Featured Town Of The Week: Snow Hill, MD

Each week this blog will highlight another town from our LOOK UP, AMERICA! series. Would you like a free tour? Go to the website and pick the one you want and send us an email requesting it. It’s that simple.

A Walking Tour of Snow Hill, Maryland

The town of Snow Hill was founded in 1642 by English settlers on the deep water Pocomoke River. In 1686 the Town of Snow Hill was chartered; in 1694 it was made a Royal Port by William and Mary; imported goods came through Snow Hill to be taxed. Exported goods included cypress lumber and tobacco. In addition, Snow Hill was the home of a thriving ship-building industry.

In 1742, the Houses of Assembly approved “An Act to Divide Somerset County and to Create a new County on the Seaboard Side by the name of Worcester.” Snow Hill was named as that new county seat. In 1793 the town was platted into some 100 lots. As Snow Hill gained economic importance, the Pocomoke River became more heavily traveled. Large ships called on the little port town, offering overnight service to Norfolk and Baltimore. With the increase in river traffic, Snow Hill grew in other areas: hotels and boarding houses sprang up, and the Richardson, Smith and Moore Lumber Company dominated the waterfront as the largest employer in the County. General merchandise stores, liveries, coopers, smiths, and wagon-makers all took their living from the river traffic.

After the Civil War, the railroad found its way along Maryland’s Eastern Shore, providing fast, inexpensive transportation of goods and passengers. As the technology of land transportation grew, the Pocomoke River was used less. Snow Hill went into decline: the shipyards closed, the boarding houses became vacant. However, the people turned to the agricultural industry, growing corn, soybeans and livestock. Thus, Snow Hill remains.

A disastrous fire in 1893 destroyed the original downtown area, and the early town and county records housed in the Courthouse. The replacement building stock stands largely intact today; Snow Hill, still the county seat, has the largest inventory of historic, stately homes on the lower Eastern Shore.

Our walking tour will start along the scenic Pocomoke River where a grassy greenspace has been established and there is plenty of free parking…

This tour is featured in the book:  Look Up, Maryland! Walking Tours of 50 Towns In The Free State

To view photos associated with this walking tour from this tour, clickhere.

Featured Town Of The Week: Ridgway, PA

Each week this blog will highlight another town from our LOOK UP, AMERICA! series. Would you like a free tour? Go to the website and pick the one you want and send us an email requesting it. It’s that simple.

A Walking Tour of Ridgway, Pennsylvania

The Ridgway name in question belonged to Jacob Ridgway, a Philadelphia shipping merchant. Ridgway never visited the town – in fact, he didn’t spend much time in Philadelphia. He spent large chunks of his time in the early 19th century abroad in London, sending back heaping quantities of money to be invested in real estate. The records are a bit murky, but it is generally accepted that Ridgway owned in excess of 100,000 acres of Western Pennsylvania woods. Into that wilderness in 1821 rode James L. Gillis, nephew of Jacob Ridgway by marriage, was appointed the land agent for Mr. Ridgway’s holdings. Gillis, his wife and their three children arrived by packhorse and ox-team.

Ridgway was plotted as an unincorporated village in 1833 in Jefferson County and a decade later when Elk County formed it became the county seat. Ridgway quickly became an important local political hub and regional manufacturing center, home to large tanneries and, most importantly, lumber fortunes.

The most important of Ridgway’s lumber businesses was the Hyde-Murphy Company, an internationally recognized producer of architectural millwork and art glass. Joseph Hyde was an early town pioneer and lumberman and Walter Murphy was a carpenter, contractor and mill owner before joining forces with Hyde in 1884. The company was responsible for to countless projects in the north-central Pennsylvania region, including the vast majority of substantial buildings erected in the Ridgway historic district. Its long list of clients include the Pentagon, embassies in Washington, D. C., and the Tripoli Hospital in Honolulu, among many other prestigious buildings. The Hyde-Murphy operation occupied a fifteen-building campus just north of the historic district along Race Street. The company ceased operation in 1961 and In 1974 the remaining buildings of the large complex were demolished to make way for the Ridgway Community Park.

Enough trees were felled and floated down the Clarion River that by the end of the 1800s it was said that there were more millionaires per capita living in Ridgway than any other place in America. Their legacy in the “Lily of the Valley” was designated a National Historic Register by the National Park Service in 2002. Our walking tour will start in front of the seat of justice for Elk County and see the handiwork of some of Pennsylvania’s biggest lumber barons…

This tour is featured in the book:  Look Up, Pennsylvania! Walking Tours of 50 Towns In The Keystone State

To view photos associated with this walking tour from this tour, click here.

Walking Tours of American Towns

There is no better way to see America than on foot. And there is no better way to appreciate what you are looking at than with a self-guided walking tour. Whether you are preparing for a road trip or just out to look at your own town in a new way, a walking tour from walkthetown.com is ready to explore when you are.

Individual walking tours are available in ebook format and ready for downloading onto your mobile device. Collections of town walking tours are also packaged in traditional book form of city and state guidebooks. Currently more than 150 walking tours from Massachusetts to Texas are available with more being added daily. Each week this blog will highlight another town. Would you like a free tour? Go to the website and pick the one you want and send us an email requesting it. It’s that simple.

A walking tour can be many things. Interested in heritage tourism? Looking for an educational day trip for the kids? Need a fun exercise plan? Want to find subjects to take great pictures? Each of the LOOK UP, AMERICA! walking tours describe a mix of historical, architectural, cultural and ecclesiastical landmarks. Street addresses and step-by-step directions lead the way. A quick primer on identifying architectural styles seen on America’s streets is included. So look twice before crossing the street and get out and look up, America!