Since we are semi-seriously looking to move out of New Jersey within the decade, western Maryland is one of the areas we’ve decided to look into. Prices are relatively inexpensive. We took a trip out to Cumberland one day in June. It’s about 220 miles or so from Salem, almost directly west. First, down I-95 for a bit, through Baltimore, then around the bend on I-695 for a short stretch, hooking up with I-70 heading west for about a hundred miles. Near Hancock, I-70 heads north in to Pennsylvania, and I-68 continues the western path towards Morgantown and other parts of West Virginia.
We headed out, westward, across Delaware on I-95, a route we’ve travelled about 33,298 times..you have to pay up to drive out of Delaware, but then there’s the Chesapeake House service area once you’re into Maryland, and then you cross the wide Susquehanna River, at Havre De Grace.
When we left home, it was fairly bright and sunny, but as we got to the other side of Baltimore, the skies were overcast. West of Hancock, MD, we came up on Sideling Hill, a big ol’ slash in the Alleghenies for the road to go through. Back in the day, this particular ridge was one of the first big humps that the early pioneers had to drive their oxen over. Up in Pennsylvania, the hill is tunneled through by the Turnpike, but down here they don’t fool around. We pulled into the Rest Stop/Visitor Center place, and I took some shots back across the valleys. The visitor center is closed during the summer (??) but you could hike up and cross over the pedestrian bridge, if so inclined. I was not. The big old slash is probably exposes several dozen million years of geologic time, and I think I saw a Desani bottle and a can of Monster down in there amongst the shale.
We hung around the windy VC for a few moments to stretch, and then headed back on the road. Cumberland was only about 30 miles away. We went through the Cut, and then there was a long downhill stretch, coming down off the Hill itself. Nothing too spectacular, and then the off-ramp for Cumberland.
The interstate runs right over top of Cumberland proper, in an easty-westy direction, on an elevated roadway for much of its transit. Our GPS instructed us to zoom down one of the first exits, and soon enough we found ourselves on city streets. It seemed we had come down near the Canal Park & Marketplace with Attached Museum, so we found a place to park and got out. We walked around a bit, took a peak at a small body of water that I later learned was a creek, and then headed over to the Museum of the C & O Canal. On the way there, the enticing aroma from the exhaust stacks of the local eatery, the Crabby Pig, registered as a potential way stop on the journey home.
Once we had exhausted the possibilities of the Museum, which was actually somewhat interesting, we decided to actually go see one of the houses that we’d put on our list. It necessitated a return to the Interstate, and a run of about a mile or so to the next exit. Then it was left on this street, right on that street, then make a U-turn up that street, and then bear right on this street, and there we were! The house was up on a ridge above town, along a street that had one set of houses on one side, and another set on the other side, with about a 25 foot elevation difference between the two sides. Ours was, luckily, on the “high” side. The street ended another house, so we went down, turned around, and then parked on the other side of the street from the house, where everybody else did as well, apparently.
The loose masonry of the steps and sidewalk were a bit daunting, but the place looked interesting, in an “Addams Family Meets the Shining” sort of way. I wandered up to the front door, peered into a room, and found the place looked unoccupied. There was a realtor’s lock box on the door. We walked around a bit, and then, not gathering up the courage to just barge on in, I suggested we call the realtor. We did, and left a message. We decided to drive around and see what the back side of the property looked like, so we went down the street, made a very tight left turn, and motored up the street behind the house. As we passed it, I realized that the garage was on this street, and I was prepared to dive into it, when another car coming from the opposite direction beat me to it. I thought it might be the realtor lady, so I moved on up the street, turned around, and came back.
We pulled into the little parking area, and noticed an older gentleman getting out of his car. After a cursory conversation, it was established that he was the owner, and had come by to water the squash or something. His great-grandfather had built the place, so it’s been in the family for three generations. Rare, these days I suppose. We expressed our interest, and he said, “Go on in, the back door’s open…” We chatted for a few moments, and then decided to return to the street in front of the house.
The place is sort of interesting. A meandering trickle of a creek bisects the back yard, down in a rather steep ravine. The creek is actually the outflow from a culvert under the road behind us, and we noticed a deer cautiously picking his way up into it, which is I suppose how they get from one side of the road to the other.
The house and garage are connected via a sort of “Bridge of San Luis Rey”, an iron trestle that leads across the not-so-grand canyon. A two car, two story garage, at that. I didn’t take pictures of the inside. The place needs some work, obviously, but appears to have relatively good “bones”, as they say on HGTV when they mean, “It’s sorta crappy looking, but it’s built well.” Built about a hundred years ago, it’s a classic center-hall colonial inside, a dining room left, a living room right, stairs in the middle. The kitchen is back left behind the dining room. There was an enclosed porch added to the original house at one time, and a big, glassed in office off the living room as well. Basement steps were just inside the front door as well, which was somewhat off-putting. The basement was surprisingly un-dank, well lit, dry, and completely huge – laundry, shop, storage, more storage, and additional storage..There were four bedrooms on the second floor, a semi-finished attic, and two bathrooms. The place was still semi-furnished, but obviously unoccupied. The walls were plaster, in most places, and it looked like a good brand of hardwood flooring, but I don’t know the specie..
After examining the old pile for a while longer, we wandered about the grounds, noticed the large outgrowth of bamboo on one edge of the estate, along with several deceased trees which, it was determined, need to be eradicated. Our plan is to contact the broker and obtain a bit more intel on the place, and go from there.
We went back into town, ate a semi-satisfying meal the the Crabby Pig, and headed home. The drive home offered us the view of the Sideling Hill cut going eastbound, which was the highlight of the trip.
Through the Cut, Eastbound