Krause-associated Family Sites in Maryland & Pennsylvania: A Virtual Tour

by
Larry Pearce
3/4/19

This is primarily the story of the journey of Charles and Annie Lee Krause, which straddles two states. We hope you also view “Some Community Facebook Pages: Krause-associated Families” to get the full picture. The difference between that post and this is that these links are .com and .org as opposed to Facebook pages. For your best impression of these areas as they relate to our family history, you’ll want to consult both, as well as the links to E-gen. We’ve included here churches, cemeteries, schools, libraries, museums, farms, and businesses, so click away and plan your visit before you go. A more-detailed map is available online. We continue to discover new locations and will add to this page regularly, so do check back.

(For additional contextual info, click on links*)

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  1. Cove, Accident, Garrett Co, MD – This was the first American settlement of our Krause family. The Speicher, Georg, & Smearman families also lived nearby. Stop at the breath-taking lookout along Rt. 219 just south of the Keiser’s Ridge exit of I-68 before descending the hill and turnin right into the Cove. You’ll see St. John’s Lutheran Church and Cemetery on land donated by the Speichers during the Civil War and the old Krause house just beyond. Returning to the main road, continue south to the town of Accident and the Bear Creek Church of the Brethren and Graveyard, the final resting place of many of our Speichers.
  2. Grantsville, MD – Now just off I-68 to the east, this was a major stopping place on the National Road west and a center of commerce in the early 1800s. Along with the famous stone arch bridge over the Casselman River, built in 1813, Grantsville contains several interesting museums, the old  Casselman Inn, and Penn Alps Restaurant & Historical Village, which contains the actual cabin of Amishman Bishop Benedict Miller, who apprenticed our Tommy Lee.
  3. Springs & Niverton, Elklick Twp, Somerset Co, PA – When Charles “Pop” Krause married in the summer of 1908 at St John’s in the Cove, he had brought his bride Annie Lee down from Amish country just over the Mason-Dixon line north of Grantsville. Her mother had been a Speicher, so the connection between the faiths and families was strong. Annie had been born in a log cabin on the Tommy Lee farm in Niverton, northeast of the tiny town of Springs. Today one can still drive the narrow farm road between the Amish church & cemetery. Looking beyond, one can see the site on the hill of Tommy & Elizabeth Brenneman Lee’s graves. Ahead is the old one-room school that many of the Amish children still attend. Turning south, one passes Otto Brick & Tile works and the road to Mt. Davis, the highest point in PA. Is it any wonder the Amish chose this paradise to settle? It must have reminded them of their native Switzerland. The Springs Museum, run by the Historical Society, is open year-round Wednesday through Saturday, and is home to the annual Springs Folk Festival, the first Friday & Saturday in October.
  4. Salisbury, PA – This small borough sits along the Casselman River between Springs Road and the Mason-Dixon Highway. In 1998, a Memorial Day weekend tornado nearly wiped it off the map. Most has been restored. The Charles Krause family lived here on several occasions as Pops worked at various local businesses to support his wife and eight children. The original Krause house has been well-maintained.
  5. Meyersdale, PA – The larger borough is home to the annual Somerset County Fair, the beginning of the new four-lane Rt. 219 northward, and site of the Great Allegheny Passage, once the Western Maryland Railway and Big Savage Tunnel, now a friendly bike trail that stretches from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C. This town has several good places to eat.
  6. Berlin, Brothersvalley Twp., PA – This area was a staging are for the Amish-Mennonite coming from eastern PA to the farms and mountains of Somerset County after the Ft. Stanwix Treaty with the Native Americans in the later part of the 18th century. One of our Berks County ancestors was known as ”Indian John” Miller, and his gravesite is clearly marked on his homestead. Permission to enter should be obtained from the current landowner. Our Charles Krause farmed in the township and served on the school board until a misunderstanding (and barn burning) influenced him to move back to Salisbury.
  7. Jennerstown, PA – Charles and Annie moved most of the way north across the county in 1928 to accept the new and monumental job of caretaker of the “Presbyterian Farm,” now Pine Springs Camp (PCUSA). Again, that story is available at “A Journey Between Two Passages.” The area’s only professional theater, The Mountain Playhouse, and Green Gables Restaurant can be found just across the road from the camp. Established in 1939 with the help of the Krauses, it’s hosted several rather famous actors and eighty years of entertainment. Around the time of WWII, those Krauses who hadn’t gone off to war or gotten married and moved away, settled for the last time, just across town. Pop & Mom re-established an old farm and started the Krause Dairy. In the years that passed, that property next to the Jennerstown Speedway also provided profitable work through their family fruit market and ice cream stand. Charles and Annie were laid to rest at the end of their long and arduous journey in the nearby Christ Lutheran Cemetery.

Last revised 3/4/19

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