As it was a likely spot, someone had set up a picnic table along the road. One could see that this was a place that was once of some importance -- for beyond a stone bridge that led into it, stood an old bank building, its granite arch rising within the roadside’s woods. Further indicating there'd once been a town here, a ramshackle building rose opposite the bank, but far enough beyond the timberline as to nearly be concealed by it.

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cats led us to the pair, which included a scrappy Ma Kettle type who owned the wood building -- formerly a hotel dating to 1860. She introduced herself as Dotty, further introduced her companion, and carefully included each of the assembled felines by name. She then pointed to a handmade sign posted by the bridge and claiming it to be the oldest in Maryland. This prompted me to ask about the bank, the granite version of which, Dotty said, had replaced a 19th-century wood structure that burned in 1912.

​

By this time Dotty, Soren, her friend (whose name I can’t remember), cats Cincinnatus, Bottom, Two-Cycle, Chief-Inspector Gutiérrez, Tablescrap and Zerubbabel (I’m making these up – I don’t remember their names either) and I were settling into a companionable moment. It was clear that -- beyond the love she held for her kitties, Dotty’s regard was for the hotel, which she now occupied, and at which Abraham Lincoln had called during a stop made by his train to take on water in 1863 (the "Ma & Pa" -- or Maryland & Pennsylvania RR -- once ran through the town).

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

“When I was a girl, there was one who remembered him,” she said, warming to an oft-told anecdote. “He described him as, y'know, tall, kindly, wanting to greet as many folks as he could.” “He had Marfan’s disease,” chimed in the friend with a nod, after which Dotty continued: “After taking on some refreshment in the hotel, Abe (oh -- so it’s “Abe” now, I thought) proceeded up yonder hill where a church stood – you’d see the steeple if it was still there -- then stopped and greeted every one of the soldiers treated there as it was being used as an army hospital.” Now Dotty raised herself up, indicating she was coming to the reveal of her charming sketch. I thought I knew where she was headed – and I was right: “It was only then that he walked back to and re-boarded the cars – cars that were to take him on up to Gettysburg -- where he made his famous address!”

​

I stood in autumn moonlight and thought: This is an anecdote about Lincoln that only a handful of people (who now include you, dear reader) knew of. It was a perfect History on the Road encounter. If we only had it on film.

​