Taylorstown
A Creekside Village
Story and photography by Richard Gillespie
At Taylorstown , the mountain looms over all — Furnace Mountain , Loudoun ’ s northern end of the Catoctin Range with its intriguing name . At Taylorstown , the creek rushes or gurgles with the season — ancient , bucolic Catoctin Creek , several miles from its mouth at the Potomac . At Taylorstown , you can hear Maryland — not so much the Potomac as the Monopoly game famous B & O Railroad rushing along it on the Maryland side , with its mournful , evocative train whistles . At Taylorstown , the story of Loudoun is here , writ small .
Before European exploration or settlement , native Americans met near here at the Point of Rocks , a towering rock formation on the Maryland side of the Potomac immediately west of the Route 15 bridge . It marked a good fording place on the river . Algonkians from Tidewater would come up to trade with Iroquois heading south from upstate New York in the fall , north from North Carolina in the spring . The Siouan would come in the summer for fishing along the Potomac and trade as spring became summer , summer became fall . And up the Catoctin Creek gur-