Ingrid Mezo

Two of Emmitsburg’s historical treasures will now be displayed in town hall. Mike Hillman of the Emmitsburg Area Historical Society turned over two historic maps during a February 5 town meeting. He has safeguarded the maps in his home over the last eight years.

One is a 1908 copy of 1808 map depicting the original lot holders in Emmitsburg, and the other is a 1797 map drawn by court order, which shows the original boundaries of the town. The 1797 map is the oldest known original map of Emmitsburg in existence, he said.

"For the past eight years I’ve had the great honor of joining the long line of stewards who have protected the map," Hillman said. "It has been a wonderful eight years. But it is not my map any more than it was a map of the stewards before me. While I have relished every moment it hung on my walls, my pleasure came at the expense of the right of the citizens of the community to see first hand, what by birthright is theirs."

Hillman said that historic society members feel that the town board’s recent decision on the town’s true founding date has restored the significance of the map, a document that was passed down and protected for over two hundred years.

"Its protectors saw it through the darkest of the community’s time," Hillman said. "Its guardians bore witness to the riots in our streets between supporters of the Whigs and Democratic in the 1840’s. They watched neighbors die by the score from Cholera in the 1850’s, and their town burned down around them and cavalry battles in the square, that pitted brother against brother, in the 1860’s. Its protectors also saw it through the best of times. The paving of the roads with cobble stones, the laying of pipes that brought sweet mountain water, and the installations of a fountain that for generations was the pride of the community."

Hillman talked about how through the map had continued to be passed along through the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression and both World Wars. But, then, the authenticity of the map was cast into doubt as the date of the town’s founding came into dispute. A local couple, Bill and Betty Garner, rescued it "from an inglorious end," he said.

Town board members thanked Hillman for handing over the maps to the town to display.

"It’s a great honor for the town to be able to accept these two documents…" Commissioner Chris Staiger said.

"It is really a blessing for us that you have been able to put them together and treat them as they should be treated. It is a sad comment on the nature of history, the amount of documentation that gets lost through the passage of time… It’s our responsibility to maintain our history for our children."

Hillman asked that the town keep the maps in its possession, and if for any reason decided they no longer wished to display them, that they donate them to the state archives in Annapolis.