Lambs Knoll is a peak of South Mountain

South Mountain (Maryland and Pennsylvania)

South Mountain is the northern extension of the Blue Ridge Mountain range in Maryland and Pennsylvania. From the Potomac River near Knoxville, Maryland in the south, to Dillsburg, Pennsylvania in the north, the long range separates the Hagerstown and Cumberland valleys from the Piedmont regions of...

 on the border of Washington County

Washington County, Maryland

Washington County is a county located in the western part of the U.S. state of Maryland, bordering southern Pennsylvania to the north, northern Virginia to the south, and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia to the south and west. As of the 2010 Census, its population is 147,430...

 and Frederick County

Frederick County, Maryland

Frederick County is a county located in the western part of the U.S. state of Maryland, bordering the southern border of Pennsylvania and the northeastern border of Virginia. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 233,385....

 in the state of Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The 1758 feet (535.8 m) peak is the second tallest on South Mountain in Maryland behind Quirauk Mountain

Quirauk Mountain

Quirauk Mountain is the highest point on South Mountain. The peak is located in northeastern Washington County, Maryland. It lies just southwest of Fort Ritchie Military Reservation in the village of Cascade and about 1/2 mile southeast of the community of Blue Mountain...

.

Geography

The peak is located to the south of Fox

Fox's Gap

Fox's Gap, also known as Fox Gap, is a wind gap in the South Mountain Range of the Blue Ridge Mountains, located in Frederick County and Washington County, Maryland. The gap is traversed by Reno Monument Road...

 and Turner's

Turner's Gap

Turner's Gap is a wind gap in the South Mountain Range of the Blue Ridge Mountains, located in Frederick County and Washington County, Maryland. The gap is traversed by U.S. Route 40 Alt, the Old National Pike. The Appalachian Trail also crosses the gap....

 Gaps, and marks the beginning of geographic change in South Mountain from a solitary narrow ridge to a broad highland plateau, as it nears the convergence with Catoctin Mountain

Catoctin Mountain

Catoctin Mountain, along with the geologically associated Bull Run Mountains, comprises the easternmost mountain ridge of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are in turn a part of the Appalachian Mountains range...

.

The Appalachian Trail

Appalachian Trail

The Appalachian National Scenic Trail, generally known as the Appalachian Trail or simply the AT, is a marked hiking trail in the eastern United States extending between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine. It is approximately long...

 passes just to the southeast of the summit but a spur trail leads from it to the crest near an old fire tower and communications array. Just south of the peak the AT passes by White Rocks which provides the best views from the mountain. The Potomac Appalachian Trail Club

Potomac Appalachian Trail Club

The Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, or ', is a volunteer organization that works to maintain hiking trails in the Washington D.C. area...

 maintained Bear Springs Cabin is located on the eastern slope of the mountain.

History

Lambs Knoll was referred to as Lamb's Old Field in the nineteenth century and is likely named for Milton and Mary Lamb who are believed to have farmed the mountains summit in the 1830s. The old nomenclature persisted through the civil war

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 and possibly in to the twentieth century. The first published use of the modern name came in 1934 when the Civilian Conservation Corps

Civilian Conservation Corps

The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–25. A part of the New Deal of President Franklin D...

 erected a fire tower on the summit. The fire tower was manned through the late 1940s and used by hikers to obtain views of the Middletown

Middletown Valley

Middletown Valley, also historically known as Catoctin Valley, is a valley in western Frederick County in the state of Maryland.-Geography:...

 and Hagerstown

Hagerstown Valley

Hagerstown Valley is located in Maryland in the United States. It is part of the Great Appalachian Valley, which continues northward as Cumberland Valley in Pennsylvania, and southward as Shenandoah Valley in West Virginia and Virginia....

valleys until it was fenced off by the state of Maryland in the 1980s.