Germantown Student Receives Scholarship From Local Historical Society

Seneca Valley High School student Steven Isaacson was awarded $500.

Germantown Historical Society awarded a $500 scholarship to Seneca Valley High School student Steven Isaacson.  The scholarship was presented Wednesday at an awards ceremony at Seneca Valley. Steven has a weighted GPA of 3.95. He has taken eight advanced placement (AP) classes, five of which are Social Studies classes (AP US History, AP US Government, AP World History, AP Psychology, and AP Comparative Government), according to a news release from the historical society.

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Today: Flea Market

Germantown Historical Society hosts monthly market

Germantown Historical Society hosts a flea market on the first Saturday of the month, through November. Hours are 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Germantown MARC station parking lot, at Bowman Mill and Walter Johnson drives. Check the Historical Society’s website for rain dates.  You’ll find similar events in Patch’s events calendar. Related:

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How Germantown Roads Got Their Names

Ever wonder what the name of the street you live on or drive on means? As Shakespeare said in Romeo and Juliet, “What’s in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” But would a pig named Rose smell sweet?

In the old days, roads were simply named for the places they went to or from, or for a local landmark. Now streets and roads are given their names by the National-Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC). Streets in large housing developments are named by the developer at site plan review before the M-NCPPC. People can also petition the local government for a particular street name. When naming streets, the county government attempts to give the street a title that would be identifiable to the local community, either by landmarks or through history. Sometimes, however, the historical site or landmark may be far distant from the road named for it, creating confusion. In Germantown, Richter Farm Road runs through the old Richter Farm, …

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Germantown Then and Now

The Great Road: The Story of Frederick Road

What began as a Native American path went on to become "The Great Road, " known today as Frederick Road or Route 355.

Traveled by Native Americans, presidents, generals, gypsies and families seeking a new life in the west, “The Great Road,” known today as Frederick Road or Route 355, provided a path for both the adventurer and the entrepreneur. As the main route northwest from Georgetown, the last port on the Potomac River, it was heavily traveled from the mid 18th century until it was replaced by Interstate 270 in the 1960s.  It began as an Indian trail leading from the Piscataway settlement at the mouth of Rock Creek to the great “Conestoga,” a trail that included footpaths and waterways (what we would today call “intermodal”) from the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania southwest into Virginia and beyond. It went inland to avoid the falls on the Potomac …

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Spotlight: Germantown Historical Society

The historical society was founded in 1990.

Every day this week, Patch is profiling a local nonprofit agency. If there's a nonprofit that you think your neighbors need to know about, email Doug Tallman or Lauren Sausser. Mission: According to the organization's website, "The basic goals of the group are to educate the community about local history, to provide an archive for local historical information, and to preserve local historic sites." Contact Information: Phone: (301) 972-2707; Address: P.O. Box 475, Germantown; Website: www.germantownmdhistory.org Financials: The annual operating budget is $160,000. History: This nonprofit was founded in 1990. A brief history of the organization online explains that the Germantown population began booming after 1974 and, as a result, lost …

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