We know history runs deep in  Washington County, but it runs much deeper than what happened on the Antietam battlefield on Sept. 17, 1862. Decades before the Civil War, Clear Spring, now a small town of fewer than 400 people, was a thriving community, serving as a...

Fresh fruits and vegetables and shelves full of healthy food are finally headed to downtown Hagerstown. Horizon Goodwill Industries, with help from many foundations, funds, and local businesses, will create a full-service grocery store on Prospect Street, where a...

Who doesn’t like chocolate and coffee—especially when it comes with a side of service to humanity? Brooke’s House Coffee and Chocolate is more than just a place to indulge in delightful treats and warm beverages. It is a sanctuary of hope and transformation, where women...

My youngest daughter’s name is Summer. So, it’s safe to say that my favorite time of year is when it’s hot and sticky and the days last forever. But there’s something about fall. I guess that fall is supposed to be about endings, about leaves coming down to...

Thai food seems to be everywhere these days, taking tables by storm with its reputation for being (potentially) healthy, quick, customizable, competitively priced, and alluringly “exotic” with plenty of familiar ingredients, too. The cuisine incorporates...

One day before Gabby Tennor was barely ​​old enough for school, she was with her family listening to music. “When I started to sing, my mom was like, ‘Wow, you’re really good,’” says Gabby, now 10 years old. Recognizing that their daughter had talent, they...

Less than two miles short of the one-horse town of Chewsville and directly across Route 64 from the Wooden Keg Beer, Wine and Liquor Store hangs a sign (with an ancient golf ball globe on top) that partially belies the changes that are taking place beyond it. Though modernization of the facility is...

Kayla Crigger may be young, but she’s already doing something that plenty of people dream of doing, running her own small business. Just five years ago, flowers weren’t really on Crigger’s mind. As a sophomore in high school, she wanted to...

Hagerstown baseball fans spent the summer celebrating their new professional team and enjoying the city’s fancy new downtown ballpark while work progressed on a large indoor fieldhouse at the site of the old Municipal Stadium.. The success of the Flying Boxcars and the momentum toward turning the site of the decaying stadium into a 114,000-square-foot recreational center show the city...

When the Washington County Free Library decided it needed a way to get books to residents throughout the county and not just in Hagerstown, it was ahead of its time, and in 1905 it established the first bookmobile in the United States. A horse-drawn cart to…

Giuseppe Bellanca is a demanding coworker. He always wants to be fed, likes to nap at the desk, tends to play more than get his work done, and expects someone else to clean up his messes. But this funny…

It was more than five decades ago when a young guitar player named Lew Palladino was asked to sit in for a night with a band whose regular guitar player couldn’t make it. Then 14, Palladino ended up playing the entire week with that band in The Vogue Room in the Colonial Hotel in Hagerstown. The band…

On July 26, 1864, Gen. Jubal Early ordered Gen. “Tiger” John McCausland to proceed to Chambersburg and deliver a ransom demand. “At Chambersburg levy $100,000 in gold or $500,000 in Northern Money to pay for the houses of Andrew Hunter, Alexander R. Boteler and Edmund I. Lee of Jefferson Co. Va., which were…

I grew up in Washington County. More specifically I graduated from Boonsboro High School. More specifically than that, I was raised in Sharpsburg. From there we can…

Call it Burkholder’s Baked Goods, Burkholder’s Bakery, or The Way 2 Burkholder’s, this Sharpsburg icon is known for supplying the sweetest indulgences since 1995. Ruth Burkholder, along with daughters Julia and Susan, started churning out…

Ilze Hays of Hagerstown doesn’t just see a plant but all the possibilities that plant may hold. Like dandelions. “The dandelion is one of my favorites,” says Hays, who shares her knowledge of plants on her Facebook page Herbtastic. “You can make syrup with…

Pull into Dolce’s tiny parking lot at 792 Frederick Street in Hagerstown and the first thing you’ll notice is a sign with founder Iuliana “Julia” Manea peeking out of the window and an emblazed greeting…

On Sundays, Doub’s Woods Park in Hagerstown becomes a magical place with warriors and elves and battles and quests. This is all part of the Freehold of Phoenix Hollow…

In 2008 Gretchen Simard got tired of teaching in Virginia and made an unusual career switch. She got her contractor’s license and began remodeling homes. Her business was going along fine, but she uprooted…