HAILS ART GALLERY - Olney, Maryland

Read all about the Town of Brookeville Below

Enjoy the Prints in the
GALLERY LANDMARKS COLLECTION

Longwood Recreation Center, a print by Barbara Hails
Originally built in the 1940's, it is now a community gathering place.

Brookeville, Maryland

Brookeville is a village located two miles to the north of Olney in upper Montgomery County. In the heart of town, period homes are clustered around the intersection of Georgia Avenue and Market Street, reminding passersby of an elegant, graceful past. Incorporated in 1808, Brookeville applies strict historic guidelines to renovations of original and any new buildings in order to retain the town's gentle and distinctive character. It served as the Nation's Capital for a day August 24, 1814, when the British invaded Washington, D.C. and James Madison fled the White House.

In the 1870s the town boasted blacksmiths, merchants, and carpenters, a private academy and a public school, and grain mills. The fertile surrounding land made farming profitable for the industrious. A nearby strike (on Gold Mine Road) spawned one of America's earliest gold rushes.

According to Olney: Echoes of the Past by Healan Barrow and Kristine Stevens, General J.E.B. Stuart released prisoners in Brookeville on June 29,1863 on his journey north to Gettysburg, and appropriated fresh horses from the local population. Fourteen years earlier in 1849, the Union Turnpike Company built a toll road from Brookeville to the Seventh Street Pike in Washington, making it a natural route north to the battlefield. The Turnpike was sold to the state of Maryland in 1914 and the Union Turnpike Company dissolved. "Upper Newfoundland Hundred" tax district was the name given for the area that today includes Olney, Brookeville, Sandy Spring, and Laytonsville.

The Brookeville Post Office, that formerly commanded the busy High Street (Georgia Ave.)-Market Street intersection, has been relocated to Sunshine, Maryland a few miles to the north on Georgia Avenue. In 1994 Brookeville celebrated its Bicentennial.

From the Maryland Archives:

BROOKEVILLE

Incorporated 1808 (Chapter 90, Acts of 1808)
Population:
1990 census: 54
2000 census: 120
TOWN COMMISSION
Elected by Voters to 2-year terms (May)*
*(charter amended Feb. 14, 2000, providing staggered terms)
Meetings: 2nd Monday, 8:00 p.m.
P. O. Box 67
Brookeville, MD 20833-0067
e-mail: townofbrookeville@comcast.net
web: www.townofbrookevillemd.org

For more information visit:
• The State of Maryland Archives
• Some Early History of Brookeville, Maryland
• Longwood Recreation Center 19300 Georgia Ave. Brookeville, MD 20833 301-570-1200
• Town of Brookeville Historic Map by Miche Booz and Rosemary McHugh available from the Sandy Spring Museum Store

Longwood Recreation Center, Brookeville, Maryland

Tenant Cabin on Brookeville Road

TENANT CABIN ON BROOKEVILLE ROAD is an ancient, one room, oak, log structure inhabited until 1974. It was built in 1764 as one of three slaves´ quarters on Oakley Manor Estate. Known as the Oakley Cabin, it has been acquired for preservation by the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission. It is shown in the drawing in its original condition as it existed before vandals made a restoration necessary.

• The Maryland Historical Trust
• The National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service
• Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission, Oakley Cabin