THREE hundred years ago Rob Roy MacGregor passed through the village square as he marauded round the country collecting his "black mail".
In 1941 Rudolf Hess, the third most powerful man in Nazi Germany, crash-landed in Scotland and was incarcerated in Drymen's Buchanan Castle after complaining to the authorities that he was unsafe in Glasgow during the blitz.
Today a new chapter will be written in the village's colourful history when the community purchases its square for GBP1, the steal of the century that would have brought a smile to the infamous MacGregor who had a farm at Craigroyston in the Trossachs.
Situated on the A811 just 20 miles north of Glasgow in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park, Drymen will become a model for communities who want to take closer control of their own destinies and build on their heritage to sustain their local economies.
Tom Gilchrist, Drymen Community Development Trust chairman, said: "Our aim is to make the square an attractive place for villagers to socialise and relax.
"By enhancing the square the increase in visitor numbers will be maintained. Whether we live or work here it will be a place we can respect with pride."
He envisages removing the unsightly bus shelter, improving the road junction, taking two lanes back from the "four-lane" road, and losing 28 car-parking spaces. "The eyesores will go and we may bring back a heritage centre. We have an emerging consensus but a stone won't be turned for a year to 18 months, " he said.
Like the drovers of old, they have had to travel a long, hard road.
David Warnes, the owner of the Winnock Hotel which fronts the square, said: "When I came here 18 years ago there were letters from MP Michael Forsyth about the difficulties over ownership of the village square. It was seen as an intractable problem."
MrGilchrist, 65, who is a retired quantity surveyor, agreed. A "white settler" from Paisley - it takes two generations to be recognised as a true villager - he joined the investigations into who actually owned the land.
It was during this research that he learned all about Rob Roy who passed through the square as he went around collecting his black mail - rent in kind, often as cattle, which Rob Roy took from tenant farmers who had fallen into arrears. Eventually the title was sourced to Montrose Estates and a fee of GBP1 was agreed.
"It is something to shout about from the rooftops, " said MrWarnes.
Dr Mike Cantlay, convener of the National Park Authority, said the landmark project harnessed the key priorities of the national park plan.
"It brings together the aims of conservation and restoration of our historic past with the essential element of sustaining the economy of our local communities."
The project is part of the National Park Community Futures Programme started in 2001 which helped all the communities in the park to prepare their own community action plans and set up development trusts to implement priority projects.
Dr Cantlay added: "Most are delivering projects that are making a real difference to quality of life and the environment. These projects are anything from play areas and community parks, farmers' markets and litter campaigns, paths and car parks, to websites and woodlands.
"In total, these communities have accessed well in excess of GBP3m over the past five years from European, lottery and other funding sources for projects, not to mention a further GBP2m in the pipeline for more work."
The public launch of the Drymen Square Project will take place in the square today at 11am.
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