Test your knowledge of the National Road

A quick quiz on the National Road 1. Where did the National Road (Cumberland Road) begin? For a couple of decades, the road followed Greene Street to Haystack before funds became available to build the bridges and the roadbed through the Narrows. That’s why the zero...

Allegany Museum’s own history

1983 – A volunteer community group, the Western Maryland Station Center, Inc., formed to preserve, restore, and renovate the Western Maryland Railroad Station. 1985 – A transportation and Industrial Museum opened in the basement of Western Maryland Railroad Station...

Frederick Douglass in Cumberland

February is Black History MonthDid you know that Frederick Douglass delivered a lecture in Cumberland?On September 23 1879, Marshal Douglass arrived to lecture for the Emancipation celebration. Here is the story from the Washington Post, Sept. 24, 1879: “Emancipation...

Washington’s Headquarters a “Fake”!

In 1921, Cumberland Police and Fire Commissioner A.K. Hummelshime attacked the authenticity of Washington’s Cabin in a letter to then Cumberland Mayor Thomas Koon. Hummelshime claimed that the logs used were gathered from multiple locations over a period of one...

A golden treasure is lost

The Gold Nugget Museum was, like Allegany Museum, a volunteer-run repository of local history. It focused on the Gold Rush and local mining history. It was in Paradise, a forested community, which historically attracted loggers and prospectors searching for new...