The Fuller-Baker House
A Rare Log Building with a Pedigree
This humble log cabin is a rare survivor of a common dwelling built by early settlers on the Allegheny frontier. Built after 1813 as a two-story log building, its large size has led some to believe it was once used as a tavern, giving respite to travelers along the National Road. It would be the only log tavern to survive on the old National Road between Cumberland and Wheeling, West Virginia.
Henry Fuller came to the Grantsville area in 1837 to work as a stonemason. His talents with stone and brick are still on display in several town buildings. He opened the National Hotel, the finest in the young community, but soon moved here, where he spent the rest of his life. The Bakers, also early settlers in the Grantsville area, were subsequent owners.
A Historic House on Historic Land. the Fuller-Baker House sits on land with an early-American pedigree. General Braddock's British army chose the site for its fifth camp as it marched to meet the French at Fort Duquesne in 1755.
In 1791, Thomas Johnson (1732—1819), Maryland's first governor, purchased 23,000 acres of Military Lots, fifty acre tracts of unclaimed land set aside by Maryland to reward Revolutionary War veterans. The Fuller-Baker House site (Military Lot No. 2206) was a part of that purchase.
Marker can be reached from National Pike (Alternate U.S. 40) west of Shade Hollow Road, on the right when traveling west.
Courtesy hmdb.org
