Historical Places
If you are someone who enjoys learning about the history of various places, there are a number of spots you may want to visit.
The Garrett County Historical Society Museums
There are two museums in downtown Oakland and one in Grantsville.
The first one is located on the corner of Second Street and Liberty Street. The outside of the museum has been re-done to mimic the old Oakland Hotel. Inside you will find the museum packed with Garrett County artifacts and photos. Garrett County was once a very popular destination for dignitaries and people who have become known in history, such as Albert Einstein. This museum holds not only artifacts from the County but history from the founding of the Nation.
The second museum is the Transportation Museum, located on Liberty Street. It is loaded with old cars and other memorabilia from transportation in the past.
107 South Second Street and 108 E Liberty Street, Oakland, MD
The Grantsville Museum is at 153 Main Street, Grantsville, MD
The Oakland B&O Railroad Museum
While visiting the Historical Society Museums, stop by and visit the Oakland B&O Railroad Museum. It is the original Oakland Train Station that has been redone to look like it did back then.
It was originally built in 1884 from a design by Baldwin and Pennington for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
Oakland B&O Railroad Museum, 117 E. Liberty Street, Oakland, MD
Frazee Ridge
Fraser Ridge has been made popular in the television series “Outlander”, although in the show it is depicted as being in North Carolina. The reason for this is because the series (which is a historical fiction) places the settling of Fraser Ridge in the 1800’s.
The show (and its original book) is actually based on real historical events but as a fiction not everything is true. The real family line that the show is based on helped establish Garrett County, and many of the descendants still live here. And the real Fraser Ridge (actually Frazee Ridge) is located in Friendsville, MD. The family line’s name was changed to Frazee after Samuel Fraser from Clan Fraser came to America in the 1600’s because he had such a thick accent people thought he was saying Frazee instead of Fraser. He was well educated but he wrote in Scots, which writes everything as it sounds in any given moment, not as it is spelled. Being the only family from Scotland among a sea of English settlers, they thought the family was very strange, but they still believed they were from England, hence the incorrect Frazee history you will find in the area. That history was written long before DNA, and it has now been proven that the family line is from Scotland rather than England.
When the writers of the show moved the characters to America they used real family history about the Frazees from that line who were famous in the 1800’s time period as a basic outline. It happened that one of the Frazee descendants worked the salt mines in Kentucky with Daniel Boone and eventually became his scout. Daniel Boone recommended him to George Washington, so he also scouted for him and Lois & Clark. This Frazee, who was also named Samuel, became very famous back in that day. His family ended up marrying into the Walton family and moving into North Carolina in the 1800’s.
The Frazees’ actually moved into Frazee Ridge in the 1700’s, and it was wild unsettled land at that time. You can see parts of that original tract of land. It includes Selbysport, Maryland (and the lake there at Selbysport) and what is now known as Frazee Ridge. You can find the graves of some of the descendants of the founders of Frazee Ridge in the Blooming Rose Cemetary in Friendsville, MD.
The Victorian Houses in Mt Lake Park
Back in the early 1900’s, Mt. Lake Park was a boom town. The train brought huge numbers of tourists up from Washington D.C. to vacation in the area.
Wealth abounded and many Victorian era houses and cottages were constructed in Mt. Lake Park. Many of these have been restored. They are private residences, and you will not be able to tour them, but you can drive around Mt. Lake and look at the outsides of them with all their ornate architecture.
Most of the houses are concentrated on the right side of Mt. Lake. Take Maryland Highway from Oakland to G Street in Mt Lake. Turn right onto G Street. Look for the round Ticket Museum (pictured). There may be tour maps next to the front door of the historic ticket museum. Follow this this link to the Tour Mountain Lake Park — Victorian Chautauqua for more information.
The Friend Family Museum
The headquarters of the Friend Family Association of America is in Friendsville, Maryland. You will find the Friend Family Museum in the center of Friendsville. The museum is loaded with genealogy about not only the Friend family but also other families in the area.
Friend Family Museum, 261 Maple Street, Friendsville, MD
