Elaine Blaisdell Cumberland Times-News The Cumberland Times-News Sun Apr 03, 2011, 11:10 PM EDT CUMBERLAND — A Western Maryland history website created by city resident Steve Colby continues to be a work in progress. The website www.wmdhistory.org, which was started a year and a half ago, offers a wealth of historical information on Allegany and Washington counties. “The intent for the website was to create a collaborative online database of documented information for people to do research or who are into history,” said Colby. “It was also created to promote more consciousness of history in the area.” The website includes a host of historical articles, maps, a history forum and a Google site search. Recently added to the website are Allegany and Garrett County land patent surveys from the 1740s to 1787 and a Gazetteer of Western Maryland. “History, without visual context, often lacks the sense of place that stirs the imagination. By mining information stored in books, documents, maps and photos and presenting it online, we hope to provide a spark ... a spark that will stir you to see past the veil of everyday life and envision the history that has gone on before,” says the website. Colby is seeking transcribers for the surveys. Anyone wishing to transcribe can find the images of the original handwritten patents through the Maryland State Archives online at www.MDlandrec.net. Colby is still adding to the patent survey project and later years will be added as time permits. A gridded version of Veatch's 1787 Map of Military Lots West of Cumberland has been created to help find the location of the patents. “Early land patents and deeds often have valuable references to roads, creeks, houses, mills and other landmarks” said Colby. “Ofttimes these are the only recorded information on the location of a landmark.” Colby explained that the archives can be a little cumbersome at first and that there is a learning curve. He also explained that sometimes it is hard to search the archive for Allegany County because at one time Allegany was a part of Prince George’s County, then was a part of Frederick, followed by Washington and Garrett counties. The Gazetteer features natural and manmade landmarks from the 1700s on in Washington, Allegany and Garrett counties. The initial Gazetteer includes information from the MD State Gazetteer, circa 1941, combined with a list of Maryland post offices from about 1792 to the 1970s, according to Colby. In addition to the Western Maryland History website, Colby also hosts a Cumberland Road Project website, www.cumberlandproject.com, which features history of the National Road, and a Western Maryland History Facebook page that features historical photographs. Colby travels as far as Brownsville and Clear Spring to get pictures for the Facebook page. “Additional early landmark information, including waterways, residences, mills, roads, towns and villages, cemeteries and etc. is added almost daily (to the website),” said Colby. “I welcome people’s submission. If anyone has any historical information or if anyone would like to write a historical article, I would love to see it,” said Colby. The only thing Colby asks is that people who offer historical information also provide the documentation to back it up. Anyone with historical information on Western Maryland may e-mail it to Colby at
editor@cumberlandroadproject.com Contact Elaine Blaisdell at
eblaisdell@times-news.com 
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