A bit over 30 miles northwest of Washington, DC and a mere 15 miles southeast of Frederick, Maryland is the tiny town of Barnesville. Nestled at the foot of Sugarloaf Mountain, Barnesville dates back to pre-Revolutionary times and maintains a population just under 150 souls. The newly fashionable area of Comus is two miles to the north and the bedroom community of Poolesville lay 6 miles to the south. Neither wealthy nor transient, Barnesville is made up of white painted Victorians and there is a hometown feel to this tiny hamlet where there is no home mail delivery and a stranger is only an unknown for the first five minutes they're in town.
Barnesville has a few businesses; chief among them the Hilton Funeral Home, Hilton's Carpeting and Barnesville Station, a gift shop, crafts center and party place. The Amtrac and Marc trains run through the area and the Marc train carries commuters to city jobs in the morning and home in the evening. Saint Mary's Church on Barnesville Road is famous for their monthly dinners and festival in summer and the other parish, Barnesville Baptist, is recognized for its summer Bible camp and its choir.
Two holidays receive special attention; Halloween and Christmas. Residents spare no effort to make the town delightfully spooky or bright with Christmas lights. Windows and porches glow and one is aware that a trip to Barnesville is a trip back in time to the days when neighbors knew one another and people cared. Such villages are the backbone of America and are too soon fading from a landscape dedicated to the doubtful development of progress by way of strip malls, condos and parking garages. The government has declared much of the land around Barnesville as a conservation area and new construction is restrained but there are those who would have that change within the next few years.
Time and tide made it necessary for me to leave the town a few years ago but if you're ever near Barnesville stop in and say 'hello' to Maureen at the Post Office, see lovely Sugarloaf Mountain, feel protected by the rolling hills and know that you've a home in Montgomery County Maryland.
FROM FREDERICK, MD take 270 to Poolesville exit 23. Turn right onto 109 (Old Hundred Road) and pass the Comus Inn. Barnesville is two miles south of Comus/Sugarloaf.
FROM ROCKVILLE take 270 to exit 23 south and follow directions above or take Darnestown Road to Beallsville and make a right onto 109 at the traffic light/fire house/Staub's Inn.
FROM LEESBURG take Rt 7 north to White's Ferry and follow White's Ferry Road east to Poolesville where it becomes Fisher Avenue. At the stop sign/corner gas station turn left and proceed north on 109 for 6 miles to Barnesville Road.
Art and text by Garfield Images. Copyright � 2001. All rights reserved.
