Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania

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Blue Ridge Summit is a town in southcentral Pennsylvania, located at 39.72° North, 77.47° West. Blue Ridge Summit is in Franklin County, Pennsylvania near the Maryland border, southwest of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Its ZIP code is 17214, and its telephone area code is 717. Route 16 runs through it.

The following excerpts are taken from the book "Blue Ridge Summit" by John Howard McClellan

The Blue Ridge Summit community lies at the top of the South Mountain at the Monterey Pass. A community that stretches its environs into parts of four counties and two states, straddling the Mason-Dixon line. On the Pennsylvania side it lies in parts of Franklin and Adams counties. On the Maryland side of the line, it extends into both Frederick and Washington counties. After the introduction of the railroad in 1872, this area grew to become a lively and fashionable vacation community. Near the turn of the last century, this region was in its hey-day. It remained a resort area until its decline during the Depression of 1929 and the following years of limited travel during World War II (1939-1945). Tradition tells us that these mountains were traversed by the Indians of the Woodland Epoch, such as, the Susquehannock or Conestogoe Tribes of the Delaware Nation and the Tuscarora of the Cherokee Nation. The Indians used paths over these mountains close to Mt. Dunlap and Clermont Crag. Continuous use of these paths by the Indians in their interactions with each other pioneered the courses of early roads through Blue Ridge Summit. Mr. Fithian first visited our part of the country in the company of a fellow novice clergyman, Andrew Henter. He came from Philadelphia by way of Lancaster and stating of Yorktowne (present day York, PA) in his journal on May 16, 1775: "Its inhabitants are all Dutch". Meaning that they were chiefly of German extraction. Pressing on west the following morning. He and Mr. Hunter reached the summit of our Blue Ridge on May 18, 1775, which he had called the South Blue Mountain. In 1816, an act of incorporation was passed in the Pennsylvania Legislature forming the Waynesboro, Greencastle and Mercersburg Turnpike Company. On September 21, 1820 the road was reported completed over the mountain from the Maryland line near Emmetsburg to the west end of Waynesboro. Another legend has it that in 1822-23 Madame Don Augustine de Iturbide pasted this way and because the summit, rimmed in by mountains, was a reminder of her native Monterey in Mexico, she called it Monterey.^[1]

Blue Ridge Summit is notable for being the place of birth of Wallis Simpson, the late wife of The Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor. It is also home to one of the 15 oldest golf courses in the United States. Built before 1885, the Monterey Country Club has served as a summer retreat for many Washingtonians, and American Presidents Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge and Dwight D. Eisenhower have all played the Monterey Country Club course.

Local History During The Gettysburg Campaign

At the time of the Gettysburg Campaign of 1863, there were several cavalry skirmishes in and around Emmitsburg, Maryland - including Fountain Dale, and Monterey pass.

On June 22nd the first skirmish occurred along the Monterey Mountain pass near Blue Ridge Summit. An armed civilian militia encountered a detachment of Confederates under General Albert G. Jenkins. The militia was forced to retreat after a very brief skirmish. General Jenkins and his Confederate troops withdrew toward Hagerstown joining General Richard S. Ewell, who was advancing with a larger force.[1]

Following the events at the Battle of Gettysburg, the Confederate Army retreated via Emmitsburg. On July 5th, General J. E. B. Stuart's soldiers were engaged in some small skirmishes as he made his way back to General Robert E. Lee's army. A mountain swamp at Monterey Pass bogged down Stuart and the Army of Northern Virginia as they retreated.[2] The Monterey Country Club sits upon 37 acres that were once part of that swamp.

Other Local Interest

It is in an underground complex near to Blue Ridge Summit on Raven Rock Mountain that the U.S. Vice President sometimes resides when he is "at an undisclosed location" in case of an attack on the United States. The complex is referred to most commonly as Site R, but also Raven Rock or the Alternate Joint Communications Center, created in 1951 as a command center in the event of a nuclear or other attack on Washington, DC.