for those who have experienced the phenomenon of sprawling Metropolitan areas with MANY suburbs, you will understand Wheaton...no real identity-even it's mail address ZIP (20902)is listed as "Silver Spring"...there are malls, homes, subway stops, fire stations, churches...but no mayor or local govt..we don't even think of ourselves as Marylanders a lot...identity comes from being near Wash DC.

(and yes, Carol, I remember Wheaton Plaza without the roof, with little snowplows in the winter...but even THAT name is gone, bought by a conglomerate and renamed "Westwood" or something (I truly can't remember!!)

what we do have is "The Royal Mile Pub" where you can go hear music (especially sea chanties)...and at LEAST it's not Northern Virginia on the other side of the Beltway, where the traffic is 9 times worse! For some strange reason, the Folklore Society got it's major activities centered in DC and Maryland years ago, so I don't have to drive to *shudder* Virginia for everything.