Built in the late 1700s just east of Accident, MD, the Drane House is one of the very few original frontier plantation homes remaining on Maryland’s Tableland. It is the key to Accident's past and the living history of tobacco growing days in the uplands.

Although the log cabin is now known as the Drane House, it was actually built about 1797 by James Drane’s brother-in law, William Lamar. He relinquished title to Drane for the surrounding land and cabin in 1803. Both men attempted to inaugurate tobacco farming on this part of the Maryland frontier. After several unsuccessful seasons, Drane abandoned the idea of growing tobacco and settled for the type of farm crops which best suited the Garrett County weather.

When the last tenant vacated the property in 1952, the Drane House had set a record for “the longest continuous occupancy of any house in (Garrett) County.”

Viewed as a historic landmark, a group of people in Accident banded together for the purpose of saving the deteriorating, two story log building. Grants were obtained from the State of Maryland and the physical restoration work began in October 1991. However, before this work could start, a required archaeological site survey had to be conducted around the building. Most of the artifacts recovered by the archaeological team were those expected, a series of household items associated with 150 years of occupancy. Yet, one item was found which definitely tied the Drane House to the “frontier of the late 1700s.” This was a 1780-era Spanish coin bearing the inscription “Curolus III.” The coin recalled a common practice along the American Frontier of the late 1700s and early 1800s: that of using British or Spanish coins as a medium of exchange in place of the inflated paper money issued by the new United States government.

Since the cabin was almost 200 years old, some of its logs had to be replaced as a part of the restoration work. The building was dismantled and new logs put in here and there to replace the old ones. A unique part of this log replacement work was the use of old style tools such as the adze and double bladed axe to shape the new logs to the correct dimensions. The restoration work was completed in 1994 and over 100 Drane descendents and friends attended the ribbon cutting ceremony held in September of that year.

The Drane House is located at the end of Cemetery Road which runs past the Zion Lutheran Church on the eastern edge of Accident. The house has now been restored and is open for tours upon request by calling the Accident Town Hall Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at (301) 746-6346. Admission is free and visitors are invited to visit this important part of Garrett County’s past.