<Click any photo to enlarge; hover over photo for caption>

21 - Detour 3The entire village is situated between the bridge and the curve at the top of the hill in the distance. My walk today took a detour -- literally.  I sought out a u-pick farm to walk, and when I arrived, I saw that it was not going to be very walkable.  So I followed the signs to Detour, a tiny unincorporated village in Carroll County, right over the Frederick County Line.

The village is bounded by Double Pipe Creek on the eastern end, and the railroad tracks on the western end.  In between are about 22 homes and The Village Store, which serves the multiple functions of convenience store, deli, liquor store, post office, and social center.  

21 - Detour 1Cows graze along Keysville Road At the creek end of the village is a nice park with a playground and picnic shelters.  Along Keysville Road, there is what appears to be an old mill building, and I could just make out the words "Detour," "Milk," and "Creamery" in its faded lettering, so in actuality, it was probably at one time a dairy. The village is surrounded by farms, so that fits.

21 - Detour 2Former dairy? Now a residence.

According to the Maryland Historic Society, Detour began as a mill village in the 1790's, when Joshua Delaplane erected grist, woolen, and saw mills at the confluence of Little and Big Pipe Creeks.  The area was named Double Pipe Creek.  In 1868, the Western Maryland Railroad was extended from Union Bridge, and the village grew into an important commercial center.  It was renamed Detour.  With the decline in railroad transportation, the village lost its importance, and now is an example of a relatively unchanged late 19th century village.

21 - Detour 4The heart of Detour is the Village Store. Because the village retains such an old-fashioned look, and the skies today were dull and flat, I added textures to bring a more vintage look to the photographs.  Not much was happening today in Detour.  A man who drove an official USPS truck was there spiffing up the mailbox in front of the store, but that's about it.  

Because I had to choose an alternate location for a photo walk, Detour was a good choice.

All photographs from “My Daily Photo Walk” are available for sale upon request.