“Old Mr. Flint's” Home

Washington County, MD

Marker Text: George Washington’s diary (while he visited Berkley Springs in 1769) states: “Aug. 30 Old Mr. Flint dined with us” and on Sept. 4: “Rid to the Potomac where my horses were. From thence to Mr. Flint’s and to the Pennsylvania Line, and returned to dinner.”

Location: Marker is west of Hancock, Maryland, in Washington County on Western Pike (Maryland Route 411), up the hill from the home mentioned on the marker. Erected by the State Roads Commission.

  I have always been interested in any marker related to George Washington, since I was a kid when my parents would take us on vacations. I just felt like I was a part of history when I could stand, where George Washington once stood. This marker on Route 144 west of Hancock, Maryland is an example of a simple marker stating that George Washington was here in 1769 and had dinner with a man called “Old Mr. Flint.”

Photo taken looking east on Route 144.  The home is located down the hill to the left.  Click any photo to enlarge.

  George Washington owned property in Bath, VA south of here, now called Berkeley Springs, WV and he frequently visited this area of Maryland and Virginia along the Potomac River. According to Washington's journal, he first visited this area when he was 15 years old while learning the surveying trade when he first came to Winchester, VA.

  According to George Washington journal starting with the entry of August 30, 1769, he writes: “Aug. 30 Old Mr. Flint dined with us.” Then again on Sept 4: “Rid to the Potomac where my horses were from thence to Mr. Flint’s and the Pennsylvania line, and returned to dinner.”

  In 1769 the property was owned by a Mr. Flint, and was aptly called “Flint’s Chance,” apparently because of the risks taken by the owner in establishing a home in this part of Maryland in 1700's. According to what I could learn, though information is limited, Joseph Flint was probably the “Old Mr. Flint” mentioned in the marker. The land on which this house stands was originally surveyed for Joseph Flint on November 12, 1762, and the patent, dated 1763 and containing 258 acres. Flint was an Indian trader who apparently met George Washington on one Washington’s many journeys through western Maryland. Little else is known about him. The eastern section of the home is the log cabin that once was Joseph Flint’s.

  The original log structure which George Washington would have visited is now the eastern section of the home.  The home has been embellished by additions through the years and is now a white stucco house with a multi-arched porch and a raised-seam tin roof owned by the Cohill family. It is reputed that President Franklin D. Roosevelt was a guest of the Cohill family hospitality here, but it seems no one is sure this occurred.

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