Existing comment:
Connecting a Nation:
"The business of this place is much increased, and is improving every year... The canal will be finished next fall and a new start will then take place in everything here."
-- Merchant J.S. Shriver, Cumberland, 1849
Community trade connections grew stronger between Maryland and Virginia when Thomas Van Swearingen established a ferry across the Potomac River in 1765. His sons later increased the brisk business and expanded the family's land holdings. By the early 1800s John Blackford and his wife, Sarah Swearingen, acquired the business and property and established Ferry Hill Plantation.
A growing regional economy and need for improved land and water routes prompted John Blackford to actively endorse the internal improvements movement. He support major construction projects ranging from the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, to local and regional roadways and railroads. By 1860 a series of turnpikes, railroads, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal had crisscrossed the region, connecting the area to Baltimore and Washington markets. |