About This Station
The station is powered by a Oregon Scientific WMR200 weather station. The data is collected every X seconds and the site is updated every 10 minutes. This site and its data is collected using Weather Display Software. The station is comprised of an anemometer, a rain gauge and a thermo-hydro sensor situated on top of my greenhouse.
About This City
The area currently known as Damascus was granted by the new state of Maryland to Nathaniel Pigman in 1783. On February 14, 1819, War of 1812 veteran named Edward Hughes bought a 40-acre section of the grant and began subdividing lots for sale. James Madison, the fourth U.S. President, appointed Hughes postmaster of the developing community of Damascus in 1816.
Damascus is located at the intersection of two major roads in upper Montgomery County, Ridge Road (currently Rt. 27) and Damascus Road (currently Rt. 108). Hughes received permission from Congress for a postal route through town. Hughes called his town "The Pleasant Plains of Damascus" after Damascus, Syria (a biblical reference). A newspaper in Frederick, Maryland, wrote of Hughes's growing town: "There is at this place an extensive opening for mechanics of all the different kinds, and it bids fair to improve very fast; ... There is at present two blacksmith shops, a saddler's shop and a store in the place -- a tailor, a wheel wright, and a shoemaker are much wanted, and would meet with great encouragement." This was the Damascus of 1816. The new township drew settlers from Anne Arundel County as well as from Montgomery County. On September 12, 1862, U.S. Federal troops marched through the "village" of Damascus via what is now Route 27 on their way to the town of Sharpsburg, where they engaged Confederate troops commanded by General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Antietam.
The town was incorporated from 1890 to 1914, when the townspeople requested the incorporation be withdrawn so that Old Quaker Road, used since Revolutionary times and before, could be paved into a state highway. The town remains a commercial center for rural communities like Clagettsville, Browningsville, Cedar Grove, Woodfield, King's Valley, Purdum, and Lewisdale, although it is more developed today.
About This Website
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