Maryland Route 550

Libertytown to Thurmont MD 550 begins at an intersection with MD 26 (Main Street) in the unincorporated village of Libertytown and heads northwest as Woodsboro Road. The highway passes through the Piedmont uplands, a region of rounded hills, low ridges, relatively high relief, irregular plains, and narrow valleys with a mix of farms and forests. MD 550 crosses Cabbage Run and Dorcas Branch, follows Dorcas Branch through a gap in Laurel Hill, and enters the town of Woodsboro just after crossing Israel Creek. MD 550 turns north and runs concurrently with MD 194 on Woodsboro Pike on the east side of the town; Liberty Road heads west from the intersection toward the center of town. MD 550 turns west onto Woodsboro–Creagerstown Road, which immediately intersects the north end of Main Street (MD 194A). MD 550 continues northwest through the Piedmont lowlands, which contain wide and undulating ridges, broad nearly level valleys, limited local relief, and a mosaic of farms, houses, and woodland. MD 550 also passes to the west of another 18th century farmhouse, Strawberry Hill, before reaching the unincorporated village of Creagerstown. The route’s name changes to Creagerstown Road at Old Frederick Road at the south end of village, and at Blacks Mill Road the road passes to the east of the St. John's Church at Creagerstown Historic District, which preserves a pair of church buildings—the early 20th-century St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church and the 19th-century building of the defunct St. John’s Reformed Church—as well as the first church’s parish house and a cemetery. MD 550 continues northwest as Creagerstown Road to the hamlet of Jimtown; the highway intersects Moser Road and Hessong Bridge at a four-legged intersection and turns north onto Jimtown Road toward Thurmont. At the northern edge of Thurmont, the state highway meets US 15 (Catoctin Mountain Highway) at a diamond interchange and passes Catoctin High School. After passing through the unincorporated village of Sabillasville and intersecting Bentzel Road on the north side of the village, the highway leaves the valley and ascends the eastern flank of South Mountain. MD 550 curves west parallel to the Maryland Midland Railway and summits South Mountain at the Frederick–Washington county line about south of the Pennsylvania state line. The highway intersects CSX's Hanover Subdivision rail line at grade, turns from McAfee Hill Road onto Pen Mar Road, and passes under the railroad and by Lake Royer. MD 550 reaches its northern terminus west of the lake at the edge of Camp Louise, a girls' summer camp founded in 1922; Pen Mar Road continues as a county highway toward the community of Pen Mar and Pen Mar Park. ==History==

MD 550 was constructed in two main sections: MD 550 between Libertytown and Thurmont, and MD 81 from Thurmont to Fort Ritchie. The first section of the Libertytown–Thurmont portion of MD 550 was constructed as a segment of former MD 72. MD 72 followed Lewistown Road and Old Frederick Road from US 15 at Lewistown east and north through Creagerstown to near Loys Station south of MD 77. The portion of MD 72 through Creagerstown was built in 1926. The first section of MD 550 proper was of concrete road built east from Woodsboro in 1933. MD 550 was extended east to Cabbage Run between 1933 and 1935. A second section of MD 550 was started from MD 77 east of Thurmont towards Creagerstown in 1938. This western section was completed in 1939, the same year the eastern section was completed between Woodsboro and Libertytown. The first section of what would become MD 81 was paved as a state-aid road from the Pennsylvania state line south along Warren Avenue and Cascade Road through Highfield and Cascade by 1910. The main portion of MD 81 was constructed from Emmitsburg Road (which later became US 15 and is now MD 806) north to Sabillasville around 1923. The highway was completed to the Pennsylvania state line at Blue Ridge Summit, using what are now Naylor Road and Old Sabillasville Road, around 1927. The pre-1910 portion of MD 81 in Washington County was reconstructed and extended west toward Pen Mar in 1930. Military Road was constructed around 1933 between Highfield and Fort Ritchie. The eastern end of Military Road at the Frederick–Washington county line was tied into a relocation of MD 81 between Sabillasville and Blue Ridge Summit that was completed in 1936. This bypass included an underpass of the Western Maryland Railway at Sabillasville and resulted in the highway no longer entering Pennsylvania; the old alignment of MD 81 was designated MD 625. In 1956, MD 72 was removed from the state highway system. MD 550 was extended southeast through Creagerstown to Woodsboro to connect with the Woodsboro–Libertytown section. MD 550 was extended through Thurmont, west along MD 77 and north along MD 806, and assumed all of MD 81 in 1977. Construction on MD 194's bypass of Woodsboro was started in 1995. When the bypass was completed in 1997, MD 550 was removed from the center of Woodsboro to its present alignment on the northern and eastern sides of town. ==Junction list==