(UNDER CONSTRUCTION)
You won't find Paynetown on any map of Maryland that I am aware of; in fact, you won't find it written anywhere at all. But never fear, it does, indeed, exist beyond my imagination. If you wander for a few miles, just south-west of Snow Hill, on Old Pocomoke Road, and stop to ask the locals where Paynetown is, you may just find an answer...
Paynetown, possibly "Panetown," is a very local, familiar reference to that geographic nether-region, that nebulous, unmarked rural area that just happens to lie between Castle Hill Road and the intersection of Snow Hill's Market Street with U.S. Route 113. As you head south, this friendly, quiet, very-few-white-man's land lies down, around the bend from the old carpet factory building, (past the mile-long dirt lane on your left that leads back to my Dad's house,) and may or may not encompass the Moat Road community, but some would argue starts just before you reach Carey Brothers junkyard and body shop.
Once you pass the shop, though, you'll know you're in the Paynetown limits when you spot a small shack (a little larger than an outhouse,) on your right hand side that, at least at one time, was someone's home-sweet-home.
I have many fond memories of growing up and playing around this area, and of course, many not-so-fond memories as well. On hot days, after I was ten years old and old enough to ride on the "highway," I would sometimes be allowed to play with the boys in the neighborhood. We would let air out of our bike tires and race against traffic on the asphalt, or ride to town.
My adventures in that area increased when my friend Dalton moved down the street from me, even closer to the border of Paynetown. We spent many hours in the woods behind his parent's trailer, or getting homemade icecream from the old lady down the street, who made it for maybe $.25 per styrofoam cup. There were nights hanging with the neighbors, and nights spent imitating motorcycles crashing on the highway, with the mischievous intent of distracting otherwise-complacent night motorists. We often mused that perhaps one day we would get caught by the policeman who lived across the way, but we still had a lot of fun without him...
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Paynetown, MD...
(just S/W of the
Snow Hill city limits)...