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of devastation in Ellicott City. At the Trolley Stop Restaurant, for instance, the high-water mark was above the first floor doorway. But some good came out of the storm, with the formation of Historic Ellicott City, Inc. (tel. 410-461-6908). Its mission: to revitalize the historic district and preserve historic structures, including the restoration of the Railway Station and Thomas Isaac’s Log Cabin.

TIP: The Hauntings of Ellicott Mills Ghost Tours promise “true” tales of hauntings in the historic district. April through August on first Friday and Saturday evenings, 8:30 pm. $8 adults, $6 for children under 12 and seniors. Reservations required. (tel. 800-288-8747)

Event

The Garlic Mustard Challenge began to help rid the Patapsco River Valley of the invasive garlic mustard weed. Contest for the most creative dish using the weed. Held second Saturday in May at Patapsco Valley State Park Avalon Area. (tel. 410-480-0824)

Western Maryland

It’s a thrilling trip on Interstate 68 into western Maryland, over the Eastern Continental Divide, over several mountains and through the spectacular Sideling Hill gap, where eons of geological history are displayed in a cliff of rock. West of the Divide, you’ll find a land where sparkling rivers flow north instead of south, where vast state forests harbor multitudes of outdoor recreation, where the history of the pioneer is a fairly recent memory, and where small towns are oases in a land some might consider still quite wild.

Getting Here

I-68 passes through the region, providing easy access to the featured towns of Cumberland, Frostburg and Grantsville. Oakland and the resort area of Deep Creek Lake are accessed via Route 219 south.

Western Maryland is served by the Greater Cumberland Regional Airport (tel. 304-738-0002).

Regional Information

Allegany County Visitors Bureau, Western Maryland Railway Station, Cumberland, tel. 800-425-2067, www.mdmountainside.com.

State Welcome Centers are located on I-68 near the West Virginia border and at Hancock.

Cumberland

Around Town

A white Honda Civic pulls up to the C&O train station and out jumps a young man. He quickly grabs a daypack, a small pair of sneakers and a little boy from the back car seat. Dad looks at his watch, stuffs sneakers in the backpack and carries his stocking-footed boy across the parking lot, hurries up a flight of stairs and onto the train station platform. Dangling from the little boy’s hand is a toy steam engine. It’s 11:24 and the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad is about ready to leave the station.

Long-ago excitement of train travel is re-enacted daily in Cumberland, once the second largest city in Maryland, next to Baltimore. The National Road, our nation’s first federally funded highway, started in this town, as did the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, which hauled coal from the mountains of western Maryland to the east. At one time five railroads intersected here. The elaborate Queen Ann Station owned by the B&O Railroad had a dining room that seated 1,400 in which the Maryland governor held balls, and guests hobnobbed in game rooms and tennis courts. But when the heyday of railroading ended, so did the station. It was torn down in 1972.

Those days of wine and roses are long gone for Cumberland, but the railroad experience lives on aboard the Western Maryland Scenic, which departs from the fabulously restored Historic Western Maryland Railway Station on excursions, dinner trains and murder mystery trips. A 32-mile round-trip daily excursion through rugged mountains takes you to the small town of Frostburg for a 90-minute layover (see Frostburg chapter). The train departs daily May through December, pulled by either a 1916 Baldwin steam locomotive or an early 20th-century diesel engine (and sometimes both!). Black smudges on engineers’ faces are proof that the steam engine is indeed powered by coal. The train masters even wear the traditional striped denim overalls and caps. (tel. 800-TRAIN-50, www.wmsr.com)

We usually travel on the cheap, but this is one time we went first class.