A town whose future may recapture its past -- maryland life, July-August 2006

There are no Harneys in Harney, Maryland. Never were. Just a long-gone post office with that name. Harney's postal address is Taneytown.

But don't let that fool., you. The tiny hamlet, hard by the Mason-Dixon Line in northwestern Carroll County, has its own identify, with a past, present. and maybe even a future.

The first house was built around 1815. By the time a cluster of houses had sprouted at the crossroads whose streets lead to Gettysbrug, Taneytown, Littlestown, and Emmitsburg, the place was known as Monocacyville, for the river that rises just west of town.

The citizens demanded their own post office, but a Monocacyville address already existed elswhere in Maryland. At last, the Emmitsburg postmaster chose. He had just read a newspaper account about a General Harney sent to escort a new governor into the troubled Utah Territory. Bingo! Harney was born. Year of birth: 1857.

I didn't know all that when I took a wrong turn and wound up there by mistake. I'd driven 60 miles from my Montgomery County home for a ktichen haircut from my former barber, who'd moved to a little farm near Emmitsburg. It was on HarneyRoad.... (article is not available on-line. to subscribe or to purchase a copy of this article, visit www.maryland-life.com or e-mail sales.maryland-life.com.