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Ward's Wagon Stand (site)
19502 National Highway
Frostburg, MD 21532From Searight's The Old Pike (1894):
About one mile west of Frostburg, and at the foot of Big Savage mountain, is Sand Springs, so called from the gurgling water in the sand at that point. In 1836 the widow Ward kept a wagon stand tavern at Sand Springs. Her house was a favorite resort for old wagoners. On the night of October 3, 1836; snow fell to the depth of a foot at Sand Springs, breaking down the timber all through the surrounding mountains. Mrs. Ward's wagon yard was crowded with teams and wagons that night, and the snow was so deep the next day that the wagoners deemed it inexpedient to turn out, and remained at Mrs. Ward's until the following morning. John Snider was among the wagoners at Mrs. Ward's on the occasion mentioned, and is authority for the occurrence of the October snow storm. The tavern at Sand Springs was subsequently kept by John Welsh, an old stage driver, Hiram Sutton and Jacob Conrod, in the order named. Hiram Sutton was a son-in-law of Jared Clary. He kept the Sand Springs tavern down to the year 1852, when he moved to Parkersburg, West Virginia, and may be living there yet. Philip Spiker, the old blacksmith at Sand Springs, it is said could shoe more horses in a given time than any other blacksmith on the road. He had a rival, however, in A. Brice Devan, now of Dunbar, who, in the palmy days of the road, carried on a shop in Hopwood, and shod horses for old wagoners all night long on many occasions. Devan's backers will not concede that Spiker was a speedier shoer than he.
Notes - This tavern was run by James Ward and his wife Cordelia Rosetta Clary Ward, sister of Aden and Mary Clary.
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Last updated: 2014-04-05 16:32:26 |
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