On the bulletin board in the County’s Land Use and Growth Management’s office is an Enterprise article from 2004 that discusses how various areas of the County were named. I have seen this article several times while visiting the LUGM office, and have even tried, unsuccessfully, to track it down thru the old google machine. However, it never occurred to me to just ask the LUGM folks to make me a copy. Like most visitors to the LUGM office, my goal is to bother them as little as I have to and then be on my way.
However, Jennifer Adkins was in the LUGM office the other day and asked for a copy of it which they gave her. Somehow, Jennifer knew that I would appreciate having it, so she passed it along to me. Today I’ll summarize the article’s descriptions of how Pt. Lookout, Scotland and Ridge were named.
According to the article, Point Lookout served as an observation post during the War of 1812, “which is when it got its present name.” Sounds reasonable enough. However, I’ve wondered if its name had something to do with the fact that when boating around or near the Point, you’d better “look out” as to what you were doing else the tides would capsize you.
Ridge got its name “because it is located at the southernmost end of a ridge of highland that runs the length of St. Mary’s County. When this community’s post office was established in 1800, it was called “The Ridge” a name it held for 40 years.” (I thought this was interesting because I have a copy of the original deed of Buzzy’s Country Store property where it notes that the acreage known as “the Ridge” is deeded to Nathan Shuman. In fact, contrary to what the article claims, Ridge is not the southernmost end of the “ridge of highland,” as the property that the Store sits on, and the land behind it belonging to the McCoys, is the southernmost end. However, I won’t quibble with it too much, because how Scotland was named has a far more interesting story than one based on mere topography.)
The article states “Located just a few miles south of Ridge, Scotland is said to have been so named by a group of Scottish soldiers. According to tradition, these men were captured during an unsuccessful rebellion against England in 1745. They were loaded aboard a ship and brought to Maryland as indentured servants. Exiled from their native land, they chose to drop their Scottish names for safety reasons but named the area Scotland in honor of their homeland.”
This leads me to wonder “Where’s my kilt?” Think maybe all those years that folks talked about having “kilt something” they were really discussing clothing vs. hunting? Tomorrow I’ll discuss how Dameron got its name and no, it doesn’t involve a dam.