Bethesda
The Bethesda area includes Chevy Chase, Cabin John, and Glen Echo. By the Civil War years, families such as the Hodges, Perrys, Dunlops, and Poseys, enslaved between 12-42 persons each. These farms and manor homes, taverns such as the Old Stone Tavern near Old Georgetown and Wisconsin Roads, the C&O Canal, stone quarries, and mills for flour, cider, and lumber all used enslaved labor. After the Civil War, new hotels along the canal offered respite from the D.C. heat for visitors.
In the 1890s, an electric trolley running from the new Glen Echo Park to Wisconsin Avenue, and the new B&O Railroad improved transportation to and from D.C. All of these businesses, as well as new suburban developments, provided employment for emancipated slaves from local plantations, as well as Virginia, North Carolina and even Mississippi. They lived on lanes like the ones in the image above, creating small communities with churches, schools and mutual aid societies.
As Bethesda developed in the early 1900s, former enslavers such as Peter Posey still owned 270 acres of land, R.H. Goldsborough 440 acres, and H. Loughborough 117 acres. Other swathes of land were being bought by developers like the West Chevy Chase Land Company, which included restrictive covenants not allowing Black or Jewish people to occupy homes there.
Alta Vista | Miller's Flats | Brookmont | Cabin John | Carver Road | Clipper Lane | Dorsey Lane | Elm Street | Gibson Grove (linked with No. 10) | Graysville | Hawkins Lane | Jones Bridge Road | Moses Hall | No. 10 (linked with Gibson Grove) | River Road | Rock Spring
Alta Vista
Bethesda, Md
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In the vicinity of Old Georgetown Road and Alta Vista Road northwest of Bethesda. In 1901 the Bethesda Land Company bought 222 acres and developed it. It was further subdivided later on to allow for homes for people of more limited financial means. It is likely that some of the residents of the Black Alta Vista community worked for the white families in this new suburb.
If anyone knows a more specific location or has information about founders and residents of this community, please let us know.​
Photo courtesy of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC)
Brookmont
Bethesda, Md
Brookmont Park celebrates the small 1920s Brookmont neighborhood in Bethesda, which included three families. The community was located near Locks 6 and 7 in Bethesda, and community members quite possibly helped build and maintain these locks.
More about Brookmont...​​​
Photo of barge "Canal Clipper" between Fletcher's boathouse and Brookmont. Date not noted. Courtesy of Montgomery History.
Carver Road
Bethesda, Md
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​As a ship-testing site, the U.S. Navy built the David Taylor Model Basin in Carderock in the late 1930s. In order to provide housing for its new employees, it built a white neighborhood of 100 homes, and a Black neighborhood with 25 homes. Initially, the Black families were required to pay rent, but many were sold to the residents after a few years. The community was linked to Gibson Grove. Between 1891 and 1935, residents may have traveled into D.C. using the streetcars that ran from Glen Echo Park into Bethesda, and then down into D.C.
More about Carver Road...​​​​
Clipper Lane
Bethesda, Md
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In the 1900 U.S. census, John and Martha Clipper, their six sons and two daughters, lived next to George (his son? 27 years apart in age) and George’s wife Lucy and their three children. The adult men were working as day laborers.
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Apparently the census takers had stopped listing an occupation for women who were doing the work of keeping the house, because no occupation is listed for any of the women on this census page unless they were a servant.
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More about Clipper Lane...
Dorsey Lane
Bethesda. Md
Dorsey Lane, once home of the Dorsey family, is now an industrial section of Bethesda. If anyone knows a more specific location or has information about founders and residents of this community, please let us know!​
Elm Street
Bethesda. Md
Elm Street is now a busy commercial street in the middle of Bethesda. If anyone knows a more specific location or has information about founders and residents of this community, please let us know.
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Photo courtesy of Google Maps.
Gibson Grove (originally called No. 10)
Gibson Grove was founded by Sarah Gibson, who after being enslaved in Virginia, saved money while working with her husband, Robert, on a farm in Potomac.
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In 1861 Sarah, her husband Louis, and their two sons were freed by Union soldiers during the battle of Bull Run. In the ensuing chaos, Sarah and her sons became separated from Louis. She managed to cross Bull Run by balancing her sons, one on each side, and walking across a log placed over the stream. She found her way to Washington, D.C. and later was reunited with Louis at the Shiloh Baptist church, a known meeting place for freed slaves.
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More about the Gibsons....
Photo courtesy of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC).
Elm Street
Bethesda. Md
Elm Street is now a part of downtown Bethesda. If you have any information on this historic community, please let us know.
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Photo courtesy of GoogleMaps, 2025
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NEED TO ADD 7 MORE HBC BLOCKS
Dorsey Lane
Bethesda. Md
Dorsey Lane, once home of the Dorsey family, is now an industrial section of Bethesda. If anyone knows a more specific location or has information about founders and residents of this community, please let us know!​
Elm Street
Bethesda. Md
Elm Street is now a busy commercial street in the middle of Bethesda. If anyone knows a more specific location or has information about founders and residents of this community, please let us know.
​
Photo courtesy of Google Maps.
Gibson Grove (originally called No. 10)
Gibson Grove was founded by Sarah Gibson, who after being enslaved in Virginia, saved money while working with her husband, Robert, on a farm in Potomac.
​
In 1861 Sarah, her husband Louis, and their two sons were freed by Union soldiers during the battle of Bull Run. In the ensuing chaos, Sarah and her sons became separated from Louis. She managed to cross Bull Run by balancing her sons, one on each side, and walking across a log placed over the stream. She found her way to Washington, D.C. and later was reunited with Louis at the Shiloh Baptist church, a known meeting place for freed slaves.
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More about the Gibsons....
Photo courtesy of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC).
Elm Street
Bethesda. Md
Elm Street is now a part of downtown Bethesda. If you have any information on this historic community, please let us know.
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Photo courtesy of GoogleMaps, 2025
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NEED TO ADD 7 MORE HBC BLOCKS
Dorsey Lane
Bethesda. Md
Dorsey Lane, once home of the Dorsey family, is now an industrial section of Bethesda. If anyone knows a more specific location or has information about founders and residents of this community, please let us know!​
Elm Street
Bethesda. Md
Elm Street is now a busy commercial street in the middle of Bethesda. If anyone knows a more specific location or has information about founders and residents of this community, please let us know.
​
Photo courtesy of Google Maps.
Gibson Grove (originally called No. 10)
Gibson Grove was founded by Sarah Gibson, who after being enslaved in Virginia, saved money while working with her husband, Robert, on a farm in Potomac.
​
In 1861 Sarah, her husband Louis, and their two sons were freed by Union soldiers during the battle of Bull Run. In the ensuing chaos, Sarah and her sons became separated from Louis. She managed to cross Bull Run by balancing her sons, one on each side, and walking across a log placed over the stream. She found her way to Washington, D.C. and later was reunited with Louis at the Shiloh Baptist church, a known meeting place for freed slaves.
​​​
More about the Gibsons....
Photo courtesy of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC).
Elm Street
Bethesda. Md
Elm Street is now a part of downtown Bethesda. If you have any information on this historic community, please let us know.
​
Photo courtesy of GoogleMaps, 2025
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NEED TO ADD 7 MORE HBC BLOCKS