Emmitsburg: Mountain Town of Faith

Emmitsburg was founded in seventeen eighty-five by William Emmit and sits at the foot of the Catoctin Mountains in northern Frederick County, Maryland, just south of the Pennsylvania line. What sets it apart from other small mountain towns is its Catholic heritage. After the Revolution, French missionary Jean Dubois established a mission church and then a seminary here, and in eighteen oh nine Elizabeth Ann Seton arrived to found the first free Catholic school for girls in the United States and the first American sisterhood of women religious.

Those two institutions , Mount Saint Mary's University and the Seton Shrine , transformed a frontier village into one of the most significant Catholic communities in North America. Today the town draws pilgrims from across the country, anchored by the basilica and national shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton.