In the mid-1800s, Robert Lee Hill discovered that the area of western Maryland near Sideling Hill Creek was full of deer, turkey, and other game animals, as well as ample fishing. During a chance encounter with Rear Admiral Robley Evans in Washington, D.C., Hill spoke about the area and its abundant wildlife. Evans and his friends took him up on an offer to join him for some autumn hunting, and soon after, the Woodmont Rod and Gun Club of Washington was founded.
The original lodge burned down in 1903, and only a few artifacts survived, including the famed Presidents’ Chair. The club members were divided about how to proceed after the fire, and ultimately the 3,500 acres were sold to Henry Bridges, who re-established the club as the Woodmont Rod and Gun Club of Baltimore.
Under Bridges’ leadership as secretary-treasurer, the current three-story fieldhouse was built. Bridges was also deeply interested in conservation programs after witnessing the extinction of the passenger pigeon firsthand. He established wild turkey breeding programs and imported white-tailed deer from Michigan to breed with the smaller local population. Manmade lakes were designed and stocked with bass and trout when pollution in the Potomac River made fishing there less desirable.
Bridges’ ultimate vision was a self-sustaining game preserve. Since his passing in 1957, others have carried on his legacy, expanding the conservation programs to include pheasants and other animals.
Over the years, many prominent figures have visited the lodge, including six U.S. Presidents, Amos and Andy, Babe Ruth, and Chief Justice William Douglas. Presidents James Garfield, Chester Arthur, Benjamin Harrison, and Grover Cleveland visited the original Washington club before it burned down. Cleveland’s love of the area—but not the lodge itself—led to the creation of nearby “Camp Cleveland.” Once Henry Bridges rejuvenated the club, Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt also visited the lodge.
In 1995, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, in conjunction with the Izaak Walton League, purchased the former Rod and Gun Club land. It is now co-managed by the two entities: the Maryland DNR oversees the lodge’s immediate 1,400 acres (including nearby Camp Cleveland) from April through September, and the IWL (Woodmont Chapter) manages the site during hunting season (October through March). The additional 2,000 acres of the Woodmont Natural Resources Management Area are open to the public year-round for hiking and wildlife viewing.