The community was founded by
Quakers who arrived in the early 18th century searching for land where they could grow
tobacco and
corn. One of the very early land owners in the Sandy Spring area was
Richard Snowden, who patented (purchased) the "Snowden's Manor" in 1715. Snowden gradually enlarged his property with additional land purchases over the next few decades until it was surveyed at over as "Snowden's Manor Enlarged" in 1743. Another important early landowner, Major John Bradford, had patented over in the Sandy Spring area, including "Charley Forest" in 1716, The Quakers built their current brick
meeting house in 1817, replacing a 1770 frame meeting house. Quakers first began worshiping in the area circa 1753. The site is near a fresh-water spring that gave its name to the community. In the late 19th century the community started a local school called the Sherwood Academy. This school was turned over to the Government of
Montgomery County in 1906 to become
Sherwood High School, the county's third public high school. A Quaker school,
Sandy Spring Friends School, was established in 1961. In 1967 a Quaker retirement community, Friends House, was founded next to the school. The Sandy Spring Library opened behind the Sandy Spring Store in 1842.
Benjamin Hallowell Benjamin Hallowell (1799–1887) was a prominent Quaker in 19th century Sandy Spring. An educator, he taught at Fair Hill in Olney, then taught in Virginia. He lived at Rockland in Olney. His farm is now the Hallowell housing development. He briefly served as the first president of the Maryland Agricultural College (later to become the
University of Maryland.) He was integral in forming the Sandy Spring Farmer's Club and the Mutual Fire Insurance Company.
Dr. Bird Dr Jacob Wheeler Bird was born in
Anne Arundel County in 1885. He attended
St. John's College in
Annapolis, and he earned his medical degree from the
University of Maryland, Baltimore in 1907. Wood wanted a place to preserve antique furniture, farm equipment, photographs, paintings, and documents of the Sandy Spring area. Florence Virginia Barrett Lehman also helped found the museum. The museum was originally located in the basement of a
Sandy Spring National Bank branch in
Olney. it moved to Tall Timbers, a brick four-story
Colonial house that had been the home of Gladys Brooke Tumbleson, who had died earlier that year. In 2007, an addition opened, providing a research library and a collections storage facility for the museum. ==References==