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Visit a section of river between Fairfax Stone and Westernport...
Fairfax Stone
Kempton, Md.
Potomac State Forest
Jennings Randolph Lake
Savage River
Westernport, Md. |
Following the waters of the Potomac down from the Fairfax Stone, Kempton is the first town along the river. Kempton was created toward the end of the period of development and exploitation of natural resources of the North Branch that started after the Civil War. Henry Gassaway Davis brokered this industrial boom, developing saw mills, coal mines and mills to take advantage of the rich natural resources of the Allegheny Highlands and Plateau.
The Davis Coal and Coke Company established Kempton in 1913. The town was considered by many to be a model company town. Unlike other company towns along the North Branch, Kempton had a paved main street and sidewalk and even an opera house. By 1918 Kempton had rows of single-family homes to house miners and their families, mining officials, the company doctor, and the company store manager.
In 1950, Davis Coal and Coke closed the mine at Kempton and the company store in a single day. The immediate loss of jobs quickly emptied the community and the company houses were torn down or sold to the few remaining residents. Once a bustling coal town with a population of 850, the current population is down to eight people (and seven dogs).
It is interesting to walk along Main Street in Kempton today and peer in among the trees at the foundations and other remnants of this ghost of a coal town on the Potomac's North Branch. |
