Glen Burnie

Glen Burnie was the homestead of Colonel James Wood, who founded Winchester on a portion of his land in 1744. Wood’s son Robert began the present house in 1793, and the estate was home to the Wood-Glass families from the 1730s to the 1990s. During the Civil War, Winchester changed hands many times as Union and Confederate forces occupied, fought over, and won or lost possession of the town, and each side occupied Glen Burnie several times. Its proximity to the North Western Turnpike, now U.S. Route 50, between Winchester, Virginia, and Romney, West Virginia, and to good water from springs there attracted troops. In June 1861, Southern-minded Marylanders camped there and formed the First Maryland Infantry, Confederate States of America. They later fought the First Maryland Infantry, United States of America, at the Battle of Front Royal on May 23, 1862. Blue and gray forces swept across the hills and fields of Glen Burnie during all three major battles for Winchester in 1862, 1863, and 1864. Combat damage and occupation reduced the farm’s agricultural productivity and value as livestock, farm buildings, fences, and timber were taken or destroyed. After the war, family members went west to begin new lives, homes, and fortunes, and eventually left Glen Burnie as a legacy to the Winchester community.

Winchester, Virginia · United States