Early TU alum ‘towers’ over Maryland
Maryland’s highest peak is named after Maryland State Normal School graduate Captain Charles E. Hoye
By Megan Bradshaw on July 12, 2019
Maryland State Normal School (MSNS)—now Towson University—graduate Captain Charles E. Hoye had an outsized effect in Garrett County, Maryland. So much so there is a mountain peak there named after him.
Hoye’s Crest, at 3,360 feet above sea level, is Maryland’s highest peak. It is located in Garrett County on the Backbone Mountain ridgeline about 15 miles south of Oakland near the West Virginia border, according to WV News.
Hoye was born in 1876 and graduated from MSNS in 1896 before serving in the Army during the Spanish-American War. After his 1901 discharge, he stayed in the Philippines to teach school, rising to the post of Philippine Bureau of Education division superintendent of schools before retiring in 1925.
He served in World War I, attaining his final rank of captain. Hoye moved back to the United States, teaching for five years in California before returning to Garrett County and diving into the genealogy of area families.
“Hoye’s enthusiasm for history and genealogy eventually led to the official formation of the Garrett County Historical Society on Jan. 27, 1941,” writes the WV News. He was the society’s first president and edited and wrote for The Glades Star, the society’s quarterly bulletin.
Hoye was hit by a car and killed in 1951. In 1952, the Garrett County Historical Society and his family christened Hoye Crest.
The Highpointers Club, a national nonprofit dedicated to preserving and supporting the highest peak in all 50 states, ranks Hoye Crest 32nd in height and 22nd in climbing difficulty among the nation’s peaks.