My Great Grandmother was born in Hancock in 1915. I guess that’s what drew me to pick up the 1970s or 80s era “Hancock Elementary School Cookbook.”
Hancock is a small town with one main road (Main Street), but it’s an important way stop in Western Maryland and has been for centuries.
In the 1730s, hunters and trappers began settling around the area, then known as the Northbend Crossing Settlement because it is on the northernmost bend in the Potomac Rover.
The town was later named for revolutionary warfighter Edward Joseph Hancock, Jr., whose family operated a ferry nearby.
The building of the C&O Canal brought a lot of workers to town, Welsh and Irish immigrants among them. According to Mike High in “The C&O Canal Companion,” “by the time the canal made it to Hancock in 1839, the painted signs hanging over the doorways on Main Street already showed the influence of the passenger trade” from the National Road. “Early taverns and hotels included the Sign of the Cross Keys, Sign of the Ship, Sign of the Green Tree Tavern, Sign of the Seven Stars Inn, the Bee Hive, and the Union Hotel.”
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