed in 1850, "created markets for goods and services" and "lowered the cost of shipping commodities such as flour, wheat, and corn".<ref name="CanalHist">{{cite web
|title=Canal History: Canal Era from the 1830s-1870s
|website= C&O Canal Trust
|publisher=C&O Canal Trust
|url=https://www.canaltrust.org/about-us/about-the-co-canal/history/canal-history-canal-era-from-the-1830s-1870s/
|access-date=2020-03-31}}</ref> A newspaper article discussing Travilah says that "The canal was the main thing that held this together".<ref name="ConnectionTOak"/> Using today's roads, the driving distance from the intersection of Glen and Travilah roads to C&O Canal Lockhouse 22 (Pennyfield Lock) is {{convert|1.9|mi}} and the distance to Lockhouse 21 (Swains) is {{convert|3.5|mi}}.<ref name="DistanceLock22">{{cite web
|title=Distance 12100 Pennyfield Lock Road to 12808 Glen Road Travilah MD
|website= Google Search

|url=https://www.google.com/search?q=Distance+12100+Pennyfield+Lock+Road+to+12808+Glen+Road+Travilah+MD
|access-date=2020-03-27}}</ref><ref name="DistanceLock21">{{cite web
|title=Distance 10700 Swains Lock Road Potomac MD to 12808 Glen Road Travilah MD
|website= Google Search

|url=https://www.google.com/search?q=Distance+10700+Swains+Lock+Road+Potomac+MD+to+12808+Glen+Road+Travilah+MD
|access-date=2020-03-27}}</ref>|group=Note}} The intersecting roads also led to [[Gristmill|mills]] that were located within a few miles of the intersection, and many of the area farms produced the wheat used by the mills to make flour.{{#tag:ref|In the 1790s, wheat farms became more common in Montgomery County compared to the tobacco farms of earlier years.<ref name="MacMaster116">{{harvnb|MacMaster|Hiebert|1994|p=116}}</ref> The intersecting roads at what became Travilah were parts of routes to "two productive mills".<ref name="Kelly226">{{harvnb|Kelly|Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission|2011|p=226}}</ref> The DuFief Mill, established around 1850, was about {{convert|1.7|mi}} from the Travilah crossroads (using today's roads).<ref name="Kelly12">{{harvnb|Kelly|Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission|2011|p=12}}</ref><ref name="DistanceDuFiefMill">{{cite web
|title=Distance 14000 Turkey Foot Road to 12808 Glen Road Maryland
|website= Google Search

|url=https://www.google.com/search?q=Distance+14000+Turkey+Foot+Road+to+12808+Glen+Road+Maryland
|access-date=2020-03-27}}</ref> It had the capacity to make 10-12,000 barrels of flour per year.<ref name="Kelly12"/> The Glen Mill, built in the early 1800s, was about {{convert|3.5|mi}} away from the crossroads.<ref name="Kelly224">{{harvnb|Kelly|Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission|2011|p=224}}</ref><ref name="DistanceGlenMill">{{cite web
|title=Distance 11530 S. Glen Road to 12808 Glen Road Maryland
|website= Google Search

|url=https://www.google.com/search?q=Distance+11530+S.+Glen+Road+to+12808+Glen+Road+Maryland
|access-date=2020-03-27}}</ref>|group=Note}}

The community had a general store in 1882 that may have existed as early as the 1840s.{{#tag:ref|Sources do not agree on the beginning date for the general store. One source mentions "the Old Travilah Country Store built in the 1840s", while another source says "Later (in 1882), a store was opened...."<ref name="ConnectAnnualRen">{{cite news
|title=Annual Rendezvous at the Travilah Oak Tree
|publisher=Mary Kimm
|url=http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/news/2006/sep/26/annual-rendezvous-at-the-travilah-oak-tree/
|access-date=2020-03-28
|newspaper=The Connection - Potomac Almanac
|date=2006-09-26
}}</ref><ref name="M25-10">{{cite web
|title=Maryland Historical Trust Inventory Form for State Historic Sites Survey - Travilah Historic District
|website= Maryland Historical Trust
|publisher=Maryland Government
|url=https://mht.maryland.gov/secure/medusa/PDF/Montgomery/M;%2025-10.pdf
|access-date=2020-03-30}}</ref>|group=Note}} In 1883, the unnamed community was assigned a [[United States Post Office Department|Post Office]]. Travilah Clagett was the first [[postmaster]], and the United States Post Office used the name Travilah to identify the unnamed location.{{#tag:ref|A newspaper article mentions Travilah Clagett's relationship with the Post Office as does Kelly in ''Places from the Past'', including the start date.<ref name="ConnectionTOak"/><ref name="Kelly226"/> An example of the Travilah Post Office listing can be found in the 1886 United States Official Postal Guide.<ref name="Postal1886-193">{{harvnb|United States Post Office Department|1886|p=193}}</ref>|group=Note}} The Clagetts were prominent land owners in this portion of Montgomery County.{{#tag:ref|Henry Clagett patented a tract called Quince Orchard in 1766.<ref name="M24-31">{{cite web
|title=ACHS Summary Form - Nathaniel Clagett Farm
|website= Maryland Historical Trust
|publisher=Maryland Government
|url=https://mht.maryland.gov/secure/medusa/PDF/Montgomery/M;%2024-31.pdf
|access-date=2020-04-03}}</ref><!--4th page of PDF--> The land was located at the intersection of what is now Quince Orchard Road and Darnestown Road (Maryland 28) in Montgomery County.<ref name="M21-6">{{cite web
|title=Maryland Historical Trust State Historic Sites Inventory Form - Wheatlands, F.A. Tschiffely Farm
|website= Maryland Historical Trust
|publisher=Maryland Government
|url=https://mht.maryland.gov/secure/medusa/PDF/Montgomery/M;%2021-6.pdf
|access-date=2020-04-03}}</ref><!--6th page of PDF--> A portion of that land eventually became Gaithersburg's [[Kentlands, Gaithersburg, Maryland|Kentlands]] neighberhood.<ref name="Kentlands">{{cite web
|title=Kentlands History and Future
|website= Kentlands Community Foundation

