When Joseph Wolfe was a child, a relative won a little green lizard at a fair and didn’t know what to do with it. “They reached out, and 13-year-old me was over the moon about it,” Wolfe says. From that anole, Wolfe’s love of…

Just inside the waiting area of Bonnie’s at the Red Byrd in Keedysville is a vintage newspaper page commemorating the restaurant’s grand opening in 1958. It is part of a collage that shows original photos of happy diners, postcards of…

Food is a basic need, but good food is a true pleasure. Pair that with good drink, good tunes, and good friends and you’ve got Branded Chophouse in Boonsboro. Fans of Vanish Farmwoods Brewery near Lucketts, Virgnia, may catch a…

“Mental health? There are a lot of signs but no one wants to take them seriously until something drastic happens,” says 18-year-old Aspen Marie Griffith. “Mental health is talked about a lot more, but there still isn’t much help. And going through therapy…

If Hub City Vinyl has a mantra, it should be “business in the front, party in the back.” During the day, there’s a record shop in the front of the store where lovers of vinyl can peruse, but in the evenings, Thursdays through Sundays, it’s Live at Hub City Vinyl, a place where…

Author and humanitarian Sam Childers (aka the Machine Gun Preacher), Thaddeus Bullard (WWE Titus O’Neil), and other celebrities are part of local portrait artist Nicole Troup’s mission to bring awareness to her Portraits for a Cause project. Her most recent painting of…

If ever a Major League baseball player achieved nothing more than footnote status, it was Thomas Charles Lipp. He made his Major League debut for the Philadelphia Phillies on…

Diners are an enduring part of the American restaurant landscape, so it’s easy to feel nostalgic walking into one. That’s true at the Dixie Eatery in Smithsburg. Online reviewers say…

Mystery and romance novelist Nora Roberts saved the historic building at the intersection of Alt. Route 40 and St. Paul Street, rebuilding it from the ashes of a fire and turning it into an elegant bed and breakfast called Inn BoonsBoro. Each room is named…

For Jeremiah Weddle, farming is in his blood. Relatives going back at least to his great grandparents have been farming in Washington County. His parents started Creek Bound Farm in 1980 doing most of the labor by hand. They grew the farm into the 4,500 acres that the family manages today.

Established by Shellie Ralston in 2000, Rhubarb House is an outgrowth of the Tasteful Presentations catering service she started in the mid-1990s. Now, both businesses operate under the Rhubarb House umbrella. The split-level eatery is open for lunch during the week and special periodic dinners.  

Many moons ago, a young Barry Harbaugh took a class trip with the other seventh graders at Boonsboro Middle School to see a performance of Leonard Bernstein’s “Mass” at the newly opened Kennedy Center. Sitting in the audience, he just knew he wanted to be a part of live theater for the rest of his life.

In 2004, Tekesha Martinez left Hagerstown and swore she would never come back. Growing up as a foster child, being bounced from place to place, she found herself alone as a teenaged mom and angry at the community that had raised her. She returned in 2010, now a mother of five, and had every intention of leaving again. But fate had other plans. 

Check in on the Flying Boxcars website and it will give you the exact time down to the second before professional baseball makes its return to Hagerstown. Check in on the Visit Hagerstown website for a live feed of the progress on construction of the new downtown ballpark, officially the Hagerstown Multi-Use Sports and Event Center. As the time ticks away and construction continues…

By 1923 much of the town of Smithsburg had been built, and now, a century later, not much has changed. Pleasantly, Smithsburg retains its 19th-century charm and the town center is largely unencumbered by modern development. The town boundaries have been pushed out to accommodate some housing developments over the years and that has brought the population to…

It’s the thrill of the hunt. Whether stalking game for supper or the day’s best bargain, finding what you seek is always satisfying. While some folks insist only new things will do, others turn a savvy eye to second-hand shops for “new-to-me” treasures.

KIX guitarist Brian Forsythe was sitting in a jail cell thinking about how it could all go so wrong. “I had visions of being on an arena stage, and here I was,” says Forsythe, who had been arrested on drug charges. “I couldn’t believe that my life had changed so much.”

Humans are wired to crave sweets. It makes us happy, if not just a little buzzed. From our ancient ancestors’ yen for berries and honey to the modern-day candy isle, everyone needs a treat every now and then. When hunting for sweets, Olympia Candy Kitchen in Hagerstown is a great place to start.

Whether you’re in the market for fine antiques, a cozy stay at a bed and breakfast, an accountant to do your taxes, or just a good beer, we’ve got it in our annual reader’s poll list of the best of Hagerstown and Washington County. Here are the restaurants, businesses, professionals, and entertainment venues that our readers picked as the best.

Diane Smith and her family were living in Rockville, Maryland, when they purchased a fixer-upper in Big Pool. One day, Smith drove through Hancock on an errand and saw that the Lockhouse restaurant on East Main Street was for sale.