 Mount Gilead began in 1821 when Dr. Isaac Eaton purchased on the western slope of Catoctin Mountain on the road from Leesburg to Coes Mill on the North Fork of Goose Creek for the purpose of founding a health spa from the mountain springs there.In 1823 Eaton sold three half-acre lots on his property for the establishment of a settlement named Mount Gilead, after the biblical mountain.The following year, his dream was given legitimacy by the establishment of a post office in the village.