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Hogan, an elderly resident who had lived in Richmond, Virginia, since leaving Brunswick in 1926, began writing a series of articles about the Brunswick he knew, the railroad and canal as he remembered them, the operation of the mill, where he had worked, and many o_ther facets of life in earlier days. He aroused a lot of public interest.

Commission members began making cassette recordings of the recollections of old-timers. Clippings and pictures were amassed. The job of collecting material for the book was begun in earnest, even as annual "Homecomings" honoring distinguished citizens were being planned.

When the Brunswick Police headquarters moved to a building at the foot of Florida Avenue at Brunswick Street, the Mayor and Council made room in the basement of City Hall for the history commission's headquarters. The BHC purchased a fire-retardant filing cabinet to store permanently the results of research and the very chapters to be included in the proposed book.

And now, today, in 1990, the year of Brunswick's Centennial, the book has become the reality of a ten-year dream. Commission members who helped produce this first history book of Brunswick invite you to read with pride the growth and development of Berlin 1787, which consisted of 96 lots platted by Leonard Smith, to Brunswick 1990, a town of two square miles and 5000 citizens.

W-MMM

THE TOWN: A BACKGROUND

(The book staff is grateful to H. Austin Cooper for his many years of research into the history of Brunswick and sharing results of his exhaustive investigation.)

An Indian trader named Abraham Pennington ran a trading post and ferry. He built his log cabin trading post on a tract of land named "Coxon Rest," near where the C&O Canal Lock 30 now stands, establishing 1728 as the date of Brunswick's first settlement.

The second trader was Henry Roth, Jr., of York County, Pennsylvania. In 1744 he lived in what is now Burkittsville. That year he purchased Pennington's trading post and ferry, which Roth operated until 1760, when he removed to Brothers Valley, Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

AN EARLY FERRY

By 1741 John Hawkins, Sr., began operating a ferry. As the Germans continued heading for settlement in Virginia, many crossed here. At Hawkins' ferry, migrants from Pennsylvania went to German Settlement (now Lovettsville, Virginia), and then south along the Blue Ridge Mountains to the iron works in Orange County, Virginia. Brunswick was then called "German Crossing."

By 1750 "Potomac Crossing" (an early name for Berlin) had several permanent families.

ROUTES

The Highland Indian Trail, now Route 17, ran north-south directly through this tract across the Potomac and all the way to Florida. By 1759 people were still passing through this tiny village and traversing the Potomac on their journey to Virginia. Across the river, nearby Lovettsville had grown to a town of over 250 residents.

INDIANS

About the time that the white man came into the area in 1728, the Iroquois tribes, including the Susquehannan Indians, had cleared the other Indians from this region and were trading here when the earliest trappers and hunters arrived. The early settlers lived at peace with the Indians, but were cut off from all conveniences of life and had to struggle with nature for a livelihood. The trading post became the only connection between the settlers and the outside world.

ROYAL GRANT

On August 10, 1753, a grant of 3100 acres from George II, King of England, to John Hawkins, is the first record of a transfer of this land. The picturesque name of this grant, "Hawkins' Merry Peep O' Day," gives some idea of the pleasure Hawkins must have received from the view that greeted him in the morning.

This expanse bordered Merryland Tract to the north, near present-day Souder Road, today's northern boundary of Brunswick. South Mountain was to the west. To the east was "Haw Bottom," in the Boss Arnold area.

ENTER LEONARD SMITH

The 3100-acre grant was divided between Hawkins' sons in 1758. The western half passed through three more owners until November 7, 1780, when it was deeded to Leonard Smith (born in England, 1734).

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