Editing Accident, Maryland

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox settlement
 | name                 = Accident, Maryland
 | settlement_type      = [[Town]]
 | nickname             = 
 | motto                = 
<!-- Images -->
 | image_skyline        = JamesDraneHouse2012.jpg
 | imagesize            = 
 | image_caption        = [[James Drane House]] in 2012
 | image_flag           =
 | image_seal           = Seal of Accident, Maryland.png
<!-- Maps -->
 | image_map            = Garrett_County_Maryland_Incorporated_and_Unincorporated_areas_Accident_Highlighted.svg
 | mapsize              = 250x200px
 | map_caption          = Location of Accident, Maryland
<!-- Location -->
 | pushpin_map          = Maryland#USA#North America
 | subdivision_type     = [[List of sovereign states|Country]]
 | subdivision_name     = {{flagu|United States|size=23px}}
 | subdivision_type1    = [[U.S. state|State]]
 | subdivision_name1    = {{flag|Maryland|size=23px}}
 | subdivision_type2    = [[List of counties in Maryland|County]]
 | subdivision_name2    = {{Flagicon image|Flag of Garrett County, Maryland.svg|size=23px}} [[Garrett County, Maryland|Garrett]]
 | government_footnotes = 
 | government_type      = 
 | leader_title         = Mayor
 | leader_name          = 
 | leader_title1        = 
 | leader_name1         = 
 | established_title    = Patented
 | established_date     = 1786<ref name="MDManual">{{cite web|title=Accident|url=http://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/37mun/accident/html/a.html|website=Maryland Manual|accessdate=June 24, 2017}}</ref>
 | established_title1   = [[Municipal Corporation|Incorporated]]
 | established_date1    = 1916<ref name="MDManual">{{cite web|title=Accident|url=http://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/37mun/accident/html/a.html|website=Maryland Manual|accessdate=June 24, 2017}}</ref>
<!-- Area -->
 | unit_pref            = Imperial
 | area_footnotes       = <ref name="CenPopGazetteer2020">{{cite web|title=2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files|url=https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/gazetteer/2020_Gazetteer/2020_gaz_place_24.txt|publisher=United States Census Bureau|accessdate=April 26, 2022}}</ref>
 | area_total_sq_mi     = 0.49
 | area_total_km2       = 1.28
 | area_land_sq_mi      = 0.49
 | area_land_km2        = 1.28
 | area_water_sq_mi     = 0.00
 | area_water_km2       = 0.00
<!-- Population -->
 | population_as_of     = [[2020 United States census|2020]]
 | population_footnotes = 
 | population_total     = 338
 | population_density_sq_mi = 684.21
 | population_density_km2 = 263.97
 | population_demonym   = Accidental
<!-- General information -->
 | timezone             = [[North American Eastern Time Zone|Eastern (EST)]]
 | utc_offset           = -5
 | timezone_DST         = EDT
 | utc_offset_DST       = -4
 | elevation_footnotes  = <ref name=gnis/>
 | elevation_ft         = 2356
 | coordinates          = {{coord|39|37|41|N|79|19|12|W|region:US_type:city|display=inline,title}}
 | postal_code_type     = [[ZIP code]]
 | postal_code          = 21520
 | area_codes           = [[Area codes 301 and 240|301, 240]]
 | blank_name           = [[Federal Information Processing Standard|FIPS code]]
 | blank_info           = 24-00225
 | blank1_name          = [[Geographic Names Information System|GNIS]] feature ID
 | blank1_info          = 2390695<ref name=gnis>{{GNIS|2390695}}</ref>
 | website              = {{URL|http://www.accidentmd.org}}
 | footnotes            =  
}}
'''Accident''' is a town in [[Garrett County, Maryland|Garrett County]], [[Maryland]], United States. The population was 338 at the [[2020 United States census]].<ref name="2020Pop">{{cite web |title=Accident town, Maryland |url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/profile?g=1600000US2400225 |publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=January 23, 2022}}</ref> Accident has been noted for its [[Place names considered unusual|unusual place name]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.theactivetimes.com/travel/oddest-named-town-every-state | title=The Oddest Named Town in Every State | publisher=The Active Times | date=April 19, 2018 | accessdate=July 3, 2019}}</ref> A resident of Accident is called an "Accidental".<ref name="L4L">{{cite book|last1=Dickson|first1=Paul|title=Labels for Locals: What to Call People from Abilene to Zimbabwe|date=2006|publisher=Harper Collins|isbn=9780060881641|page=3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MJpt4QCXWWoC}}</ref>

