Looking west-northwest from an elevation of 2,890 ft (880 m), you will see the view of an historic community and surrounding hills from the Browntown Valley Overlook. The land that eventually became Browntown was a part of Lord Thomas Fairfax's land grant, Gooney Run Manor, until Fairfax's heirs began selling the land. Browntown got its name from Abraham Brown, who established mills in the area in the 1800s. In the 1870s Browntown became an industrial center, though today it is a quiet, rural community.