"The mechanics [craftsmen] are numerous, in proportion to the aggregate, and the Spirit of Industry seems to pervade the place."

–– George Washington, August 7, 1785

Introduction

Detail of clock that scholars believe was made in Frederick in 1760 1

The Dreaming highlights an important aspect of Frederick history that has gone unrecognized for too long: Frederick has been a center for artistry and craftsmanship since its founding in 1745.

Scholars say the first developer, Daniel Dulaney, offered incentives for craftsmen to settle in Frederick at its inception, and many did, creating a prosperous center well in advance of Washington DC. Over fifty craftsmen were documented in Frederick during its first 20 years. The surrounding county had glass houses, iron furnaces, forges and paper mills. This early history is the first of three factors that established a unique, culturally rich sense of place in Frederick a century before the handcrafted spires rose to become, through the pen of a poet, its signature symbol.

Frederick's importance as a crossroads was a second factor that helped shape its identity as an early center for culture. Since well before the Revolution, a tavern or hotel has existed on the FSK Hotel site where The Dreaming will be installed. Scholars believe Thomas Jefferson stayed here on his way to the Second Continental Congress in May of 1776. Taverns not only served the crossroads traffic; they were key meeting places where news was exchanged, politics were made, business was conducted, gossip was shared, court was sometimes held, touring theater and music and arts groups performed, and traveling paintings were exhibited. Taverns, and later hotels, were among the earliest and most important centers of community and culture in the young nation. These taverns were the precursors for the theaters that sprung up at this crossroads in later years. In fact, The Dreaming site is at the center of both a historic and a contemporary theater district. The best way to transform a city into an arts capital is to show that is has always been one.

In 1800, President John Adams spoke in this prosperous and bustling commercial center on his way to the new national capitol city of Washington DC, then just a squalid construction village and open swampland. Washington was burned by the British in 1814, who then tried to deliver the coup de grace on the dispirited country at Baltimore. A small, outgunned band of defenders at Fort McHenry, including citizens of Frederick, withstood a twenty five hour continuous bombardment and held off the British in a dramatic confrontation that sparked poet Francis Scott Key to write the poem that rallied the nation and would later become the national anthem. Key is was born in Frederick County and is buried near the crossroads in Frederick City.

The roads that cross in Frederick are ancient. They were important ancient Native American "highways" used by many tribes and peoples over the centuries. These trails served as indispensable migration and trade routes during the time when people from many cultures were building America.

The first, Market Street, aka Route 355, was a north south Native American route once known as "The Great Road" and used by General Edward Braddock at the beginning of the French and Indian War. More than half a century before Key wrote his poem, Braddock met Benjamin Franklin at the crossroads in Frederick, as well an ambitious young volunteer named George Washington who in Frederick became his aide. Franklin helped the British general but warned the arrogant Braddock about the perils of Indian fighting. Braddock ignored these warnings and met disaster and death on a northern road shortly thereafter. The young volunteer Washington survived, despite having two horses shot out from under him. His courage under fire began building his reputation as a leader.

Another major colonial road ran east and west through Frederick and later became the National Road, "America's first highway." It was used by pioneers who settled the west. The third was The Great Warrior Path, later called the Great Wagon Trail, running across western Frederick County and a key migration route for early settlers moving south.

The third factor building the cultural vitality of historic Frederick were the earliest residents who came from places and cultures with fantastically rich cultural roots — including the Germans, who came willingly, and the Africans, who did not. One former slave wrote of  his homeland, "We are almost a nation of poets, musicians and dancers." Scholars have shown how, despite their horrifying conditions of captivity, slaves created vital new musical forms that had powerful influences on American music. Internationally acclaimed avant garde jazz trumpet player Lester Bowie was born in Frederick and traced his family's musical heritage all the way back to slavery. A Frederick brass band populated by many of his Frederick ancestors graces one of his album covers. Bowie was one of the pioneers of what is called World Music.

The cultural identity of this region and our nation has been shaped by artists and artisans of many types and cultures, to an extent far beyond what most residents realize today.

La Farge Sketch of a near sighted boy 2	The trompe l'oeil painted spires of the Evangelical Lutheran church, circa 1895

In the "Crossroad of Culture" section of The Dreaming website, you can explore some of these surprising stories by clicking on the different sections within the image to the upper left or on the links at the bottom of  this or any page in this section.

This information was assembled with the generous assistance of the historians and institutions listed below, many of whom provided artifacts or images to this project. However, please note that any errors in these accounts are solely our own.

Among those to whom we owe our deepest thanks are:

Mark Hudson and the The Historical Society of Frederick County, Inc.

Archeology Research Unit at the Maryland Historical Trust

The Maryland Historical Society

George Wunderlich and the The National Museum of Civil War Medicine

The Monocacy Battlefield / National Park Service

Mount Saint Mary's University Archives

The Archaeological Conservation Laboratory at the Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum

Liz Shatto - Frederick County Historic Sites Consortium

Dean Herrin & Barbara Powell - The Catoctin Center for Regional Studies

Mary Manix and The Maryland Room of the Frederick County Public Library

The Winterthur Museum
Heidi Campbell-Shoaf - Historic Society of Frederick County, Inc.
Marie Erickson - African American Resources / Cultural and Heritage
Tom Gorsline/Frederick Magazine
Rusty Muhaland - Hood College
Lord Nickens
Tracy Shives and Gloria Swift - The Monocacy Battlefield/National Park Service
Larry Jessen
Spencer Geasy
Mount Saint Mary’s University Archives
The Library of Congress
The Schifferstadt Architectural Museum
Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site
The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation
The New York State Museum
George and Bettie Delaplaine
Frances Randall
The Maryland Shakespeare Festival
The Village of Morzheim, Germany
The Evangelical Lutheran Church
The Walters Art Museum
Unity Church of North Easton
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Architect of the US Capitol
The Maryland Ensemble Theatre
The Weinberg Center for the Arts

1. Courtesy the Historical Society of Frederick County, Inc.

2. La Farge sketch is courtesy Mount Saint Mary's Archives and Department of Special Collections, Mount Saint Mary's University, Emmitsburg, Maryland.