black history month

Honoring Clarksburg’s Legacy: The Enduring Impact of Black Activism and Community in Rocky Hill

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Nestled just off Frederick Road, half a mile from downtown Clarksburg, sits Rocky Hill, one of Montgomery County’s earliest African American communities. Established toward the end of the 19th century, the Rocky Hill neighborhood grew as Black families rented and bought land in and around Clarksburg and built a church and school. As part of the Clarksburg Gateway Sector Plan, Montgomery Planning is proposing to designate a site and district to the Master Plan for Historic Preservation: The Community of Faith United Methodist Church and Cemetery and the Clarksburg Heights subdivision founded and built by Wilson and Sarah Wims.

Community of Faith United Methodist Church: A Pillar of Strength

 

Formerly known as the Pleasant View Methodist Episcopal … Continue reading

Spotlight on Wheaton’s Black History

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As you travel east on University Boulevard from downtown Wheaton, past the commercial strips and gas stations, you’ll encounter a Georgian Revival brick house with imposing chimneys. This simple but elegant home, with its symmetrical design and matching bay windows, stands in stark contrast to the modernist Art Deco WSJV Transmitter across the street and the post-WWII Ranch and Split-Level houses scattered throughout the nearby neighborhoods. The historic house was the home of Romeo and Elsie Horad. Built on Elsie’s ancestral land, the house stands as a testament to the achievements of the Websters, Sewells, and Horads who worked tirelessly to improve conditions for African American residents throughout Montgomery County and Washington, DC.

The Montgomery County Historic Preservation Commission … Continue reading

Montgomery’s Historically Black Communities

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Tucked in among subdivisions and stream valleys, the County’s historically black settlements reflect a history that traces back to the County’s earliest days.

In 1790, local tobacco plantation were worked by slaves, who made up one third of the County’s population. Josiah Henson, whose memoirs inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe to write Uncle Tom’s Cabin, described the conditions.

“In a single room were huddled, like cattle, ten or a dozen persons, men, women, and children. All ideas of refinement and decency were, of course, out of the question.”

But alongside planatations, the County’s Sandy Spring Quaker community freed its slaves in 1770, conveying to them land for a church and dwellings. Sandy Spring would also become a key stop on the … Continue reading