Oldtown

History

It was founded in 18th century colonial times and was initially called "Opessa's Town" or "Shawanese Old Town" because it was the site of a Shawnee Amerindian village established by Opessa Straight Tail and abandoned about 1725. In later years the explanatory prefix was dropped from the name and the place because known simply as "Oldtown". Oldtown was begun (on a soon to be busy road) with the building of a trading post along an old Native American trail, the Nemacolin Trail, as traders, especially fur traders (and trappers) pushed through the Cumberland Narrows mountain pass into the Monongahela River valley. In 1741 Thomas Cresap established a trading post at the abandoned village. A few years earlier, Cresap had figured prominently in the Conejohela War, (also called Cresap's War) concerning the Conejohela Flats area of the Susquehanna River valley, later York County, Pennsylvania. Shortly after his release from prison in Pennsylvania for advocating Maryland's claims, Cresap moved west to the sparsely settled frontier. Lord Baltimore claimed lands at the headwaters of the Potomac River. The move positioned Cresap and his patron to open the as yet uncharted Ohio Country. Cresap and the Delaware chief Nemacolin opened a road westward under the auspices of the Virginia and Maryland speculators of the Ohio Company once they received a charter. Cresap's son Michael Cresap was born at Oldtown, the first white male born in Allegany County. A post office was established there on May 26, 1870. Oldtown is connected by a one-lane low-water toll bridge to Green Spring, West Virginia. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal reached Cumberland, Maryland, from Georgetown (Washington, D.C.) in 1850, passing Oldtown at milepost 166.5. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, located just across…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,675
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  4,637
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  4,465
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  4,415
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  4,195
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  3,867
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  3,806
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  3,780

Most recent

• M 3.03 — 2016-01-17
  3 km NE of Ranson, West Virginia