Daniels is a ghost town straddling the Patapsco River east of Woodstock and north of Old Ellicott City in Baltimore County and Howard County, Maryland, United States.
The original settlement that would become the town of Daniels formed in 1810 when the family of Thomas Ely came to the area and built a textile mill. The community around the mill was known as Elysville.
In 1853 the town was purchased by the family of James S. Gary and renamed to Alberton in honor of James’s son Albert. The factory remained with the Gary family until 1940 when the Daniels Company bought the entire village of 500 acres for $65,000 and changed its name to Daniels.
By the late 1960s, approximately 90 families lived in Daniels. Life in Daniels revolved around the general store, post office, bowling alley, pool hall, library, ball field, restaurant, and three churches—all owned by the mill.
In 1968, the 90 families who resided there for several years were given a notice to move, as the textile mill would be closing and town housing would be terminated. History would prove this decision to be wise. In June of 1972, tropical storm Agnes rolled through the Patapsco River Valley and destroyed most of the remaining empty buildings in Daniels. After it was flooded, the town was completely abandoned.
Now a ghost town of stone ruins and rotting cars left where the flood waters carried them. What was once home to 90 families is now a barren, almost apocalyptic wasteland.
Most of the town is gone today, but certainly not forgotten. Daniels Mill was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 and the Daniels Band helps preserve the heritage of the town, and each year a Daniels reunion is held to share the memories.
