Trout Run is a property in the Catoctin Mountains near Thurmont, Maryland, that was visited on several occasions by Presidents Herbert Hoover, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower.
Originally called Catoctin Lodge, it is located about 4 mi (6.4 km) away from the presidential retreat at Camp David and was established by one of Hoover's senior aides.
[2] Haugerud decided to withdraw it from sale half an hour after the bidding was due to start[2] and his realtors announced that he was considering whether to contest the 2004 United States Presidential Election as an independent: "If elected, he has promised to supply his own Camp David in the form of Trout Run at no expense to the government, thus insuring the savings of millions of dollars for the stressed out tax payers.
[2] SBPI submitted plans to convert Trout Run into a rehabilitation centre for drug addicts undergoing the controversial Narconon program devised by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.
Because of zoning restrictions, establishing such a facility at Trout Run would ordinarily be impossible, but using it as a group home would be permitted under local ordinances if the property was listed on the county's historic register.
They also argued that adding extra septic tanks would pollute the creek and that the designation as an historic property would be incompatible with closing the site to public access.
[8] The controversy was characterized by The Washington Post as a "culture war" over Scientology, with opponents reporting that they had been followed by suspected private investigators who they believed were working for Narconon.