Accident

History

Accident was one of the early settlements in the far west of Maryland. The name originates about the time of the 1786 land survey. Though the origin or meaning of the name is obscure, one popular story says that Brooke Beall and William Deakins, Jr., friends from Prince George's County, were conducting separate surveys in the area at the time and "by accident" Deakins claimed land already surveyed by Beall. When Lord Baltimore opened up the area, which he called Monocacy Manor, for settlement, in the early 1770s, Brooke Beall secured permission to survey . It will never be known for certain how Beall came to choose this particular spot, but the surveyor was given clear instructions where to start. He was to begin "in the center between two bounded white oak trees, standing on the North Side of the South fork of Bear Creek in or near a glade about one Hundred yards from said Run, about one or two Miles above a Lick known by the name of the "Cole Mine Lick", about above the mouth of Broad Creek and about East of a Ridge of the Negro Mountain." John Hanson, Jr., later a delegate to the Continental Congress, and President of the United States in Congress Assembled, on April 14, 1774, surveyed the land, finding that it only contained . For the next twelve years, nothing was done with the survey. The American Revolutionary War intervened, and it was not until February 15, 1786, that the land was granted by means of a patent to William Deakins. The following year the surrounding countryside was surveyed into military lots by Francis Deakins, lots that were meant as compensation for the soldiers who served from Maryland during the Revolution. Each soldier who served for two years received one lot of , officers received four lots of each. Kaese Mill was listed on the…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all land. Accident is located in the plateau region of the Appalachian Mountains.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  8,876
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  7,688
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  7,520
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  6,694
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  6,442
• American Goldfinch

  Spinus tristis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  6,178
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  6,005
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  5,394

Largest nearby schools

• Northern Garrett High School
  High · Accident · 439 students · 12.2:1 ratio
• Northern Middle School
  Middle · Accident · 320 students · 13.9:1 ratio
• Accident Elementary
  Elementary · Accident · 235 students · 13.1:1 ratio
• Friendsville Elementary
  Elementary · Friendsville · 138 students · 12.5:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.9 — 2020-10-06
  5 km WSW of Bolivar, Pennsylvania