Norbeck, Maryland

Norbeck is the area of Montgomery County, Maryland around Norbeck Road (Maryland Route 28) east of Georgia Avenue to Layhill Road. Shortly before the Civil War, free blacks founded Norbeck.^[1]

A museum in Sandy Spring, Maryland provides the information that Norbeck is the:

Southwestern outpost of the greater Sandy Spring neighborhood [and] put down roots as a free-black community shortly before the Civil War. With emancipation it grew, with the largest population concentrated in a community known as Mt. Pleasant between present Georgia Avenue and Muncaster Mill Road. In Mt. Pleasant were a church, school, and meeting hall, along with a store run by whites. White families, too, settled along the area's intersecting roads. Unlike most Sandy Spring crossroads, Norbeck was slow to sprout the usual general store and blacksmith/wheelwright shops. Not until the 1880s did a store and post office open, and another decade elapsed before a smith set up shop. By 1900 A.E. Stonestreet was operating his large store and the postal service, Walter H. White owned the blacksmith shop—and Norbeck's commercial course was set.^[2]

The Norbeck Citizens Association, established by the African American community that existed along Norbeck Road in the mid 1970s, described in 2002:

This area of Montgomery County is one of small streets with a rural atmosphere. The side streets were developed some time ago, prior to the massive spread of the Washington suburbs. As such, there are many areas of woods and mature trees, and no commercial development. It is also very convenient to many Washington DC areas, with Rockville Pike's commercial corridor being a quick drive west on Route 28, the District being south on Georgia Avenue, and Baltimore and other parts of Maryland to the east. Being on the outer edge of the densest part of suburban Washington DC, it is also now an area under intense pressure for change.^[3][4]

Geology

The Norbeck Intrusive Suite, an Ordovician granitic pluton, is the local bedrock.^[5]

References

1. ↑ Roig-Franzia,, Manuel; Thompson, Krissah; Flaherty, Mary Pat (December 23, 2014). "Camille Cosby: A life spent juggling her role as public figure with desire to be private". Washington Post. 
2. ↑ "Norbeck/Oakdale". Sandy Spring Museum. Retrieved 2015-02-08. 
3. ↑ "Information". Norbeck Citizens Association. 2002-12-24. Retrieved 2008-05-06. 
4. ↑ "Life in the Heart of Montgomery County, Maryland". Norbeck Citizens Association. Retrieved 2008-05-06. 
5. ↑ Drake, A.A., Jr., 1998, Geologic map of the Kensington quadrangle, Montgomery County, Maryland: U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Quadrangle Map, GQ-1774, scale 1:24,000

See also

• Norbeck Citizens Association website

Municipalities and communities of Montgomery County, Maryland, United States County seat: Rockville Cities Gaithersburg Rockville Takoma Park Towns Barnesville Brookeville Chevy Chase Chevy Chase View Chevy Chase Village Garrett Park Glen Echo Kensington Laytonsville Poolesville Somerset Washington Grove Villages & Special Tax Districts Chevy Chase Section Three Chevy Chase Section Five Drummond Friendship Heights Martin's Additions North Chevy Chase Oakmont CDPs Ashton-Sandy Spring Aspen Hill Bethesda Brookmont Burtonsville Cabin John Calverton‡ Chevy Chase Clarksburg Cloverly Colesville Damascus Darnestown Derwood Fairland Forest Glen Four Corners Friendship Heights Village Germantown Glenmont Hillandale‡ Kemp Mill Layhill Leisure World Montgomery Village North Bethesda North Kensington North Potomac Olney Potomac Redland Silver Spring South Kensington Spencerville Travilah Wheaton White Oak Unincorporated communities Ashton Beallsville Boyds Brinklow Carderock Carole Highlands Chevy Chase Chinatown Comus Dawsonville Dickerson Ednor Fairview Hyattstown Kentlands Norbeck Norwood Seneca Sandy Spring Shady Grove Sherwood Forest Footnotes ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties

Coordinates: 39°06′36″N 77°04′33″W / 39.11000°N 77.07583°W / 39.11000; -77.07583