Accident, Maryland

Though the origin or meaning of the name is unknown, one popular story says that Brooke Beall and William Deakins, Jr.,[a] 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.[1][8] When Lord Baltimore opened up the area, which he called Monocacy Manor, for settlement, in the early 1770s, Brooke Beall secured permission to survey 778 acres (315 hectares; 1.216 square miles).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 four miles (6.4 km) above the mouth of Broad Creek and about one mile (1.6 km) East of a Ridge of the Negro Mountain."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.[10] According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.49 square miles (1.27 km2), all land.One state-maintained highway, U.S. Route 219, serves the town directly, following Main Street through the middle of Accident.To the north, US 219 connects Accident to Interstate 68 and U.S. Route 40, along with the town of Grantsville, before heading into Pennsylvania.
Detail from the original Francis Deakins 1787 survey of lots westward of Fort Cumberland, Library of Congress. Reproduced in Edward C. Papenfuse and Joseph M. Coale, The Maryland State Archives Atlas of Historical Maps of Maryland , (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003), p. 204
US 219 northbound in Accident
James Drane HouseCountryMarylandCountyGarrettIncorporatedDemonymTime zoneEastern (EST)ZIP codeArea codes301, 240FIPS codeGarrett County2020 United States censusunusual place nameLord BaltimoreNegro MountainJohn Hanson, Jr.Continental CongressAmerican Revolutionary WarKaese MillNational Register of Historic PlacesUnited States Census BureauAppalachian Mountainscensuspopulation densityracial makeupmarried couplesper capita incomepoverty lineU.S. Route 219Interstate 68U.S. Route 40GrantsvillePennsylvaniaMaryland Route 42Maryland Route 39Maryland Route 135U.S. Route 50OaklandMountain Lake ParkWest VirginiaWendell R. BeitzelMaryland House of DelegatesDrane HouseMaryland State Convention of 1788Constitution of the United StatesAnnapolisAccidentNational Park ServiceGarrett County, MarylandCounty seatDeer ParkFriendsvilleKitzmillerLoch Lynn HeightsBloomingtonCrellinFinzelGormanHuttonJenningsSwantonUnincorporatedcommunitiesAltamontAsher GladeBittingerEast VindexFairviewKeysers RidgeMcHenryRedhouseSand SpringSang RunSelbysportShallmarWest VindexWilsonGhosttownSchell