Lisbon

Lisbon was founded in the early 1800's as a farming village and supply depot, and served as a way station for stagecoach and wagon travelers journeying on the Old Frederick Turnpike.

Lisbon lies approximately 15 miles west of Ellicott City straddling a road, now Route 144, carved about 1797 by the Ellicott brothers to reach the markets of Frederick, Hagerstown, and later as the "Great Western Turnpike" to Cumberland. Though the Ellicotts erected several log cabins for storage at milepost 15, Caleb Pancoast is credited with founding the town. He built the first house in Lisbon, probably about 1810. The 27 mile stone turnpike marker from Baltimore still stands just east of town.

Lisbon eventually boasted blacksmith and wheelright shops, a general store and post office as well as a proud tradition for self-sufficiency. It continued to grow in size, not far behind Ellicott's Mills, Elkridge, and Savage.

In its heyday Lisbon was also a resort town. The extension of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in the 1830's provided vacationers a means to escape the city's heat in the cool Howard County countryside. Ellicott City, Sykesville, then Lisbon became popular summer resorts. But rooms for boarders on nearby farms were limited. A new owner of the Pancoast property built a sizable addition to the little house, and opened Lisbon's first and only resort hotel.

The best taverns catered to stagecoach travelers, merchants and affluent statesmen; the wagoners and poorer migrants stopped at wagon stands and the poorest inn accommodated drovers, complete with hogs, sheep and cattle.

A favorite local story recorded by historian Celia M. Holland recalls the visit of General Lafayette to Lisbon in 1824. When the famous Frenchman passed through the little village on his way to Frederick, a cry went out for "three-cheers," -to hail the Revolutionary War hero. A hard-of-hearing gentleman named Ringgold dashed out with "three chairs in answer to the call, assuring everyone they could have more if needed."

Though sources differ on details, Governor Edwin Warfield of Maryland once taught in a one room school house in or near Lisbon in the 1840's. The Lisbon school was torn down when Route 40 was built, but many structures from the last century, some beautifully restored, still stand in the Lisbon area, including three houses only 13 feet wide built 130 years ago. Nearly every house in Lisbon east of Woodbine Road was built before or during the Civil War. At least three homes which survived the ravages of time are built of logs.

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