RINGGOLD – According to a 2020 census, approximately 165 residents live in the small Washington County community of Ringgold, which proves that even the smallest of locales can have a rich and enlightening history, if one wishes to find out.
The area’s earliest roots were planted around the year 1725 by a farmer and businessman named George Forbush or Forbis, as his surname is occasionally written as. Forbush was a native of Schuykill County, Pennsylvania, who had prospered as a farmer and had built a plantation east of the fork of Little Antietam.
It would take another 30 years before other settlers would brave the unknown land and threat of Native Americans to officially settle in the area that would become Ringgold. Consisting of mostly Lutheran and Mennonite families, they laid the first bricks of the of a church in 1871 that would attract others not only to worship, but to set up house and help build the community. One such person was former Maryland House of Delegates Rep. John W. Welty, who founded Welty’s Church.
These early pioneers didn’t just bring religion to the area but also a wealth of knowledge in their respected trades, particularly in agriculture. Some of the earliest inventions in the industry were founded by farmers in the area. The first directional moldboard plow with cutting sheers was created by Jacob Moats who had a shop in Ridgeville, which was the original name for the area that would become Ringgold. John S. Dayboff, who resided on Charles Mill Road, also founded several innovations that helped with the farming processes.
Abram Frick, a name well known to most Franklin County residents, once lived on the Northwest side of Ringgold and built and supplied grain reapers to local farms. He also made the first self-binder which had a definite impact on the reaping of fields. As the grain crop was cut and bundled, the self-binder would use a reel and sickle bar that would bind the stems to form a sheaf.
Grain was not the only popular harvest for farmers in the area. Fruits, particularly peaches and apple orchards, flourished in the ideal soil at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Hundreds of acres of land were planted making the area one of the most profitable sources of the fruits in the entire state. Dairy farming would become the next trend for local farmers as the 1950s rolled around, and it still runs strong today.
The town of Waynesboro was an important element in the growth of Ringgold. Most of the men who lived in the community would work in the shops around Waynesboro. The small Ringgold community had few businesses of its own. There was a tin shop, a blacksmith shop and a post office that was one of the stops between Hagerstown and Gettysburg.
With the coming of the railroad, the small farming community took on another role, tourist spot, or at least a nice place to lay over between tourist trips. Two hotels were built in the area in the early 1900s, the Blue Mountain Hotel and the Buena Vista Hotel. Pen Mar Park, which rests between the two, was a popular attraction for visitors who stayed at either hotel.
Some familiar names are connected with the small town. In additiion to Abram Frick, Nancy Newcomer who married a gentleman by the name of Daniel Geiser, who was the founder of the Geiser Machine Company, hailed from Ringgold, as did Mary Wingert, the wife of John S. Dayboff, the grandmother of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Ringgold may not have an overwhelming number in population, but the community’s impact on not just Washington County, but of Maryland and Pennsylvania cannot be understated. The products they have supplied and the innovations the local farmers created have touched the entire nation. What started out as a small group of immigrants prospered into a community of hard-working citizens who have played a big part in the growth and prosperity of the Cumberland Valley.
