Fort Ritchie

Fort Ritchie at Cascade, Maryland was a military installation southwest of Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania and southeast of Waynesboro, Pennsylvania in the area of South Mountain. Following the 1995 Base Realignment and Closure Commission, it closed in 1998.

History

About 1889, the Buena Vista Ice Company of Philadelphia purchased 400 acres of the land where Fort Ritchie now stands. The company planned to cut natural ice from a manmade lake and ship it to Baltimore, Washington, and southern markets via the Western Maryland Railroad's Baltimore-Hagerstown line. The first artificial lake was built in approximately 1901 and named Lake Royer (the "Lower Lake"). A railroad spur off the Western Maryland line was built alongside the southeastern shore of Lake Royer. Unfortunately, the locomotives' exhaust laid soot on the ice in the lake, so a second artificial lake (the "Upper Lake) was constructed far enough away from the track so that the ice would remain clean for cutting. The Buena Vista Ice Company's Lake Royer also served as a recreational spot during the summer tourist season.