AS I RACE DOWN Rohrersville Road near Boonsboro, Md., the magnificent South Mountain range to the left and a sign advertising a local moonshine tasting to the right, three thoughts linger:
Will that duct tape hold up on the crumpled left, rear panel of my car? (Curses to you, Cross Keys battlefield cows and bull that made me back into a fence post!)
Can I make that tasting before lunch? (Sadly, no.)
What would Mrs. Banks say if I suggest a move from our home in Nashville to this gorgeous area? (You don’t want to know.)
“There are few places that I have visited or of which I have ever dreamed that have such a hold upon my heart as the picturesque hills and broad valleys of Western Maryland,” battlefield tramper and historian Fred Cross wrote about this area in 1926. This land entrances me, too.
My destination is the east side of South Mountain and the “It’s-OK-toleave-your-car-and-house unlocked” village of Burkittsville, population roughly 200 if you.
