What to See in Williamsport - Top Sights and Attractions

Monument maker in Williamsport, Maryland. The Doubleday Hill Monument is an American Civil War monument located in Williamsport, Maryland, in what is now River View Cemetery. Erected in 1897, the monument commemorates the crossing of the Potomac River and occupation of the hill by Major General Abner Doubleday. The monument, also known Doubleday Hill, overlooks the Potomac River into West Virginia.

The monument also credits Doubleday with creating the game of baseball in 1835, an unlikely claim which Doubleday himself never made. A popular legend circulating at the time of the monument's erection claimed that Doubleday invented baseball in 1839, although Doubleday was attending West Point that year.

Doubleday Hill was a deviation from the more popular form of late 19th and early 20th century monuments: the statue of a standing, uniformed soldier. Between the years of 1863 through 1919, monuments often depicted a soldier “standing holding the barrel of a rifle that rests upright on the ground in front of him." This more common form was particularly prevalent from 1880 to 1920.

Monuments placed at locations other than battlefield parks during the years 1863 to 1919 normally honored soldiers and sailors from the same town, county, or state where the monument was erected. The Doubleday Hill monument differed from this practice by celebrating occupation of the site by Doubleday, who was from Ballston Spa, New York.^[1]

Museum in Williamsport, Maryland. Springfield Farm is a historic home and farm located at Williamsport, Washington County, Maryland, United States. It was built in three distinct parts, with the center, or original section, dating from the second half of the 18th century. This two-story plus attic beaded clapboard house is five bays wide with an entrance in the center bay of both the first and second stories on the east façade. The property includes a springhouse and stillhouse both of rough fieldstone, and several smaller buildings. It was a home of Revolutionary War General Otho Holland Williams.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

The farm's barn was purchased by the Town of Williamsport, which now operates the Williamsport Town Museum in the former milk parlor.^[2]

Historical landmark in Berkeley County, West Virginia. Maidstone-on-the-Potomac is a historic house and farm near Falling Waters, West Virginia. Located on the Potomac River immediately opposite Williamsport, Maryland, the property consists of a 218-acre tract with a main house dating from c. 1741. The house was built by Evan Watkins, who operated Watkins Ferry on the Potomac, which was used by George Washington and General Edward Braddock.

In 1795 the property was sold to Peter Light. The Light family retained the property until 1854, substantially expanding the house. The ferry and house, by now known as Light's Ferry passed to Robert Lemen, who converted the ferry into a cable ferry.

In 1861 the ferry was used by Union forces under Captain Abner Doubleday to cross into Virginia for raids. In 1863 Doubleday again crossed the river by fording while pursuing Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia as it advanced on Gettysburg. A month later, following Lee's defeat, 70,000 confederate soldiers crossed at Lemen's Ferry.

In the late 19th century the first bridge crossing was built at this location. Today, US 11 crosses here, bisecting the property.

The Watkins Family also became associated with the Boone Family during the time of their ownership of the Ferry. A great-great grandson, John Watkins (His father John T Watkins was born at Watkins Ferry), of the original Evan Watkins married Elizabeth Karn, a 1st and 2nd cousin of Daniel Boone's. Elizabeth was the daughter of Christopher Karn and Leah Boone.

John and Elizabeth's son Christopher Columbus Watkins married Rachel Bristow who was the granddaughter of Leah's sister, Hannah Boone.^[3]