Oakland, MD (Baltimore, Cumberland, Mountain Lake Park: real estate, homes, condos)

[pkoons]

Oakland is a small town loacted in Garrett County in the western panhandle of Maryland. Garrett County overall is mountainous and very rural compared to the fast-paced, heavily trafficked areas in the population centers of Montgomery, Howard, Baltimore, Anne Arundel, and Prince George's Counties. While not as bustling as nearby McHenry, around the popular tourist attraction of Deep Creek Lake and the WISP skiing resort, Oakland is still home to a fair share of businesses and nice neighborhoods.

The town of Oakland lies primarily around the intersections of Rt 219 (Garrett Highway) & Rt 135, and is approximately 30 minutes away from I-68 that runs west to Ohio and east to Cumberland, MD. If I remember correctly, if you're following Rt 135 west towards West Virginia, you go through an overpass just after Rt 219 and there is a gas station on your left, and the road immediately becomes Rt 39 without notice. I went to visit a friend in Terra Alta, WV and backtracked about 5 times here because I thought I was lost - and being in the mountains, there's very little cell phone service! Oakland's 21550 zip code also includes the towns of Loch Lynn Heights, Deer Park, which some may recognize from the bottled spring water, and Mountain Lake Park. The postal address runs all the way to the south side of Deep Creek Lake and hosts a Four Seasons resort, luxury condos, and other fairly ritzy destinations.

Clearly, real estate is most expensive near the lake, as you will find luxury condos such as SilverTree Suites, Will-O-Wisp along the waterfront, sometimes under $250K. These are mostly used as vacation homes and rental units, though they are just a short drive from the actual town of Oakland and would be quite peaceful year-round. For single family homes, neighborhoods such as Gallatin Woods and Penelacre offer attractive and unique homes in the $500K range. My last check showed a handful of $1M+ homes, mostly with large lots. For a starter home in Oakland, you could get by under $100K for one of the non-subdivision homes scattered along Garrett Highway and tucked away. Stone cottages, trailer-like ranchers, old wooden homes, they're all here and very affordable for young families and singles just out of school who are building careers.

If you follow Rt 219 north towards Deep Creek Lake, you'll find the WalMart on your right, the prime shopping destination for all the basics. Rather than being loaded with chain restaurants, however, the dining options are a little more interesting. There are a handful of bed & breakfast inns, none transcendent but all very nice and convenient to the tourist attractions (hiking, the lake, skiing). One of the biggest & best is Haley Farm, which I've never personally been to but have heard it's lovely, offering all the amenities of a big-city Ritz Carlton in a quainter farm setting. From a dining perspective, there are a few decent locally-owned places, the best of the bunch being Englander's who makes a mean steak sub. For fine dining you'll want to hit the Cornish Manor Restaurant, whose traditional menu (some would say unoriginal, but steaks and chops sell better around here than frilly French or fusion food) is still a crowd-pleaser. From my last visit, I also remember a few seedy bars, liquor stores, and adult video shops, but they are the exception rather than the norm. There's no escaping the fact that it is a blue collar town, which is not a bad thing at all, and the area is home to a fair amount of families who have lived in the area for a long time.

[Mike from back east]

I've been to Oakland a few times in my studies of RR history. I recall a great old-time drugstore in town, the kind with a lunch counter, serving really good buckwheat pancakes, something you don't see very often.

Their "Autumn Glory" fall color festival is very nice, each October, a big time for them.

Town website is: http://www.oaklandmd.com/home.asp

s/Mike