Taneytown (/ˈtɔːnitaʊn/ TAW-nee-town, locally also /ˈtænitaʊn/)[3] is a city in Carroll County, Maryland, United States.

Of the city, George Washington once wrote, "Tan-nee town is but a small place with only the Street through wch.

From the city, MD 140 continues eastward to Westminster and Baltimore, while to the west it traverses Emmitsburg before entering Pennsylvania.

From Taneytown, MD 194 continues north to Pennsylvania, while heading south, it proceeds into the Frederick area.

26% of Taneytown's residents were German, 14% Irish, 10% English, 5% Italian, 3% French, 2% Polish, 2% Dutch, and 2% Scottish.

People of Scotch-Irish, Lithuanian, Russian, Mexican and Norwegian descent each comprised 1% of the population.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Roger Brooke Taney, author of the Dred Scott decision, born in 1777, shares a common ancestor with him, but likely never visited the town or had any connection.

Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin, Catholic priest, missionary, and Russian prince during the late 18th century.

Taneytown was the headquarters of Union Army General George Meade for a period during the American Civil War.

Fellow Civil War general Jacob G. Lauman was born in Taneytown.

Congressman Joseph A. Goulden of New York was from a family with a house in Taneytown, where he usually stayed during the summer.

[13][14] Actor Fred Gwynne, star of TV's The Munsters, died in Taneytown on July 2, 1993, after he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.