Originally published by Chris Nichols of Deep Creek POA.
In Part 1 of this article, we discussed a flurry of coverage of the Glades from the McHenry’s, Shriver, Skinner, and Browning in the 1820s. The area seemed to go quiet until the late 1800s when the railroad started to open the County to more visitors while state and national levels of interest grew in protecting natural fisheries. Two lakes will be formed in the 1880s-90’s – Lakes Cleveland and Brown – both solely for recreation.
The first was the project of the County’s first Fish Commissioner and local prominent citizen, Gus Delauder. Around 1883, Delauder and one of John W. Garrett’s sons, T. Harrison Garrett, purchased about 1,000 acres off of today’s Rock Lodge Road, and constructed a dam on Deep Creek, about where Cherry Creek enters. This created a lake about a mile long, and a quarter mile wide, which they stocked with game fish of the day. They planted grasses on the banks to create waterfowl habitat for hunting, had canoes for loan, a miniature steamboat for excursions, and built a fairly large lodge there to house overnight guests. Delauder named this waterbody Lake Cleveland in honor of President Grover Cleveland’s visit to the lake during his honeymoon at Deer Park.
Lake Cleveland was a commercial success since an 1892 Republican newspaper item mentions Delauder purchasing land around McHenry for the purpose of creating another lake, and as late as 1889 there is an article in the Baltimore Sun with a glowing review of the fishing, hunting, and hospitality at Lake Cleveland. Although Lake Cleveland does not appear on any contemporaneous maps, there is a tantalizing mention of a series of photographs of the lake and lodge mentioned in an 1890 Republican article.
The next lake to be built on Deep Creek was by R.T. Browning, grandson of Meshach Browning, and successor to DeLauter as Fish Commissioner. In 1893, he oversaw the construction of another dam, this one near the site of the Glendale Bridge. This project was funded by the state, unlike Lake Cleveland, likely marking the first publicly built lake for the sole purpose of recreation in Maryland. Lake Brown, named for the governor of Maryland at the time was well stocked with fish and had a well-appointed lodge nearby.
As with Lake Cleveland, there are multiple newspaper articles out of Baltimore and even Philadelphia extolling the beauty, bounty, and relaxation to be found at Lake Brown. Lake Brown, possibly since it was a public lake, appears to have been a focal point for celebrations, as noted in the article below.
Lake Browning does have a bit more documentation than its predecessor, appearing on a 1901 topographical map, a detail of which is shown below. This detail also illustrates the “swampy” area which was prone to flooding and the original crossing point of Deep Creek, slightly to the east of where the current 219 bridge is today. A photograph of the bridge at Lake Brown was also published in The Glades Star, Vol. 6, January 1986 December 1991, p. 52.
It’s unclear what exactly happened to both Lakes Brown and Cleveland. Neither appears on a planning map created by the developers of the current Deep Creek Lake, indicating that they either deteriorated naturally or were demolished at some point before 1923. Deep Creek itself is also rarely mentioned in the newspapers after 1895, and most of those references dealt with whether the county should fund the replacement of the bridge across the creek. In 1912, the County finally funded and completed the project, and there was some fanfare about the bridge reopening. In just ten years this bridge replacement would become a moot point as 1922 is the first mention of the project which would create the current Deep Creek Lake, flooding this new bridge. In 1924, Youghiogheny Hydro-electric Corporation published a map showing its proposed rerouting of roads over the newly flooded lake. Originally, the company proposed that Glendale Road be closed at each end where it hit the new lake and that no new crossing be built. The County declined the proposal, “allowing” the company to keep the road open and to build a bridge at the company’s expense.
The construction of the dam and the two new bridges were completed relatively quickly and in 1925, Deep Creek Lake was officially deemed to have “filled” and has engendered its own rich history which will be celebrated with a Centennial Celebration in 2025.
The POA is heading up the committee to celebrate Deep Creek Lake’s 100th anniversary in 2025 with a series of events and projects planned all year. We would love to have your contribution whether it’s old photos and stories, or your time as a volunteer on the committee. Contact Chris Nichols at deepcreeklakepoa@gmail.com for more information or visit dcl100.com
