Zion, a 19th Century Village, in Northern Cecil County

ZION — Cecil County once had many thriving villages, each with a cluster of homes, a few shopkeepers and tradesmen, a schoolhouse, a physician, and almost everything one needed for daily life.  While most of these places continued into the 21st century as residential communities, they no longer hummed with enterprising activity like they did in the past. 

On a chilly Wednesday in January, as snow briefly fell in northern Cecil County, we strolled one of those places, Zion.  Nineteenth-century homes dot the landscape, showing how the present fades into the past.  Out on Route 272, cars and trucks whizzed by, but on what was the old state highway before the Maryland State Highway Commission moved the road, only a passing school bus dropping off students interrupted the still of the winter afternoon.

Cecil County’s Youngest Village

It is one of the youngest villages, its history dating back only as far as 1849, when the place was barren, with but one or two buildings., the Cecil Star informed readers in 1893.  The former center of activity in the ninth election district took its name from the Zion Methodist Church.  It was a “thriving and pretty village, with comfortable homes, well-kept properties, enterprising businessmen and thrifty farmers.” the writer added.

Carhart & Company established the oldest business around 1850.  The well-stocked general department store attracted customers from as far away as Oxford and Newark.  A complete line of fresh groceries, provisions, dry goods, and hardware stocked the first floor.  Clothing, gent’s furnishings, balls, bats, caps, boots and shoes, ladies’ coats and wraps, carpets, wallpaper, and chinaware awaited customers from as far away as Newark and Oxford on the second floor (Cecil Star).

Carhart’s business was destroyed by a fire around 1922.  Dick Touchton purchased the property and, in 1946 and opened the first self-service store in the county, George Prettyman notes.  He retired from business in 1962, and Ernest Coulson, his clerk, became the proprietor. 

On the opposite side of the street was H. M. Cameron’s Store, which started around 1883.  You could find “pretty much everything usually kept in a first-class generally store, at the lowest prices (Cecil Star). 

The post office opened at Zion on March 19, 1849, and service was discontinued on March 31, 1903.   John Carhart served as the postmaster (Postal History of Delmarva Peninsula).  Mrs. M. E. Johns, widow of the late Rev. J. H. Johns, pastor of the Presbyterian Church, took care of the mail in 1893, having held the post for two years (Cecil Star).    

Tradesmen in 1893 included D. M. Rittenhouse, the blacksmith.  This shop was last operated by John Rittenhouse, who gave up the trade in the early 1930s (Prettyman).  Others included George A. Hall, wheelwright;  A. J. Mearns, butcher; John Astle, shoemaker; and Levi O. Cameron, contractor and builder (Cecil Star). 

The newspaper added that “a healthy, good, moral, and church loving and church going community Zion” could not be beaten.  There were two churches, two schools, and not a saloon “to mar the beauty of the place or to stain its reputation. The oldest, the Methodist Church, was established before 1849. The Presbyterian Church, a cozy-looking brick structure,” was founded in 1850 (Cecil Star).

The town school was located about one-quarter of a mile east of the village and was named the Grove School.   It was erected in the late 1880s or early 1890s. And remained active until the 1930s when pupils were transferred to Calvert (George Prettyman). 

In 1882, it had a population of 150 people, according to the Delaware State and Peninsula Directory.  Also, at one time, it had a practicing physician, Dr. David L. Gifford, while Dr. Miller resided a mile or two away. 

Zion, a Historic Village in Cecil County

While it is off the 21st-century beaten path, with motorists rushing from here to there after the road moved, the crossroads settlement still retains significant traces from earlier centuries. Homes line the two streets.

See additional photos on Cecil County History on Facebook

Also of interest, Calvert an Old Village on the Mason Dixon Line

Sources & Notes

• The Postal History of Maryland, the Delmarva Peninsula and the District of Columbia;
• Chester M. Smith, Jr. and John L. Kay 1984 * Cecil Star (North East), Zion
• The Beautiful Village Named by the Methodist of the Forties: Sept. 16, 1893
• George Prettyman’s Rural Ramblings; Cecil Whig, More About the Village of Zion; undated, probably published in the 1980s
• Cecil Whig, Zion Insurance Company Has 112-Year History; 12-9-1987
• Maps Online from the Library of Congress and U.S. Geological Service; See each map for a detailed citation.