Georges Creek Valley - Towns in The Valley

Towns in The Valley

• Westernport: Westernport is the terminus of Georges Creek, where it empties into the North Branch of the Potomac River. The town derives its name from being the western-most navigable port on the river. In the late 18th century and early to mid part of the 19th century, coal and timber was loaded onto flatboats at Westernport, where George's Creek empties into the Potomac, then floated down to near Great Falls, Virginia, where the goods were unloaded, the boats broken up to sell as lumber, and the operators walking back to Westernport. The Town of Piedmont, West Virginia lies directly adjacent to Westernport on the other side of the Potomac.
• Barton: The Reverend William Shaw, a Methodist minister settled on the site of Barton in 1794. His son, William Shaw Jr. laid out the town in 1853, naming it for his father's hometown, Barton-upon-Humber, England.
• Lonaconing: The first non-Indian settlers in the late 18th century were explorers, hunters and farmers. Names of some of the first settlers were Dye, Duckworth, Green, Fazenbaker, Beeman, Grove, VanBuskirk, Knapp and Miller. The first stone house built in 1797 in Knapps Meadow just north of Lonaconing was owned by Samuel VanBuskirk. The house still stands as of 2005.
• Midland
• Frostburg: Frostburg is the home of Frostburg State University, an institution within the University System of Maryland.