Hi all, I will be in Garrett County Sept 15-20th. I've made arrangements for a small bus to take us around to some of our ancesteral haunts on Thurs, Sept 18. The bus holds 47 people at a cost of $470. We will have the bus from 9-5 on the 18th. I mailed in the deposit. It is refundable with cancellation by Sept 2nd if there isn't enough interest. If we fill all the seats, the cost will be $10/person. I'm not sure of the cost of the dinner buffet but we will check on that and get the information back to those who ae interested. If any of you are interested in joining us and/or know where any of the places are below that are marked with the (?), please let me know by emailing me directly. I won't need payment until after August 18th and will email more information about costs, etc., at that time. I have about 10-12 cousins that are interested/able to accompany us at this time. So far, we have some descendants of the Hetrick/Buckle/Brenneman families, Slabaughs/Hetricks, some Beeghley/Stark/Custer/Merrills, Livingood/Glotfelty/Durst and maybe a Knox, Buckle, Bowser, Broadwater, and Beitzel. I'm hoping to meet with my Hetrick/Brenneman cousins early in the week of my arrival to map out the tour. Bob Brenneman is the only one I know that seems to know everyone in the area and most of the history about the ancestors and where they lived. Some areas we are planning to visit are as follows: Areas where our ancestors lived in Garrett County: Maynardier Ridge Rd/Bittinger Cemetery, Legeer Rd/Rock Lodge Rd, Dung Hill Rd, Rabbit Hollow Rd, Collier Rd/Bear Creek Burial Ground (now the Bender Farm). The Bender home is thought to be the original Jonas Mosser homestead. Places to visit depending on time and knowledge of people on tour to help us find them. A lot of these will be drive-by views where we will stay on the bus. Some participants want to get off the bus to take pictures or to browse around. I figure we could probably have 15 short stops. One stop for lunch for those who didn't pack one and the Springs Museum will probably be the longest stops: Stanton's Mill, the George Bittinger estate/later was the Augustus "Gus" and Mary Bittinger Snyder home farm, location of a Snyder family haunted property, location of the original Legeer/Bittinger School (near Tom Bowser's place). Other than Stanton's Mill, these three places are in the same vicinity. Jennings may be another place on the tour. More of a challenge will be to locate where the Beeghleys, (Balthaser) Diehl, and Hetricks lived as neighbors in 1850-1870 (?) in or near the Cove, in rural Accident, and the Flowery Vale area. Would also like to visit any Brethren Churches (?) in the areas (if we can find them). More places to see would be the maple syrup collection farms (?) Melchoir Miller's distillery, Winding Ridge (Lenhart Tavern (?) if it still exits, Petersburg Tollhouse at Addison, Casper Durst's grave in East Salisbury (Elk Lick), Martin and Dianna Mosser/Musser homestead (now the Gun Club in PA?) and the location of the Hetrick reunion place (?). While we're in the area, we might even find the Lininger Distillery(?). A lot will depend if any one knows where these places are located and time available. Probably the last part of the tour will be a visit to the Springs Museum (we may have to call ahead on this) where the Peter Livingood's (our 5th g-grandfather) wagons are on display. I'm sure there are a lot of interesting things there to interest everyone on the tour. Then return to the Cassleman by way of the Avilton/Lanaconing area (please let me know of specific things we might see there) . . . and a last stop at the Old Stone House in Little Meadows where Washington's/Braddock's troops camped. Again, the time spent on this leg of the trip will depend on time left. We will also need to know how many will be joining us for the dinner buffet after the tour so we can notify the restaurant well in advance. I don't know the cost of the dinner buffet, but from what I remember, it was very inexpensive. I plan to make name tags for the people joining us and will need phone numbers where I can reach any of you who plan to participate so I can get back to you timely with information. Some don't read their email daily :-) I still have a few cousins who don't have computers or email to invite them along. You may have the same situation. Regards, Lois Hetrick Stewart