After hosting native peoples for centuries, Catoctin Mountain became home to European settlers beginning in the 1730's, including descendants of English Catholics who had founded Maryland in 1634 and who established a noted religious community and schools there. Settlers such as William Elder found what became known as St. Mary's Mount, where tradition holds that the first mass took place in the Elders home in 1745. Sixty years later, French émigré John Dubois came with instructions to build a Catholic seminary on Catoctin's face, and Elizabeth Ann Seton arrived shortly afterward in 1809, creating a religious community of women and the parochial school system. In 1785, Samuel Emmit agreed with neighbors to sell land lots to create a market center for surrounding farmsteads, and the village took the name Emmitsburg and soon became known as the most productive wheat-growing area in the nation. During the American Civil War, Catoctin Mountain screened army movements, Emmitsburg served as a front-line staging area and fallback position during the nearby Battle of Gettysburg, and afterward many wounded were treated by Mother Seton's Daughters of Charity. The former St. Joseph's College later became the site of the National Fire Academy and includes a national memorial to fire and rescue professionals who lost their lives in the line of duty.
