The Story of DeCorsey Bolden from Oakland, Maryland

Appalachian Figures

In the 1970s a hardware-store plainspoken delegate from Maryland’s mountaintop counties learned how to work the levers of Annapolis without losing his Oakland accent. DeCorsey E. Bolden represented Garrett County in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1971 to 1982, sat on Appropriations, and became a reliable voice for local control. He is remembered for two fights that still ripple through the county’s story: forcing a do-over when commissioners raised taxes improperly and helping to save the Casselman River Bridge, a stone arch that once carried the National Road.

Oakland roots and wartime service

DeCorsey Emroy Bolden was born in Oakland on November 27, 1924, to Emroy DeCorsey and Mary Harper “May” Bolden. He attended local schools, studied at the University of Maryland, and served as a naval aviator and flight instructor during and after the Second World War. He returned home to build businesses and a public life in the Glades. He was buried in Oakland Cemetery in 2016.

Garrett County’s Bolden name had already been part of Oakland’s commercial landscape. Mid-century local directories and museum indexes point to a family furniture store and funeral home on Second Street, listed in the town’s centennial history and in business directories of the era.

From Oakland to Annapolis

Bolden entered the House of Delegates with the 1971 session and served through 1982. He chaired the Garrett County Delegation and sat on Appropriations, including the Subcommittee on Education and Human Resources, and on the Special Joint Committee on Capital Projects. His official biography also records service on regional bodies after leaving the House, including the Deep Creek Lake Advisory and Review Committee and the Tri-County Council for Western Maryland.

A contemporary Washington Post dispatch captured Bolden’s style in committee. During a 1977 fight over a controversial Baltimore prison lease, he cut through the euphemisms and called the key developer “a conniving profiteer.” That quote, delivered from his Appropriations seat, shows the country lawyer’s cadence he brought to big-city deals.

A 14-vote primary and a tax fight that made headlines

Garrett County’s isolation, and its fierce sense of self-direction, framed Bolden’s politics. In October 1979 the Post sent reporter Eugene L. Meyer to write a long portrait of the county. The piece featured Bolden twice. First, as the plaintiff who used state procedure to overturn a county budget increase that had been passed without a properly announced meeting. Second, as the man who eked out a 14-vote primary win over Grantsville’s George Edwards one year earlier, a victory that tracked the county’s north-south rivalry.

Saving an Appalachian landmark: Casselman River Bridge

The Casselman River Bridge east of Grantsville spans only 80 feet, yet it is a giant in Appalachian transportation lore. Built in 1813 to carry the National Road, it was one of the country’s great single-span stone arches and is now the centerpiece of a small state park. When preservation was in doubt, interpretive text and state features name two legislative champions who kept the bridge standing: Harry C. Edwards in the 1950s and Delegate DeCorsey E. Bolden in the 1970s, working alongside the Garrett County Historical Society.

Businessman and civic volunteer

Bolden’s obituary and state archives note a busy private career. He owned several “Southern”-branded concerns in Oakland and served locally for decades: Oakland Volunteer Fire Department, American Legion Proctor Kildow Post 71, the Elks, St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, the Friends of the Ruth Enlow Library, and the Garrett County Historical Society, where he served as president.

In 2015 he was inducted into the Maryland Senior Citizens Hall of Fame, a statewide honor for volunteers. The official roster lists “Bolden, DeCorsey E.” for Garrett County.

Why Bolden matters in Appalachian Maryland

Bolden’s public life lines up neatly with the long Appalachian pattern of small-town merchants who carry local priorities to state capitals. He was careful with process, skeptical of sweetheart deals, and protective of heritage infrastructure that anchors tourism and memory in a rural economy. The fights he chose, from the county budget to the old stone bridge, still define how Western Maryland tells its story.