Point of Rocks, Maryland | |
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.jpg) Aerial image, 1930 | |
 Location of Point of Rocks inMaryland | |
| Coordinates:39°16′42″N77°31′45″W / 39.27833°N 77.52917°W /39.27833; -77.52917 | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  Maryland |
| County |  Frederick |
| Area | |
• Total | 1.13 sq mi (2.92 km2) |
| • Land | 1.13 sq mi (2.92 km2) |
| • Water | 0 sq mi (0.00 km2) |
| Elevation | 276 ft (84 m) |
| Population (2020) | |
• Total | 1,886 |
| • Density | 1,675.7/sq mi (646.99/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC−5 (Eastern (EST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−4 (EDT) |
| ZIP Code | 21777 |
| Area codes | 301, 240 |
| FIPS code | 24-62575 |
| GNIS feature ID | 2583673[2] |
Point of Rocks is anunincorporated community andcensus-designated place (CDP) inFrederick County, Maryland. As of the2010 census, it had a population of 1,466.[3]
Point of Rocks is named for a rock formation on the adjacentCatoctin Mountain, which was formed by thePotomac River cutting through the ridge in awater gap, a typical formation in theAppalachian Mountains. The formation is not visible from the town and can only be seen from boats on the river, or inLoudoun County,Virginia, from the southern bank of the river.
Indigenous peoples inhabited the Point of Rocks regions for centuries prior toEuropean colonization. ThePiscataway were one of the indigenous cultures to live in Point of Rocks, inhabiting an island in thePotomac River known today as Heater's Island. Eventually, conflicts with neighboring tribes and European settlers forced the migration of the Piscataway from their ancestral homelands ofPrince George's County to Heater's Island around 1699, though their population was severely decreased by an outbreak of smallpox in 1704.
The Piscataways remained on the island for a few more years before migrating north into Pennsylvania and New York.[4]
About a decade after the Piscataway abandoned their settlement on Heater's Island, the first European settler in Point of Rocks, Arthur Nelson, received a patent for a tract of land called "Nelson's Island."[5] The Nelson Family retained their status as prominent landholders in Point of Rocks in the early-18th century, developing several plantations on which tobacco was grown. Commercial interests in the region led the Nelsons to petition for a road to be built connectingFrederick and "Nelson's Ferry," the first English-language name assigned to the village that became Point of Rocks.[6] This road was eventually constructed and became known as Ballenger Creek Pike.
In the early-19th century, the arrival of theChesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Canal and theBaltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad led to an increase in settlement and industry in the Point of Rocks area. The village became a temporary terminus for both the C&O Canal and the B&O Railroad in 1828 when the companies went to court to determine which would control the right of way through the narrow passage between thePotomac River and Catoctin Mountain immediately west of Point of Rocks. After six years of court battles, the companies agreed to compromise and share the right of way, the B&O Railroad eventually constructing a tunnel through the mountain to broaden its lines through the narrow water gap.[7]
With the construction of the C&O Canal and the B&O Railroad and its strategic location on the Potomac River, Point of Rocks was poised to become a regional transportation hub and center of industrial activity. In 1835, Charles Johnson, the owner of the land on which Point of Rocks was built, had lots surveyed and streets laid out for a new town.[8]
From the earliest days of European settlement in Point of Rocks, forced labor throughindentured servitude andenslavement ofAfrican Americans drove the local economy. Tobacco plantations in the fertile lands of the lower Monocacy Valley were operated based on the labor of enslaved men and women. The plantation owners also used their slaves to build houses, places of business, and public buildings, such asSt. Paul's Episcopal Church, completed in 1841 using the labor of enslaved men and women from the Duval Plantation. Nearby Licksville, a small community located nearNoland's Ferry crossing the Potomac River was the site of an active slave market.[9]
Situated on the state line betweenMaryland and the seceded state ofVirginia, Point of Rocks was the site of several small skirmishes and military actions during theCivil War. The B&O Railroad and C&O Canal were important targets for Confederate raiders across thePotomac River. In 1861, then ColonelThomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson led a raid at Point of Rocks, shutting off the rail lines east of the town and capturing 56 locomotives and 300 rail cars.[10]
NeighboringLoudoun County, Virginia, was home to several small pockets of Union supporters, includingQuakers who lived in villages likeWaterford andLincoln who did not support secession or the Confederate cause for defending the institution of slavery. Point of Rocks became a haven for those families who were forced to flee Virginia.
