Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
Emmitsburg
Introduction References & Edit History Related Topics
Images
Emmitsburg: Mount St. Mary's University
Quizzes
Tower Bridge over the Thames River in London, England. Opened in 1894. Remains an Important Traffic Route with 40,000 Crossings Every Day.
Guess the City by Its River Quiz
Britannica AI Icon
Adding us as a Preferred Source tells Google you trust our content, so our articles show up more often in your Google Search, Discover feed, and AI Overviews.
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

External Websites
Emmitsburg: Mount St. Mary's University
Emmitsburg: Mount St. Mary's University Bradley Hall, Mount St. Mary's University, Emmitsburg, Maryland.

Emmitsburg

Maryland, United States
Also known as: Poplar Fields, Silver Fancy
Written and fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
History

Emmitsburg, town, Frederick county, northern Maryland, U.S., situated near the Pennsylvania border 23 miles (37 km) north-northeast of Frederick. Settled in the 1780s as Poplar Fields or Silver Fancy, it was renamed about 1786 for a local landowner named Emmit (sources disagree on his given name). The first American chapter of the Sisters of Charity was founded there in 1809 by St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774–1821), the first native-born American to be canonized (1975) by the Roman Catholic Church. The building in which she established (1810) the first parochial school in the United States is preserved, and her tomb, in a basilica, is maintained as a shrine. Nearby Mount St. Mary’s University was founded in 1808 and is the second oldest Catholic college in the United States (after Georgetown University). A replica of the Grotto of Lourdes, France, on a mountain ridge above the college, is the oldest Catholic shrine in the country. Catoctin Mountain Park, a few miles southwest, is the site of Camp David, the presidential retreat. Emmitsburg is a residential community with agricultural ties to the surrounding area. Inc. 1824. Pop. (2000) 2,290; (2010) 2,814.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.
Discover the fascinating events that shaped the world, straight from our editors.
By clicking “Sign Up”, you consent to the Britannica Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.