Pre-settlement .
Indigenous peoples inhabited the Point of Rocks regions for centuries prior to
European colonization. The
Piscataway were one of the indigenous cultures to live in Point of Rocks, inhabiting an island in the
Potomac River known today as Heater's Island. Eventually, conflicts with neighboring tribes and European settlers forced the migration of the Piscataway from their ancestral homelands of
Prince George's County to Heater's Island around 1699, though their population was severely decreased by an outbreak of smallpox in 1704. The Piscataways remained on the island for a few more years before migrating north into Pennsylvania and New York. About a decade after the Piscataway abandoned their settlement on Heater's Island, the first European settler in Point of Rocks, Arthur Nelson, received a patent for a tract of land called "Nelson's Island." The Nelson Family retained their status as prominent landholders in Point of Rocks in the early-18th century, developing several plantations on which tobacco was grown. Commercial interests in the region led the Nelsons to petition for a road to be built connecting
Frederick and "Nelson's Ferry," the first English-language name assigned to the village that became Point of Rocks. This road was eventually constructed and became known as Ballenger Creek Pike.
19th and 20th centuries In the early-19th century, the arrival of the
Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Canal and the
Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad led to an increase in settlement and industry in the Point of Rocks area. The village became a temporary terminus for both the C&O Canal and the B&O Railroad in 1828 when the companies went to court to determine which would control the right of way through the narrow passage between the
Potomac River and Catoctin Mountain immediately west of Point of Rocks. After six years of court battles, the companies agreed to compromise and share the right of way, the B&O Railroad eventually constructing a tunnel through the mountain to broaden its lines through the narrow water gap. With the construction of the C&O Canal and the B&O Railroad and its strategic location on the Potomac River, Point of Rocks was poised to become a regional transportation hub and center of industrial activity. In 1835, Charles Johnson, the owner of the land on which Point of Rocks was built, had lots surveyed and streets laid out for a new town. From the earliest days of European settlement in Point of Rocks, forced labor through
indentured servitude and
enslavement of
African Americans drove the local economy. Tobacco plantations in the fertile lands of the lower Monocacy Valley were operated based on the labor of enslaved men and women. The plantation owners also used their slaves to build houses, places of business, and public buildings, such as
St. Paul's Episcopal Church, completed in 1841 using the labor of enslaved men and women from the Duval Plantation. Nearby Licksville, a small community located near
Noland's Ferry crossing the Potomac River was the site of an active slave market.
American Civil War , who organized the
Union Army-aligned
Loudoun Rangers in 1873 Situated on the state line between
Maryland and the seceded state of
Virginia, Point of Rocks was the site of several small skirmishes and military actions during the
Civil War. The B&O Railroad and C&O Canal were important targets for Confederate raiders across the
Potomac River. In 1861, then Colonel
Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson led a raid at Point of Rocks, shutting off the rail lines east of the town and capturing 56 locomotives and 300 rail cars. Neighboring
Loudoun County, Virginia, was home to several small pockets of Union supporters, including
Quakers who lived in villages like
Waterford and
Lincoln who did not support secession or the Confederate cause for defending the institution of slavery. Point of Rocks became a haven for those families who were forced to flee Virginia. In 1862, Captain
Samuel C. Means, a native of
Waterford, Virginia, but then living in Point of Rocks where he was a merchant and B&O Railroad station manager, raised a cavalry unit called the
Loudoun Rangers, the only organized unit from Virginia to fight for the Union. The Loudoun Rangers spent most of 1862 and 1863 fighting alongside
Cole's Maryland Cavalry (the First Potomac Home Brigade) to protect the C&O Canal and the B&O Railroad from frequent Confederate raids. Cole's Maryland Cavalry encamped at Point of Rocks, occupying St. Paul's Episcopal Church where they burned the interior furnishings. Lt. Col.
John S. Mosby and his
43rd Battalion of Virginia Cavalry, known as "Mosby's Raiders", crossed the Potomac and attacked Union garrison forces at Point of Rocks in 1864 in a brief campaign called the "Calico Raid." In 1873, the
B&O Railroad opened its Metropolitan Branch, connecting
Washington D.C. to its Old Main Line in a junction at Point of Rocks. A
new station, which has become a noted town landmark, was erected the same year. The Gothic Revival styled brick building was designed by
E. Francis Baldwin and is situated in the center of the junction of the two lines. Several other prominent structures were built in the town during the Victorian era, including the town's Methodist Church (1894), Holy Trinity Episcopal Church (1887, replaced in 1912), St. Luke's Lutheran Church (1889), and Masonic Temple (1898).
21st century In 2001,
Duke Energy filed an application with the
Maryland Public Service Commission to construct a
power plant on the north edge of town. In November 2002, however, Duke officially canceled its proposal, though it retains property in the area. The
Point of Rocks railroad station was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and
St. Paul's Episcopal Church was listed in 1978.
Flooding Older portions of the town are on the Potomac River
floodplain and have been repeatedly inundated. An ongoing
Federal Emergency Management Agency program to reduce
flood insurance payouts has resulted in the purchase and demolition of a large portion of structures on the lowest-lying properties. ==Geography==