==History==
Accident was one of the early settlements in the far west of Maryland. The name originates about the time of the 1786 land survey. Though the origin or meaning of the name is unknown, one popular story says that Brooke Beall and William Deakins, Jr.,{{efn|Deakins later served as a delegate to the [[List of delegates to the Maryland State Convention (1788)|Maryland State Convention of 1788]], to vote whether Maryland should ratify the proposed [[Constitution of the United States]].<ref name= manual>{{cite book |title= Maryland Manual 1914–1915: A Compendium of Legal, Historical and Statistical Information relating to the State of Maryland |author= Secretary of State of Maryland |publisher= The Advertiser-Republican |location= [[Annapolis, Maryland|Annapolis]] |year= 1915 }}</ref>}} friends from Prince George's County, were conducting separate surveys in the area at the time and "by accident" Deakins claimed land already surveyed by Beall.<ref name="MDManual"/><ref>"How did this spot get the name "[[Accident]]?"  Mary Strauss in ''Flowery Vale: A History of Accident, Maryland'',(Parson, West Virginia: McClain Printing Col, 1986), p. 1, provides an interesting
story of axe marks on a tree, and conflicting claims, {{cite web|url=http://www.whilbr.org/accident/index.aspx|title=A Pictorial History of Accident, Maryland, from the collection of Mary Miller Strauss|publisher=Western Maryland's Historical Society|access-date=March 29, 2008|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927221222/http://www.whilbr.org/accident/index.aspx|archivedate=September 27, 2007}}</ref>

When [[Frederick Calvert, 6th Baron Baltimore|Lord Baltimore]] opened up the area, which he called Monocacy Manor, for settlement, in the early 1770s, Brooke Beall secured permission to survey {{convert|778|acre|ha mi2|abbr=off}}. It will never be known for certain how Beall came to choose this particular spot, but the surveyor was given clear instructions where to start. He was to begin "in the center between two bounded white [[oak]] trees, standing on the North Side of the South fork of [[Bear Creek (Maryland)|Bear Creek]]  in or near a glade about one Hundred yards from said Run, about one or two Miles above a Lick known by the name of the "[[Cole Mine Lick]]", about {{convert|4|mi|km|spell=in}} above the mouth of [[Broad Creek (Maryland)|Broad Creek]] and about {{convert|1|mi|km|spell=in}} East of a Ridge of the [[Negro Mountain]]."  [[John Hanson|John Hanson, Jr.]], later a delegate to the [[Continental Congress]], and President of the United States in Congress Assembled, on April 14, 1774, surveyed the land, finding that it only contained {{convert|682|acre|ha|abbr=off}}. For the next twelve years, nothing was done with the survey. The [[American Revolutionary War]] intervened, and it was not until February 15, 1786, that the land was granted by means of a patent to William Deakins. The following year the surrounding countryside was surveyed into military lots by [[Francis Deakins]], lots that were meant as compensation for the soldiers who served from Maryland during the Revolution. Each soldier who served for two years received one lot of {{convert|50|acre|ha|abbr=off}}, officers received four lots of {{convert|50|acre|ha|abbr=off}} each.{{efn|Mr. George Deakins was to receive 600 acres of land in Western Maryland as a payment of a debt from King George II of Great Britain. Mr. Deakins sent out two corps of engineers, each without knowledge of the other, to survey the best land in this area. Both crews returned and to their surprise, they had both marked the same Oak tree as their starting and returning points. Mr. Deakins chose this plot of ground and had it patented "The Accident Tract". Now called, the Town of Accident! Accident was incorporated in 1916.<ref>Scharf, J. Thomas (1882). History of Western Maryland. Philadelphia: Louis A. Everts</ref> }}
[[Image:Accident detail deakins 1787 02.jpg|thumb|right|Detail from the original Francis Deakins 1787 survey of lots westward of Fort Cumberland, Library of Congress. Reproduced in Edward C. Papenfuse and Joseph M. Coale, ''The Maryland State Archives Atlas of Historical Maps of Maryland'', (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003), p.&nbsp;204]]

[[Kaese Mill]] was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1984.<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2008a}}</ref> The [[James Drane House]] was listed in 1985.<ref name="nris" />

==Geography==

According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], the town has a total area of {{convert|0.49|sqmi|sqkm|2}}, all land.<ref name="Gazetteer files">{{cite web|title=US Gazetteer files 2010 |url=https://www.census.gov/geo/www/gazetteer/files/Gaz_places_national.txt |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]] |access-date=January 25, 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120702145235/http://www.census.gov/geo/www/gazetteer/files/Gaz_places_national.txt |archivedate=July 2, 2012 }}</ref>

Accident is located in the plateau region of the [[Appalachian Mountains]].

