Clarksburg

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Clarksburg's

Clarksburg

Big Woods

Clarksburg, Md

One

Foreman's Hill

Clarksburg, Md

We do not have any information on this kinship community. If you have more information or a story about this community, please contact us!

Blocktown

Frederick Road

Clarksburg, Md

We do not have any information on this kinship community. If you have more information or a story about this community, please contact us!

Martinsburg

Lewisdale

Clarksburg, Md

The (white) Lewisdale historic district evaluated by the Maryland Historic Trust is at the crossroads of Clarksburg and Price Distillery Road. Their documents note that most of that property had been owned by Margaret Beall.

Although the HBC is remembered as being called "Lewisdale," that area is all farmland. It is possible that the Lewisdale HBC is (or was) on or just off Lewisdale Road and Aiken Drive, which is close to the farm of enslaver William Lewis. Thus far, we have not found any of the persons listed as enslaved by William Lewis on the 1870 census of Montgomery County.

If anyone knows anything about this community, please let us know.

Rocky Hill

Owensville

Clarksburg, Md

Black families in Rocky Hill celebrated church in family homes beginning in about 1870. According to the Maryland Historical Trust, “In 1884 Lloyd Gibbs, one of the members of the church, purchased a tract of land of 24 acres (deed EBP 32/409). Two years later he and his wife, Sarah Gibbs, conveyed one acre to George T. Williams and the other trustees of the Pleasant View Methodist Episcopal Church {deed JA 9/399).” (1) A few years later, the community built a church building.

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Running Brook Road / Clarksburg Heights

Clarksburg, Md

This kinship community is near the Wims Road and Rocky Hill Communities. In 1963, six houses were erected here on four acres of land bought by Francis William Wims, a Clarksburg builder, on almost eight acres of land that had belonged to John Henning and Hattie Rebecca Mason, Rocky Hill descendants.

Photo courtesy of Google Maps.

Stringtown Road

Thompson's Corner

Clarksburg, Md

Men along Stringtown Road were known for playing stringed instruments. One of the first homes here was built by Robert Perry Foreman in 1903. In 1910 he was living there with his wife, Martha Brown Foreman, his four children, and his morther-in-law. Next door were George and Allie Watson. Descendants still live here, and are connected with the Stewartown HBC, including attending Goshen United Methodist.

Please contact us if you have any stories to share!

Wims Road

Clarksburg, Md

The Wims family was central to the historic Black families in this area. John Henry Wims born as a slave c. 1849, was one of the few black postal carriers in the county. John's father, John T. Wims, born in 1815, is the oldest person buried in the John Wesley United Methodist Church cemetery. In the 1880 census, he is shown as living next to his son, Warner Wims and Warner's wife, Mariah Duffey. Next door to them were John H. and Mary E. Green.

Wims Road, once the site of the extended Wims family, is now the site of Clarksburg High School.

There are no enslaved with the last name of Wims listed in the 1867 Slave Statistics.

John Henry Wims, Clarksburg, c 1930s.png

Turnertown

Photo of John Henry Wims with his horses courtesy of Montgomery History.

References

Clarke, Nina H., and Lillian B. Brown. 1978. History of the Black Public Schools of Montgomery County, Maryland, 1872-1961. D.C., Washington: Vintage Press.

Keyes, Allison. 2016. “For Nearly 150 Years, This One House Told a Novel Story About the African-American Experience.” Smithsonian Magazine, (Sep).

Maryland National Park & Planning Commission. 2025. “Clarksburg Heights Historic District: Clarksburg, Montgomery County, MD. Master Plan Historic District Designation Form.” Maryland: MNPPC.

Smithsonian Institution. 1978-1979. “Historical Records related to the Jones-Hall-Sims House.” Smithsonian Institution.