Hawkin's Lane

A historic Black community in Montgomery County, Maryland

Hawkins Lane, Bethesda, MD. Photo by Neile Whitney 2025.

Chevy Chase, MD

Driving up Hawkins Lane still gives a sense of what this small kinship community must have been like in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Residents in the late 20th century fought off developers and had the lane designated as an official historic district. This kinship community was founded by James H. Hawkins in 1893, when he bought three acres of land that had in until 1867 belonged to a white farmer named James Hawkins.

The counties master plan notes:

...a unique and important historical resource in Montgomery County - an outstanding example of a black 'kinship' community which reflects the heritage and lifestyle of black citizens at the turn of the century and in the early 20th century. There are few intact, early black communities left in the county and even fewer which so clearly demonstrate the determination and legacy of one family - the Hawkins. Although the structures in the district are modest, they clearly reflect a sense of historic time and place. The district, as a whole, is an essential part of the county's history to be preserved, remembered, and appreciated. (The Ad Hoc Committee to Save Hawkins Lane and Snyderman 1991, 2)

According to a Hawkin’s Lane resident, two of the properties on Hawkin’s Lane still belong to Hawkins descendants.

Example of 1928 architecture. Archival photo courtesy of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC)

Example of 1938 architecture.. Archival photo courtesy of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC)

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This article is part of MoCoLMP's project mapping our historic Black communities and their relationship to sites of enslavement during the Civil War. The map also shows the locations of the three known lynchings in 19th century Montgomery County, MD.

Reference

The Ad Hoc Committee to Save Hawkins Lane and Lois Snyderman. 1991. “The Hawkins Lane Historic District Development Guidelines Handbook,” Proposal to make Hawkins Lane an historic district. Montgomery Planning. https://montgomeryplanning.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Hawkins-Lane-HD-Development-Guidelines-Handbook.pdf