Barnesville, Maryland Population, Hospitals, Airports, and Schools

The town of Barnesville, nestled at the foot of Sugarloaf Mountain on land surveyed for Jeremiah Hays in 1749, is the last rural outpost in the predominantly urban Montgomery County. It was named in honor of William Barnes, who built the first house in the town. In the book History of Western Maryland (1882), Barnesville is described as situated in the middle of a rich, tobacco-growing region.

During the Civil War, Union forces marched through the town in search of Robert E. Lee’s army. Town residents took shelter in their cellars. Sugarloaf Mountain was an observation point, and during a battle for its summit on September 9, 1862, the town changed hands five times. The Union army finally emerged as the winner of that battle. The first female Confederate spy, Rose Greenhaugh O’Neill, was baptized in Barnesville by her uncle who was the pastor at St. Mary’s Church. Eventually, she was captured by Union forces and imprisoned.

Barnesville is approximately 73 miles from Baltimore, 17 miles from Rockville, and 35 miles from Washington, D.C. In the early days, supplies were shipped by barge up the Monocacy River or were carried by horse and buggy from Baltimore. Today, the town is a third of a mile in area, with two churches, 64 residences, an antique shop, a craft shop, funeral homes, artists, and accountants. It has maintained the charm of a center of rural commerce from which it evolved—a store, blacksmith shop, tannery, physician, tavern, school, hotels, and a magistrate who owned a 250-acre farm. That farm still remained in the same family after more than 200 years.

Barnesville lies within a residential/agricultural zone and has its own zoning laws. Surrounded by rural density-transfer zones of rolling hills and green pastures, it has found zoning to be one of the most precious tools of government.

Barnesville is small in size, but its rural character, rich history, and friendly residents—some descended from the families who founded the town—make it truly “a caring community,” as the town’s slogan announces. On July 5, 1997, the people of Barnesville celebrated the town’s 250th anniversary with a parade, picnic, and fireworks. Town resident Susan Pearcy designed a logo to commemorate the occasion.