Sideling Hill, also Side Long Hill, is a long, steep, narrow mountain ridge in the Ridge-and-Valley (or Allegheny Mountains) physiographic province of the Appalachian Mountains, located in Washington County in western Maryland and adjacent West Virginia and Pennsylvania, United States. The highest point on the ridge is Fisher Point, at in Fulton County, Pennsylvania.
Sideling Hill Road Cut (I-68 and US 40, Maryland)
thumb|right|The Sideling Hill cut from the rest stop pedestrian bridge
thumb|right|The Sideling Hill Road Cut, as seen from I-70
The Sideling Hill Road Cut on I-68 and US 40 is a notch excavated from the ridge of Sideling Hill, about west of Hancock in Washington County, Maryland. Blasting was completed in August 1984. It is notable as an impressive man-made mountain pass, visible from miles away, and is considered to be one of the best rock exposures in Maryland and the entire northeastern United States. Almost Many of the geological exhibits from the former Exhibit Center are now displayed at the Hancock Museum in nearby Hancock, Maryland.
The former exhibit center building was reopened as a welcome center on October 9, 2015. Only part of the facility is open, with the former exhibit center exhibits remaining at the Hancock Museum.
National Road (US 40 Scenic)
Before construction of I-68, US 40 (now US 40 Scenic), the National Road, crossed Sideling Hill with a steep grade on each side and a sharp hairpin turn at the crest of the mountain.
Potomac River Water Gap
The water gap cut through Sideling Hill by the Potomac River southwest (upstream) of Hancock, Maryland, provides a low-level crossing of the ridge for the CSX Railroad, formerly the main line of the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad, on the southern (West Virginia) side of the river, and on the northern (Maryland) side, the former Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, now a national historical park, and the former Western Maryland Railroad (now a rail trail).
See also
- Laurel Hill Tunnel
- Sideling Hill Creek (disambiguation)