Scaggsville is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...

in Howard County,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, United States. It is situated near the southeastern tip of Howard County, between

Laurel Laurel may refer to: Plants * Lauraceae, the laurel family * Laurel (plant), including a list of trees and plants known as laurel People * Laurel (given name), people with the given name * Laurel (surname), people with the surname * Laurel (mus ...

and

Fulton Fulton may refer to: People * Robert Fulton (1765–1815), American engineer and inventor who developed the first commercially successful steam-powered ship * Fulton (surname) Given name * Fulton Allem (born 1957), South African golfer * Fult ...

. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 24,333. The town mainly consists of residences, with some commercial establishments. Scaggsville generally falls within ZIP code 20723, assigned to Laurel, though the town formerly had its own post office. At the 2000 census the Scaggsville area was counted as part of the

North Laurel North Laurel is a census-designated place (CDP) in Howard County, Maryland, United States. The published population was 4,474 at the 2010 census. This population was substantially less than the CDP's population in 2000, and was the result of an er ...

census-designated place.

History

The town is named for the Scaggs family, who settled of farmland in the 1830s and continue to live in the region. The area also used the name "Hells Corner" as a postal address in Civil War times. The historic path running through town was shown on maps as far back as 1795. This path is now named Lime Kiln Road, Scaggsville Road, and

Whiskey Bottom Road Whiskey Bottom Road is a historic road north of Laurel, Maryland that traverses Anne Arundel and Howard Counties in an area that was first settled by English colonists in the mid-1600s. The road was named in the 1880s in association with one of i ...

. In the 19th century, Scaggsville was a stagecoach stop on the trip from

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, to

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. Stagecoaches would ford the Patuxent River until a wooden bridge was built in 1859, which washed out in an 1868 flood. In 1877 the community built a second southern road between Water's store in Fulton to the Souder House near Laurel, now known as Stansfield, Harding and Murphy Road. Three additional bridges washed out by 1883 before a steel truss bridge was built. In 1941, the '' Maryland Gazette'' reported that the town consisted of 15 households. Today, it has grown to a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

an community made up of several neighborhoods.

Geography

Scaggsville is located in southern Howard County, bordered by

to the west, Columbia to the north,

to the southeast, West Laurel in

Prince George's County ) , demonym = Prince Georgian , ZIP codes = 20607–20774 , area codes = 240, 301 , founded date = April 23 , founded year = 1696 , named for = Prince George of Denmark , leader_title = Executive , leader_name = Angela D. Alsobrook ...

to the south, and Burtonsville in Montgomery County to the southwest. The Patuxent River forms the southern edge of the Scaggsville CDP, as well as the Howard County line.

U.S. Route 29 U.S. Route 29 (US 29) is a north–south United States highway that runs for from Pensacola, Florida to the western suburbs of Baltimore, Maryland in the Southern United States, connecting the Florida Panhandle to the Baltimore-Washington me ...

follows the western edge of the CDP, leading north to Columbia and south to downtown

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1, US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between M ...

forms the eastern edge of the CDP, leading northeast to downtown

and southwest to Washington's Beltway. Maryland Route 216 runs east–west through the center of Scaggsville, connecting US 29 and I-95, and leads southeast to

Demographics

Name change efforts

Some residents have advocated changing the name of Scaggsville to Rocky Gorge, since the community borders the

Rocky Gorge Reservoir Rocky Gorge Reservoir is located on the Patuxent River in Howard, Montgomery, and Prince George's counties in Maryland, between Laurel and Burtonsville. The reservoir was created in 1952 by the construction of the T. Howard Duckett Dam on th ...

(also known as the T. Howard Duckett Reservoir) on the Patuxent River. Efforts to change the name, however, have been unsuccessful.

References

Scaggsville, Maryland (MD) Community Profile
HomeTownLocator.com. Retrieved on February 5, 2007. *Liz Steinberg. May 19, 2002
"Quiet Scaggsville is expecting to get quieter"
Baltimoresun.com. Retrieved on February 5, 2007. {{authority control Census-designated places in Howard County, Maryland Census-designated places in Maryland

History

Geography

Demographics

Name change efforts

See also

References