Spring Gap 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 hav ...
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, su ...
(CDP) in
Allegany County,
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), 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; ...
, United States. As of the
2010 census it had a population of 55.
Spring Gap is located in the valley of the
North Branch Potomac River
The North Branch Potomac River flows from Fairfax Stone in West Virginia to its confluence with the South Branch Potomac River near Green Spring, West Virginia, where it turns into the Potomac River proper.
Course
From the Fairfax Stone, t ...
along the
Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Canal at mile marker 173. Just west of the community is the National Park Service
Spring Gap Recreation Area, which offers camping sites and a place to relax for hikers and bikers of the C&O towpath. The park is easy to access by car and provides canoe access to the river. The Spring Gap Recreation Area is a popular location to pick up, drop off, or park when hiking or biking the C&O canal towpath to or from
Cumberland, upriver.
Some of the best fishing in the Potomac River is in the section from Spring Gap to
Hancock.
[Barbara Rogers, ''Adventure Guide to the Chesapeake Bay'', Hunter Publishing Inc., page 79]
Maryland Route 51
Maryland Route 51 (MD 51) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known for most of its length as Oldtown Road, the state highway runs from an interchange with Interstate 68 (I-68) in Cumberland south to the West Virginia state li ...
runs through Spring Gap, leading northwest to Cumberland and east to
Oldtown, and
Paw Paw, West Virginia
Paw Paw is a town in Morgan County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 410 at the 2020 census. The town is known for the nearby Paw Paw Tunnel. Paw Paw was incorporated by the Circuit Court of Morgan County on April 8, 1891, and ...
. The mainline
CSX
CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...
railroad runs up the Potomac valley across the river from Spring Gap in
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...
.
Demographics
Geography
* Elevation:
* Latitude: 39.5652
* Longitude: -78.71658
References
Census-designated places in Allegany County, Maryland
Census-designated places in Maryland
Populated places in the Cumberland, MD-WV MSA
Cumberland, MD-WV MSA
{{AlleganyCountyMD-geo-stub
