Visit a gem of one-room schoolhouse in upper Montgomery County this summer!

THE DETAILS for Sunday's Hike

WHEN DO WE MEET -- 1:00 pm at Shady Grove Metro. 1:45 pm at Froggy Hollow Parking Area

WHERE DO WE MEET -- At Shady Grove, we'll meet in the parking lot on the West Side (access from Somerville Drive), as close as we can get to the Metro Station exit. At Little Bennett Park, we'll meet in the Froggy Hollow Parking Area

TRANSPORTATION CAR-POOLERS -- If you plan on meeting at Shady Grove Metro; Post A Message that you will need a ride. If it turns out that more than 3 people need a ride, I'll need help with providing rides.

TRANSPORTATION DRIVING DIRECTIONS -- Go North on I-270 to the Clarksburg Exit at MD Highway 121. Turn right at the end of the exit ramp. First stoplight, Turn Left (Gateway Center Drive). Go 1 block and Turn Right at 'T' intersection, onto Clarksburg Road. Go Straight across Frederick Road (MD 355) intersection. After Clarksburg Road makes a turn to the left, you'll pass a "Welcome to Little Bennett Regional Park" sign. A little further on, Turn Right into the Froggy Hollow Parking Area.

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HIKING DIRECTIONS -- We will start our hike across the highway from the parking area at an old home site. We'll "bushwack" through the woods to the Stoney Brook Trail. We will then follow the Acorn Hollow Trail, to the Beaver Valley Trail, to the Bennett Ridge Trail, to the Mound Builder Trail, to the Beaver Valley Trail again, to the Western Piedmont Trail, to the Kinsley Trail, and finally back to the parking lot via the Froggy Hollow Trail.

WHAT IF THE PARKING LOT IS FULL, or IF I'M LATE? -- There are other parking areas at Wilson Mill and Kingsley, further down the Clarksburg Road from Froggy Hollow. If you're running late, you could park in Kingsley, and walk the route backwards until you meet the group. If you're really late, you could park at Kingsley and walk down the Kingsley Trail and try to meet us at the old one-room school.

HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE? WHEN WILL WE GET THERE? -- The length of the hike is 3.5 miles, which in a group, and including stops, means about a 2-hour hike.

WHERE CAN I GO AFTERWARDS TO EAT OR DRINK? -- Driving back down Clarksburg Road to MD 355, Turn Right onto Frederick Road, Then look to your right for Bennigan's or the grille next door, which may be a small business worthy of our support.

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WHAT WE'LL SEE -- A restored, historic school - lots of black walnut trees - the region's largest colony of mound builders - a couple of springs - old stone walls and roads - babbling brooks - maybe a snake (last Sunday a 3-1/2 foot Northern Black Racer crossed the trail ahead of me)!

We'll do a hike thru Little Bennett Park to the School, then back to the parking lots, and off to home, Shady Grove Metro, and/or an optional post-hike social hour.

Kingsley School is a historical gem -- one of the area's best remaining examples of a late-19th/early-20th-century one-room schoolhouses. Tucked away in Little Bennett Regional Park in Clarksburg, Md., the schoolhouse has been restored to how former students remember it and is partially furnished with period pieces. Come see where children in grades 1–7 learned their 3Rs all together in one classroom.

Kingsley School is open to the public the first Sunday of each month from 1–4 p.m. Free admission! ( Hiking and History Buff member Ralph Buglass volunteers as a "history host" at the school on the days that it is open )

Little Bennett Park has several other historical sites in its 3,700 acres -- visit: http://www.montgomeryparks.org/facilities/regional_parks/little_bennett

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