Allegany
county, Maryland
Allegany, county, western Maryland, U.S. It consists of an irregular neck of land between Pennsylvania to the north and West Virginia to the south (the North Branch Potomac River constituting the border with West Virginia). The county rests on part of the Allegheny Plateau and includes Rocky Gap State Park, Green Ridge State Forest, and the scenic gorge of Cumberland Narrows (1,000 feet [300 metres] deep).
The county was created in 1789. Its name is derived from the Delaware Indian word oolikhanna, meaning “good river” or “beautiful stream.” Cumberland, the county seat, became a transportation hub after it was made the eastern terminus of the Cumberland (National) Road (completed 1837), a station along the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad line (1842), and the western terminus of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (completed 1850).
Principal industries are manufacturing and bituminous coal mining. Area 425 square miles (1,102 square km). Pop. (2000) 74,930; (2010) 75,087.
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