In 1862, CaptainSamuel C. Means, a native ofWaterford, Virginia, but then living in Point of Rocks where he was a merchant and B&O Railroad station manager, raised a cavalry unit called theLoudoun Rangers, the only organized unit from Virginia to fight for the Union.[11] The Loudoun Rangers spent most of 1862 and 1863 fighting alongsideCole's Maryland Cavalry (the First Potomac Home Brigade) to protect the C&O Canal and the B&O Railroad from frequent Confederate raids. Cole's Maryland Cavalry encamped at Point of Rocks, occupying St. Paul's Episcopal Church where they burned the interior furnishings.[12]
Lt. Col.John S. Mosby and his43rd Battalion of Virginia Cavalry, known as "Mosby's Raiders", crossed the Potomac and attacked Union garrison forces at Point of Rocks in 1864 in a brief campaign called the "Calico Raid."[10] The area was also the scene of military maneuvers and brief skirmishes duringValley Campaigns of 1864 and theBattle of Monocacy on July 9, 1864.
After the Civil War, Point of Rocks remained a place of conflict. In 1879, James Carroll was lynched in Point of Rocks after being accused of breaking into the home of Richard Thomas and raping his wife. Having fled down the C&O Canal towpath toGeorgetown, Carroll was apprehended on April 16, 1879. While being transported toFrederick for trial, a mob swarmed the train as it approached the station in Point of Rocks, removed Carroll from police custody, and hanged him in an adjacent field. The death of Carroll, whose alleged crimes have never been proven or disproven, was one of three recorded lynchings to take place in Frederick County.[13]
In 1873, theB&O Railroad opened its Metropolitan Branch, connectingWashington D.C. to its Old Main Line in a junction at Point of Rocks. Anew station, which has become a noted town landmark, was erected the same year. The Gothic Revival styled brick building was designed byE. Francis Baldwin and is situated in the center of the junction of the two lines.
Several other prominent structures were built in the town during the Victorian era, including the town's Methodist Church (1894), Holy Trinity Episcopal Church (1887, replaced in 1912), St. Luke's Lutheran Church (1889), and Masonic Temple (1898).[14]
In 2001,Duke Energy filed an application with theMaryland Public Service Commission to construct apower plant on the north edge of town. In November 2002, however, Duke officially canceled its proposal, though it retains property in the area.[15]
ThePoint of Rocks railroad station was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places in 1973, andSt. Paul's Episcopal Church was listed in 1978.[16]
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Older portions of the town are on the Potomac Riverfloodplain and have been repeatedly inundated. An ongoingFederal Emergency Management Agency program to reduceflood insurance payouts has resulted in the purchase and demolition of a large portion of structures on the lowest-lying properties.
Point of Rocks is located in southern Frederick County, on the north bank of the Potomac River, and is bordered to the west byU.S. Route 15, which here runs along the eastern base of Catoctin Mountain. Via US 15 it is 13 miles (21 km) north toFrederick, thecounty seat, and 12 miles (19 km) south across the Potomac River toLeesburg, Virginia.Maryland Route 28 leads east from Point of Rocks through rural Frederick County andMontgomery County 29 miles (47 km) toRockville. According to theU.S. Census Bureau, Point of Rocks has a total area of 1.10 square miles (2.85 km2), all land.[3]
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 1,466 | — | |
| 2020 | 1,886 | 28.6% | |
| U.S. Decennial Census[17] | |||
The community contains thePoint of Rocks Bridge ofU.S. Route 15 over the Potomac River into Virginia. The bridge is the first such crossing of the river upstream of theAmerican Legion Memorial Bridge onI-495 inMontgomery County. The only other crossing between them isWhite's Ferry.
Rail service through Point of Rocks began with the 1834 opening of theBaltimore and Ohio Railroad's main line, which ended at the next stop inSandy Hook, Maryland, before theHarpers Ferry Crossing across the Potomac and into Virginia opened in 1839.
Point of Rocks is apassenger station stop on theMARCBrunswick Line. Thestation, designed byEphraim Francis Baldwin, was built by theBaltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad and completed in 1876. Marking the junction betweenCSX'sMetropolitan Subdivision (the current main line) and theOld Main Line Subdivision, it remains one of the former B&O's signature landmarks, and is a popular subject of railroad photography.
Municipalities and communities ofFrederick County, Maryland,United States | ||
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| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
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