unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...
, United States. The name "Rocky Ridge" likely refers to a ridge of
ironstone
Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially.
Not to be c ...
which runs through the area.
History
The Rocky Ridge area was settled by several families by the mid-18th century, at which time it was known as Ogleton, after the Ogle family. It has spent most of its life as a "crossroads village," being centered on the intersection of the roads that today are Maryland Route 76 and
Maryland Route 77
Maryland Route 77 (MD 77) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The state highway runs from Maryland Route 64, MD 64 in Smithsburg, Maryland, Smithsburg east to Maryland Route 194, MD 194 in Keymar, Maryland, Keymar. MD 77 is the ...
. It was a railroad depot in the latter half of the 19th century; the
Western Maryland Railway
The Western Maryland Railway was a small American Class I railroad (1852–1983) that operated in 3 Southern United States, Southern US States, Maryland (Western Maryland, Western Region), West Virginia (Potomac Highlands of West Virginia, Easte ...
reached Rocky Ridge in 1870, and the Emmitsburg Railroad connected with it there in 1875. Highlighting the importance of the railroads in its existence, the Rocky Ridge stretch of Maryland Route 76 is known as Motters Station Road after Joshua Motter, president of the Emmitsburg Railroad.
Rocky Ridge had two active church congregations by the mid-19th century, and got its own
post office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
The town is known for the "Big Slide," a forty-foot tall wooden
slide
Slide or Slides may refer to:
Places
* Slide, California, former name of Fortuna, California
Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums
* ''Slide'' (Lisa Germano album), 1998
* ''Slide'' (George Clanton album), 2018
*''Slide'', by Patrick Glee ...
, built by volunteers in 1950. The slide is located in Mount Tabor Park, a park founded by Mount Tabor Church in the early 20th century and still administered by the church today. The park is said to have been used for religious revivals.