On Saturday, April 27, the Seneca Valley Sugarloafers Volksmarch Club sponsored a 10km walk (with a 5km option) through Historic Rockville. The sun shone brilliantly and the air was crisp—ideal weather for the 158 walkers.
Rockville is filled with a lot of American history. Montgomery Avenue was the grand avenue of Rockville’s Victorian era and is lined with many well-preserved Victorian structures. Rockville has historical connections to both the Civil and Revolutionary Wars. J. E. B. Stuart and his Confederate troops stopped at 104 W. Jefferson Street in 1863 on their way to meet General Lee. At the corner of W. Jefferson and S. Washington Sts. is the site of the former Hungerford Tavern where patriots of Lower Frederick County met in 1774 to draft the “Hungerford Resolves.” Both George Washington and General Lafayette tarried at the Tavern.
The walk passes along the “African American Heritage Trail,” which is commemorated by plaques denoting people and places that played significant roles in black history in Rockville. On North Street and Martins Lane walkers passed through the black community known as Haiti which dates back to the 1830s and evolved over more than 150 years. Many descendants of the original residents still live there. Haiti was annexed by the City of Rockville in 1949.
In addition to seeing the historic sites, the walkers were treated to Mother Nature’s glory in the flowers on annual plants, perennial bushes and on trees. It was a beautiful, colorful show.
