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Old farmstead's history runs from John Brown to James Brown

Posted at 9:50 PM, Feb 19, 2017
and last updated 2017-02-19 21:52:36-05

From John Brown's raid to James Brown's wail, a stream of hot-blooded history runs through an old farmstead in western Maryland.

A new book traces the property's connection between the 19th-century abolitionist and the 20th-century soul singer.

The farmstead near Dargan, Maryland, is where Brown launched his 1859 raid on a federal armory in nearby Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

The property 75 miles west of Baltimore was later acquired by an African-American fraternal organization that presented R&B shows from the early 1950s through the mid-60s in a dance hall the group built.

The log farmhouse is a national historic landmark but the dance hall is in disrepair.

Ed Maliskas documents the history in his book, "From John Brown to James Brown: The Little Farm Where Liberty Budded, Blossomed and Boogied."

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