Sideling Hill Mountain Exhibit Center in Maryland - the "Cut in the Mountain"

One of the most interesting places to visit in Western Maryland is the Sideling Hill Exhibit Center, which presents one of the most spectacular man-made cuts ever made through a mountainside. The cut was made when the new interstate highway was built between Hancock, Maryland and Morgantown, West Virginia. It is located on Interstate 68, six miles of Hancock at the far western edge of Washington County. It is also 33 miles west of Hagerstown, Maryland. Hancock, Maryland is the narrowest part of the state, being only one and a half miles wide between the states of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. From the Sideling Hill Exhibit Center, you can view all three states at one time.

The "Cut in the Mountain", as it is called in this area, can be seen from miles away as you approach Hancock from the east and Cumberland from the west. It is an awesome display of a natural syncline, a smile-like curve, which is a distinctive "U" shaped fold in the rock formation of Sideling Hill Mountain. The syncline lies between two eroded anticlinal rock formations and the entire mountain is topped with a hard sandstone cap that keeps it from eroding now.

This cut is known as one of the best rock exposures in the Northeastern United States. Each side has four 10-20 foot wide ledges or levels that were constructed to keep rocks from falling to the highway below. The road cut is 200 feet wide at road level and 740 feet at the top of the cut. The distance from the top to the roadway is 380 liner feet top to bottom. Once, on a private horse-riding trip, we were able to look down over the cut and vehicles appeared as small Matchbox like toys far below.

The cut reveals a 350 million year old section of rock that was folded by a massive compression of the earth's crust some 245 million years ago during the Paleozoic Era. The mountain is made out of sedimentary rocks and is composed of conglomerate, red and yellow sandstone, siltstone, brown mudrock, tan, gray-green to dark green shale, and narrow bands of coal. Over 4.5 million cubic yards of rock were removed from the 380-foot vertical cut, which exposed the 350 million year old section of marine sediments showing marine fossils. The younger sediments exposed many plant fossils. There are no dinosaur fossils because these rocks were formed long before dinosaurs existed.

The Exhibit Center is a four-story building filled with interpretive exhibits, storyboards displays, and is a self-guided toured exhibit. On each level, different displays explain much about the entire Western Maryland region, its geology, and its history. Photographs and maps show the layout of the land and different features, both natural and man-made in the area. One exhibit that shows the terrain in 3-D allowed my children to find our house on another mountain ridge that is nearby. There is also an auditorium that is used to show movies and for group tours and school field trips.

Staff members are always available and are willing to explain and answer any questions you may have. There are also different stuffed animals throughout the levels showing the natural wildlife found in this area of the state. If you look out the windows, you are often greeted with views of the actual living animals as we have seen flocks of turkeys and herds of deer in neighboring meadows. It is not unheard of to see a black bear as it passes through. Also, during the winter, water that seeps and flows down through the rock face of the cut, builds up and develops into beautiful and often with various colors of clear, blue, pink, orange, and black ice.

In addition, a 210-foot long pedestrian bridge spans Interstate 68 that connects the Exhibit Center to another eastbound parking lot. From the bridge, named after State Senator Victor Cushwa, you can take photographs of the highway, the surrounding mountains, and of the cut itself. One of the things you will notice is the strength of the wind that blows through the cut usually in a west to east direction. On some days, the clouds literally touch the top of Sideling Hill Mountain and makes for great photographic opportunities.

If you have the chance to travel through western Maryland, this exhibit is a great place to stop for a rest break and have a very enjoyable and enlightening experience. Bathrooms are open 24 hours; parking is available on both the east, and west sides of Interstate 68. For more information about the exhibit center, you can contact them at 301-842-2702 or write Sideling Hill Visitor Center, c/o Indian Springs Wildlife Office, 14038 Blairs Valley Road, Clear Spring, MD 21722. Their website is http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/western/sidelinghill.html.