|url=https://kentlandsfoundation.org/home/about/23-2/
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200609133654/https://kentlandsfoundation.org/home/about/23-2/
|url-status=usurped
|archive-date=June 9, 2020
|access-date=2020-04-03}}</ref> Henry's grandson John H. Clagett, who served as a captain in a Maryland regiment during the [[War of 1812]], bought a farm in what is now [[Germantown, Maryland]], in 1810. He was one of "many of that family living nearby".<ref name="M24-31"/> John Clagett's son, Nathaniel, was a prominent and affluent member of the community and was the father of Travilah Clagett.<ref name="M24-31"/><!--1st & 5th page of PDF-->|group=Note}} Clagett served as postmaster for about half the year, and died from [[tuberculosis]] before the year was over.<ref name="ConnectionTOak"/>

In addition to the general store, the crossroads had a blacksmith, church, schoolhouse, and town hall. The Travilah Baptist Church was built in 1894 and had over 300 members in 1976.<ref name="M25-102">{{cite web
|title=ACHS Summary Form - Travilah Baptist Church
|website= Maryland Historical Trust
|publisher=Maryland Government
|url=https://mht.maryland.gov/secure/medusa/PDF/Montgomery/M;%2025-10-2.pdf
|access-date=2020-03-30}}</ref> It was destroyed by fire in 1980.<ref name="Kelly226"/> A Travilah Elementary School exists today at the intersection of Dufief Mill Road and Travilah Road in North Potomac, but it should not be confused with the one-room schoolhouse formerly located at the Travilah crossroads that closed in 1943 (and later burned down). The original schoolhouse was built in 1865.{{#tag:ref|Sources conflict on the build date for the old Travilah schoolhouse—one says 1865 while another says 1886.<ref name="M25-10"/><ref name="TravilahElementary">{{cite web
|title=Travilah ES - History
|website= Montgomery County Public Schools - Travilah Elementary School

|url=https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/travilahes/about/history.aspx
|access-date=2020-03-30}}</ref> However, an 1865 map of Montgomery County by Martenet and Bond shows a schoolhouse (Sch.H.) at the location that became Travilah.<ref name="MBmap">{{cite web
|title=Martenet and Bond's Map of Montgomery County, Maryland
|website= Library of Congress
|publisher=United States Library of Congress
|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/2002620533/
|access-date=2020-05-05}}</ref>|group=Note}} A town hall was built in 1910, and the building still exists today although it is privately owned.<ref name="M25-101">{{cite web
|title=Maryland Historical Trust Inventory Form for State Historic Sites 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=2020-03-30}}</ref> The general store, which eventually was also a gas station, closed in 1967.<ref name="Kelly226"/>

A small corner shopping center, built in 1979, is located at the Travilah Road-Glen Road intersection. The center was originally named Glenvilah Shopping Center, but was renamed Potomac Oak Center in honor of the historic [[Travilah Oak]] tree located there close to Travilah Road.<ref name="ConnectAnnualRen"/> Several homes were also located in the area and a large 150-year-old farmhouse remains across from the shopping center.<ref name="TravHouse">{{cite news
|title=A Travilah/Potomac Landmark Awaits A New Life

|url=https://patch.com/maryland/potomac/travilah-potomac-landmark-awaits-new-life
|access-date=2020-03-31
|newspaper=Potomac Patch
|date=2019-11-13
|last=Eisinger
|first=Page}}</ref><ref name="TravilahChainsaw">{{cite news
|title=A Chainsaw Artist and Travilah's Eagle
|publisher=Montgomery Community Media
|url=https://www.mymcmedia.org/chainsaw-artist-travilahs-eagle/
|access-date=2020-03-31
|newspaper=MyMCMedia
|date=2018-07-19
|last1=Fabrizio
|first1=Phil}}</ref>