==Demographics==
{{US Census population
|1880= 114
|1940= 236
|1950= 242
|1960= 237
|1970= 237
|1980= 246
|1990= 349
|2000= 353
|2010= 325
|2020= 311
|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census<ref name="DecennialCensus">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html|title=Census of Population and Housing|publisher=Census.gov|access-date=June 4, 2015}}</ref>
}}

===2010 census===
As of the [[census]]<ref name ="wwwcensusgov">{{cite web|title=U.S. Census website|url=https://www.census.gov|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|accessdate=January 25, 2013}}</ref> of 2010, there were 325 people, 141 households, and 86 families residing in the town. The [[population density]] was {{convert|663.3|PD/sqmi|PD/km2|1}}. There were 173 housing units at an average density of {{convert|353.1|/sqmi|/km2|1}}. The [[Race and ethnicity in the United States Census|racial makeup]] of the town was 97.8% White, 0.6% Native American, 0.3% Asian, 0.6% from other races, and 0.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.6% of the population.

There were 141 households, of which 33.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.4% were [[Marriage|married couples]] living together, 11.3% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.3% had a male householder with no wife present, and 39.0% were non-families. 32.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 19.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 2.99.

The median age in the town was 34.5 years. 26.2% of residents were under the age of 18; 10.1% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 25.3% were from 25 to 44; 22.8% were from 45 to 64; and 15.7% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 45.5% male and 54.5% female.

===2000 census===
As of the census<ref name="GR2">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]] |accessdate=January 31, 2008 |title=U.S. Census website }}</ref> of 2000, there were 353 people, 138 households, and 96 families residing in the town. The population density was {{convert|711.1|PD/sqmi|PD/km2|sp=us|adj=off}}. There were 162 housing units at an average density of {{convert|326.3|/sqmi|/km2|sp=us|adj=off}}. The racial makeup of the town was 99.72% White and 0.28% from two or more races.

There were 138 households, out of which 37.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.3% were married couples living together, 12.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.4% were non-families. 28.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 21.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.56 and the average family size was 3.14.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 29.2% under the age of 18, 7.1% from 18 to 24, 22.4% from 25 to 44, 18.4% from 45 to 64, and 22.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 73.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 73.6 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $22,500, and the median income for a family was $40,556. Males had a median income of $25,250 versus $18,750 for females. The [[per capita income]] for the town was $11,950. About 10.9% of families and 17.5% of the population were below the [[Poverty threshold|poverty line]], including 17.3% of those under age 18 and 24.1% of those age 65 or over.

==Transportation==
[[File:2021-08-07 17 31 21 View north along U.S. Route 219 (Main Street) just north of Cemetery Road in Accident, Garrett County, Maryland.jpg|thumb|right|US 219 northbound in Accident]]
The primary method of transportation to and from Accident is by road. One state-maintained highway, [[U.S. Route 219 in Maryland|U.S. Route 219]], serves the town directly, following Main Street through the middle of Accident. To the north, US 219 connects Accident to [[Interstate 68]] and [[U.S. Route 40 in Maryland|U.S. Route 40]], along with the town of [[Grantsville, Maryland|Grantsville]], before heading into [[Pennsylvania]]. Heading south, US 219 connects to [[Maryland Route 42]], [[Maryland Route 39]], [[Maryland Route 135]] and [[U.S. Route 50 in Maryland|U.S. Route 50]], along with the towns of [[Oakland, Maryland|Oakland]] and [[Mountain Lake Park, Maryland|Mountain Lake Park]], before it enters [[West Virginia]].

==Notable people==
* [[Wendell R. Beitzel]], member of [[Maryland House of Delegates]]
*James Drane, builder and first owner of the historic [[James Drane House|Drane House]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051028161900/http://www.mdmunicipal.org/cities/index.cfm?townname=Accident&page=home Maryland Municipal League: Accident]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927221222/http://www.whilbr.org/accident/index.aspx Photographs of Accident] Western Maryland History Online, Whilbr
* [http://www.relib.net Ruth Enlow Library]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080511222952/http://www.whilbr.org/garrettlots/index.aspx Map of Military Lots, Garrett County, Maryland, 1787] Western Maryland Regional Library.
* http://www.accidentmd.org/
* [http://histclo.com/schun/country/us/is/alpha/a/acc.html Accident School]

{{Garrett County, Maryland}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Towns in Maryland]]
[[Category:Towns in Garrett County, Maryland]]