The remains of mining and railroad can be found in this place, more reminiscent of eastern Maryland than of western.

Outdoor types have been coming to western Maryland for centuries. Three Native American trails converged near Grantsville, enabling several tribes to use the area for hunting.

In the early 1700s, Meshach Browning was one of the earliest European settlers and known for his hunting skills. In “Forty-Four Years of the Life of a Hunter,” he describes life on America’s frontier and estimates he killed “1,800 to 2,000 deer, 300 to 400 bears, about 50 panthers and catamounts, with scores of wolves and wildcats.”

Self-styled vagabonds Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, Thomas Edison and John Burroughs camped in the area in the early 1900s.