Burkittsville, MD

At the eastern foot of South Mountain, Burkittsville grew where the old Monocacy Road climbed toward Crampton's Gap. Farms and travelers once met here around a tannery, wheelwrights, cooper, stores, and churches. On September 14, 1862, the Battle of Crampton's Gap reached the town during the Maryland Campaign, and churches, schoolhouse, barns, and homes became field hospitals for wounded Union and Confederate soldiers. The Blair Witch Project added a pop-culture layer in 1999, yet the town's older role as a valley crossroads remains the stronger clue to its shape.

Most of the town lies in the Burkittsville Historic District, listed on the National Register in 1975 and connected to the larger Crampton's Gap Historic District. The South Mountain Heritage Society keeps a museum in the 1829 Resurrection Reformed Church, with archives and programs that give the preserved streets an active local use. The former schoolhouse serves as a Ruritan meeting hall and community center, and the post office remains on its historic site. Gathland State Park and the War Correspondents Memorial Arch sit up the mountain road toward the Appalachian Trail. Burkittsville is still legible as a village between farm fields, battlefield ground, and South Mountain.