Hagerstown, Maryland

I had a divorce case in Washington County, Maryland, this morning and had to go to the county seat, Hagerstown, for the hearing.  There’s something odd about this village.

The city is 30 minutes west of Frederick on US 70.  My first trip there was December 2004 when my father suffered a stroke.  A chapter 7 bankruptcy hearing, a minor traffic case, and now this divorce – all work-related issues - were the only reasons to go back there again.

US70 west of Frederick passes some incredibly scenic areas.  Huge valleys open up and you can see for miles on end; unfortunately that part of the drive lacks a “scenic view” stop, so you have to take in the view as you drive.  I can’t say it’s “breathtaking” (e.g. Elaine Benes or ugly baby) as I suffered no respiratory lapses due to the view.  But it’s nice to see, which isn’t something you can usually say about a drive on an interstate.

The town itself is fairly small and OLD.  Very few buildings appear to be newer than the 1960s, and the majority seems to date from the Civil War or turn of the century.

History.  Founded in 1762 by Jonathan Hager as Elizabethtown, renamed Hagerstown in his honor in 1813.  As it was not only a road and railroad hub but on the way from the Shenandoah Valley to Gettysburg, the city was a frequent target during the Civil War.

Many towns in the US date from well before the Civil War, but in most cases the “downtown” area has been developed and surrounded by so many later buildings that the CW era portion is practically nonrecognizable.  NYC is a clear example of this:  the Wall Street district, despite its irregular streets, is mostly modern skyscrapers, e.g. the World Trade Center.  DC, Boston, and Philadelphia are the same.  I couldn’t identify an “old town” Los Angeles, apart from some residential neighborhoods north of Wilshire Blvd. which obviously date from the 1920s. When the filmmakers made “The Last Samurai” (Tom Cruise movie) which takes place in Yokohama, they had to literally recreate the 19^th century Yokohama on a set, because modern-day Yokohama was far too developed and modern.

So the challenge becomes to find the city which is the least changed from its 19^th century format.  Paris, France, actually is a good example of this, as even the Eiffel Tower is an 1889 addition, with very few modern elements:  the Pompidou Centre and the Tour Montparnasse.   Richmond (Virginia!) also comes close to this, but its Broad Street still has a fair amount of new, big buildings; that’s another city which I’d like to visit at my leisure, but so far I’ve only been there on business and pressed for time to return home.

What makes Hagerstown unique is that the old part of town is largely unmolested and sits by itself in the valley.  You don’t have to drive though a modern city to find it, you drive up Route 40 and...there it is, the OLD, NAKED, CITY.  Voila.