Like a wheelwright bracing his wheel with spokes, early Sandy Springers strengthened their community ties by fashioning an array of social organizations, some the oldest and most enduring in the nation. Granddaddy of them all was--and still is--the Sandy Spring Farmer's Club, started in 1844 and today known as the Senior club. The Women's Mutual Improvement Association organized in 1857 and today enjoys a similar record for longevity. Others followed fast including the Horticultural Society, Innocents Club, Anonymous Club, Doctors' Club, Temperance and Anti-Saloon groups, Home Interest, Peace Society, Literary Society, Hunt Club, Whist Club, Neighbors, Archery Club, even the One Man Club. When Volume II of the Annals closed its pages in 1895, at least 30 clubs (many shortlived) had formed in sociable Sandy Spring, with innumerable more to come.

"We meet to eat," observed William W. Moore--a tradition that began with the venerable Senior Farmers' Club. Here it celebrates its 110th anniversary in 1954 at the Muncaster home, The Ridge, near Olney. At the front table, facing, from left: guest Samuel Riggs IV, Richard H. Lansdale, Will Hines, Josiah Hutton, and John E. Muncaster, Jr.; backs to camera: a Washington Star reporter, Ridgely B. Chichester, Dr. Herman Ladson, and County Agent O. W. Anderson. Rear table, facing: Donald Hobbs, Frank Palmer, Sam McCeney, and host John E. Muncaster, Sr. Serving are Carrie Allnutt Griffith and Laura Ann Waters Whirley.