​Daniels Area Dam

The Daniels Dam features a display on fish spawning activity in the river and how the fish ladder works.

This dam furnished 400 horsepower for canvas and denim mills and also generated surplus electricity for Baltimore Gas and Electric. Daniels was the most recent mill town to evolve around the dam. The town started in the 1840s as Elysville. The mill changed owners a number of times and in the 1850s the mill produced canvas tents for the Union Army.

The current name Daniels came from the C.R. Daniels Company who took ownership of the mill in the 1950s. The mill closed in 1968 and Tropical Storm Agnes destroyed the town and the mill in 1972. Yet the people of Daniels, though dispersed, still keep the bonds of community strong through annual reunions and the maintenance of a community brass brand that performs on a regular basis.

Note: Like all other dams on the Patapsco River, activity is prohibited within 300 feet of the dam.

Directions

• Take Route 29 North to its termination at Route 99, Old Frederick Road.
• Turn right on Old Frederick Road and proceed to the first left which is still Old Frederick Road.
• Proceed about one half mile to a left on Daniels Road where you drive about one mile to parking lots on the right and the dam will be on your left.