1951 Map of Pattersons Creek

About this map

The Potomac River carves through a landscape of ridges and hollows along the Maryland and West Virginia border, where early transportation infrastructure defined the valley's development. This mid-century survey illustrates a dense network of rail lines including the Baltimore and Ohio and the Western Maryland, running parallel to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (Abandoned). Small settlements like Pattersons Creek and Green Spring serve as anchors in the river bottomlands, while the surrounding heights of Collier Mountain and Warrior Mountain are dotted with rural landmarks. Genealogists will find a wealth of community centers, from Davis Church and Bethel Tabernacle to several family-named landmarks like St Marys Cem and Olivers Grove Ch. The map captures a moment when the industrial weight of the railroads still dictated the local economy, even as the old canal had already transitioned into a historical artifact of the previous century.