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1923 Map of Hanging Rock

Name: 1923 Topographic Map of Hanging Rock
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1923
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1923

About this map

Northwestern Turnpike cuts through the ridges of Hampshire County, anchoring a network of small upland communities during the early twentieth century. This survey documents a landscape of self-sufficient settlements, defined by milling operations like Ellesons Mill, Barnes Mill, and the community at North River Mills. The topography is dominated by the parallel ridges of South Branch Mountain and Little Cacapon Mountain, which channel the flow of the South Branch Potomac River and the Cacapon River.

Social life appears centered on a remarkably dense distribution of rural institutions, from the cluster at Three Churches to the Shiloh and Ebenezer Church congregations. Dozens of small schoolhouses, such as Stonewall School, Independence School, and Duck Lick School, are tucked into the hollows, reflecting the era's local education patterns before school consolidation. To the north, the Baltimore and Ohio RR tracks follow the Potomac, connecting the interior mountain farms to wider regional markets.