Sarah Stabler, born 1899: "Frank Willson rode a very quiet old mule to school. We would often see Frank leaning forward on the mule taking a nap on the way home." "We were always impatient when spring arrived to cast off long stockings and shoes. Oh, the blissful sense of freedom it gave us!"

Harold Stabler, born 1875: "My youthful recreational activities included fishing, hunting, bird watching, bird's egg collecting, swimming in summer, skating and sledding in winter, and baseball when enough of us could get together and play. There was berry picking and nut gathering in the fall."

Mary H. Stabler, born 1867: "Once Rob [brother] and I were deeply interested in reading Tom Sawyer and he had to cut the yard, so I walked up and down beside him as he used the lawnmower and I read to him."

At butchering time "the pigs' bladders were saved and hung in the cellar after they were blown up, to use as ice bags in case of sickness...We children were allowed to have some of them and it was great fun to play with them."

Sallie P. Brooke, born 1875: Her siblings were her playmates. "I didn't have to know anyone else...they were all I needed."

David L. Brigham, born 1916: "I curried the horses, mucked the stalls, milked the cows, slopped the pigs, fed the chickens, loaded the manure spreader, and cleared the barnyard and chicken house."

Roderick Drysdale Adams grew up to run a dairy farm where the hospital now stands. He eventually sold the land to move to Brighton. Among his grandchildren is Ellen Dinel Hartge of Riverside. Roderick's brother Herbert ran the Sandy Spring Store in the mid-1900s.

Hilda Bready (Cashell) was ten, Louise Bready (Watson) three and a half when this picture was taken in 1902. Hilda lived to 96, Louise to 83. The Bready and Cashell families owned the old homes Llewellyn Fields and Montmorency on farms that became Northwest Branch Park.

Bob and Drew Stabler, sons of Stanley and Gladys Drew Hawkins Stabler, are the seventh generation of that important Sandy Spring family. Today they run the large Pleasant Valley farming operation, planting more than 4,000 acres of family and leased land in corn and soybeans. Drew is Chairman of the bank, and both are leaders in state and national agricultural organizations.

George F. Nesbitt, Jr., and sister Helen Thomas Nesbitt played long and central roles in 20th century Sandy Spring. George F. acquired the nickname Ted from Uncle Alban Thomas: The boy charged around like Teddy Roosevelt assaulting San Juan Hill. He became a County Council member and Sandy Spring Bank president. Helen Nesbitt married A.D. Farquhar and resided at The Cedars until her death at 96.

Fun on the farm meant playing on the buggy during the childhood of the Morrises and Farquhars. From left, Kay Morris Mills, Patty Morris Stabler Duvall, Roger B. Farquhar, Richard H. Farquhar, and Edwin Morris.

A home-made gondola forms a swing for Helen E. and Charles H. Powell. Most Sandy Spring homes dedicated a horizontal limb of a lawn tree for hanging a swing and lamented that grass would not grow under it.

Robert H. Miller ,Jr., stages a solo rodeo at The Highlands near Brown's Corner. He and wife Mary Reading farmed land inherited from his father, both were active in community affairs, and Mary Reading wrote part of the forthcoming Volume VI of the Annals.

Mary Brooke "B" Hutton stands guard over younger sister Claire at their Brighton home. Claire Hutton taught at Sherwood Elementary and became the school's highly respected principal.

Norman and Gordon Farquhar, sons of A. Douglas and Helen Nesbitt Farquhar, grew up with sisters Margaret and Ann at The Cedars and went on to distinguished business careers, Norman in investments, Gordon in insurance.

Mary and Elizabeth Dawson, born in Rockville, both found Sandy Spring husbands. Mary Dawson married Thomas Hyde IV and lived at Stanmore across from the Olney Theatre, Elizabeth married George Rust Canby and lived at Field Head near Cloverly.

Members of the Laytonsville Pig Club deploy their charges under the instruction of county extension agent Fred J. van Hoesen in 1918. From left, Vernon Griffith, Dowell Howard, John Allnut, Elgee Riggs, Thomas Griffith, van Hoesen, and Crandmer Griffith.