See Sandy Springs for other places.

Sandy Spring, Maryland is an unincorporated

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 community

Community

The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...

 in Montgomery County, Maryland

Montgomery County, Maryland

Montgomery County is a county in the U.S. state of Maryland, situated just to the north of Washington, D.C., and southwest of the city of Baltimore. It is one of the most affluent counties in the United States, and has the highest percentage of residents over 25 years of age who hold post-graduate...

.

The community was founded by Quakers who arrived in the early 18th century searching for land where they could grow tobacco

Tobacco

Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

 and corn

Maize

Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...

. One of the very early land owners in the Sandy Spring area was Richard Snowden

Richard Snowden

Richard Snowden is the grandson of Richard Snowden Sr , one of Maryland's early colonists, who arrived in 1658. Richard founded the Patuxent Iron Works, on the site of Maryland's oldest iron forge...

, who patented (purchased) the 1000 acres (4 km²) "Snowden's Manor" in 1715. Snowden gradually enlarged his property with additional land purchases over the next few decades until it was surveyed at over 9000 acres (36.4 km²) as "Snowden's Manor Enlarged" in 1743. Another important early landowner, Major John Bradford, had patented over 2000 acres (8.1 km²) in the Sandy Spring area by 1720, including "Charley Forest", "Charley Forest Enlarged", "Higham", and "Discovery." Bradford sold off large parts of these properties, but Snowden's son-in-law, James Brooke, later bought up the original Charley Forest land as well as other land in the area, eventually owning over 22000 acres (89 km²) by the 1760s.

The Quakers built their meeting house

Friends meeting house

A Friends meeting house is a meeting house of the Religious Society of Friends , where meeting for worship may be held.-History:Quakers do not believe that meeting for worship should take place in any special place. They believe that "where two or three meet together in my name, I am there among...

 in 1817 near a fresh-water spring which gave its name to the community. In the late 19th century the community started a local school called the Sherwood Academy. This school was turned over to the Montgomery County

Montgomery County, Maryland

Montgomery County is a county in the U.S. state of Maryland, situated just to the north of Washington, D.C., and southwest of the city of Baltimore. It is one of the most affluent counties in the United States, and has the highest percentage of residents over 25 years of age who hold post-graduate...

  Government in 1906 to become Sherwood High School, that county's third public high school. A Quaker school, Sandy Spring Friends School

Sandy Spring Friends School

Sandy Spring Friends School is a Quaker pre-Kindergarten through Twelfth Grade co-educational college preparatory day school with optional five and seven day boarding programs in the Upper School. SSFS is located on a wooded campus in the historic Quaker community of Sandy Spring in the heart of...

, was established in 1961.

The United States Census Bureau

United States Census Bureau

The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

 combines Sandy Spring with the nearby community of Ashton

Ashton, Maryland

Ashton is an unincorporated area in Montgomery County, Maryland. The commercial center of Ashton lies at the junction of Route 108 and New Hampshire Avenue ....

 to form the census-designated place

Census-designated place

A census-designated place is a concentration of population identified by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes. CDPs are delineated for each decennial census as the statistical counterparts of incorporated places such as cities, towns and villages...

 of Ashton-Sandy Spring

Ashton-Sandy Spring, Maryland

Ashton-Sandy Spring is a census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. The CDP is designated to include the two unincorporated communities of Ashton and Sandy Spring.-Geography:...

, and all census

Census

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

data are tabulated for this combined entity.