Middletown Daily Photo: January 2013

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

I Moved

After a great ten year run in Middletown Valley, I moved. The reasons are personal.

I know I will miss many aspects of life in Middletown. It is a great place and I am only 35 miles away, so I will likely visit again. The coffee is great at Main Cup, service is outstanding at Fountaindale Auto, the product mix at Snallygaster's is cool and the Heritage Festival might just be the best festival in Maryland. Oh, and Go Knights!!

Meanwhile I started a photo blog for my new town. Visit when you can.

About Middletown

Middletown, Maryland was founded in 1767 and is said to be named either for its position midway between South Mountain and the Catoctin Mountains or its central location between the larger Maryland cities of Frederick and Hagerstown. A few years earlier, a visiting surveyor and future “Father of our Country” George Washington referred to Middletown Valley as one of the most beautiful places he had ever seen.

The town was incorporated in 1833. After the Civil War battles of South Mountain and Antietam, Middletown churches served as hospitals for both Union and Confederate soldiers.

Today Middletown boasts a delicate balance of old and new. Instead of a Mayor, the town leader is a Burgess. Some of the buildings were built in the 1700s and 1800s. There are large Victorian homes as well as the typical cookie-cutter subdivisions that dot the edge of the Washington DC commuter exurbs.

The only franchise restaurant in town is a Subway; the only Starbucks is inside the Safeway.

If you really want to understand what small-town America feels like, visit Middletown during the Independence Day festivities and fireworks at Middletown Park, the Volunteer Fire Department’s annual mid-July Carnival or the Middletown Heritage Festival held in the fall.