Early Settlers

65 Million Years Ago Dinosaurs were…

That’s too far back.  Boonsboro’s story begins nearly 300 years ago….

Starting with 1738…

That year, Captain George Beale was granted 100 acres within what is today’s Boonsboro, making up the land on the south side of Main Street around Potomac Street.  This he called “Beale’s Chance.”  It was one of several parcels of land granted in the area by Lord Baltimore in the pre-revolution era.

At the time, Western Maryland was occupied by several Iroquois tribes.  In 1744, most of those tribes were pressed into giving up their lands, though some remained and other tribes from the east migrated through the area.  Eastern Maryland was also home to Algonquian and Sioux tribes when European settlers arrived.  The Lenape, of which Delaware are a tribe, are of the Algonquian nation, and may have passed through our area when moving to settle in Pennsylvania for a time.  (The Delaware Tribe is mentioned in the National Road Museum).

In 1755, During the French & Indian War, British General Edward Braddock, along with his Aide-de-camp, George Washington, passed through this area with their troops, enroute to the failed campaign at Fort Duquesne. (Pronounced “Doo-Kayn,” today the location of Pittsburgh).  The exact path they took through our area is not well defined, but it is possible they traveled the path which became Main Street.

After Braddock’s failed assault on Fort Duquesne, Indigenous Americans in the area were reported to have become more aggressive against English settlers and many fled their farms and land holdings for a time.

Despite this, a trail across the mountain and through the foothills became a commonly used wagon road connecting Fredericktowne with Hagers Town.  At the base of South Mountain, another road soon was added branching to the south and connecting with Sharpsburg and Shepherd’s Town which were both founded in the early 1760s.

By the late 1760s and early 1770s, settlers were returning to the land here.