Johnson Farm House, Frostburg, Maryland

Johnson Farm House, Frostburg, Maryland

by Robert Carlson [Lens4anEye]

Johnson Farm House

 

This is one of my earliest encounters with the Johnson Farm House. It had been sitting vacant for a couple of decades when I drove past it in about 1990. 

The highway is US 40, also named as The National Road and extends all the way across the country to the west coast.

Johnson Farm House

 

The location was on my route between Baltimore and Pittsburgh. That was a trip I would make 3 or 4 times a year to visit family and friend. Most of those trips were in conjunction with holidays; July 4, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Mothers and Fathers day.

Interstate Highway 68 parallels the US 40 road and the house could be seen if anyone bothered to look to the side as they sped by.

Johnson Farm House

 


 

Each time I reached the location just west of Frostburg, I would stop for another set of photographs which recorded the slow-motion slide toward oblivion for this once great house. 

 

Johnson Farm House

 

On one Thanksgiving trip headed to Pittsburgh I came across the final collapse of the Johnson Farm House. Three days later on my way home the site had been swept clear of all the debris leaving only the trees and a stone foundation remaining.

Johnson Farm House

 

The twisted pile of sticks and shingles was a bittersweet scene after all the years I followed this ultimate conclusion. i always knew this would be the end of that house. 

Once in about 1979 there was an attempt to register it as a historic place. a series of pictures were made and a 7 page description of the interior and exterior was then filed.

Johnson Farm House

 

The years still passed without any attempts to begin restoration. 

The tragedy of such places is it had no "reason to exist". It was a relic, an artifact of another time when it DID have a reason. 

In failing to find a philanthropic person or foundation to take on the work and expense nothing would ever be done.

Johnson Farm House

 

I continue to pass this place on regular trips but my travel time is a few minutes shorter since I have no reason to pause and pull out my camera.

 

 

 

 

 

Now the story in complete. complete for now that is. There may be a new story for the land where the house once stood. 

That will have to wait for now.
  

 

 

 

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Photos are copyright by Robert Carlson. Most are available for purchase for personal use. Email Lens4anEye@modalchoice.com for commercial licensing.

 

 

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