USA > Maryland > Chronicles of colonial Maryland, with illustrations > Part 3
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4 See Note, Chapter III.
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THE FIRST CAPITAL
this lot came into the possession of Hugh Lee, and at a later date it was purchased by the Province of Maryland.
Of the architecture of the Calvert House, but little is known. In the inventory of his estate, however, it is de- scribed as a "large frame building", and the site it occupied is still pointed out. This places it about one hundred yards from the Fort, about two hundred and fifty yards from the river, and about the same distance from Middle Street, on which it fronted.1
Lower down the plateau, on the same side of Middle Street, and nearly adjoining the Calvert lot on the northwest, was the Lee Residence before mentioned, and which embraced the whole of the lower end of the plateau. In 1662, this property was purchased by the Province, for a "Government House", at a cost of twelve thousand pounds of casked tobacco, and was used as such until 1676, when new public buildings were erected. This was the first real estate ever owned by the Province of Maryland, and that part of the lot known as "Saint Mary's Bluff", became the site of its first State House and other public buildings. The house (in accordance with the custom of the times) was used also as an "ordinary".3 The lessee was Lieutenant William Smith, and one of the conditions of the lease was, that he plant on that part of the lot set apart for him, three acres, "forty apple or pear trees"." It was known as "Smith's Town House".5 Of this building, prominently as it was connected with the history of the times, nothing remains except the depression which marks the spot where once it stood-about three hun- dred yards from the river-and a few scattered, moss-covered bricks, the more durable fragments of its historic ruins.
That part of the "Country's lot" which lay between Smith's Town House and Middle Street, was the residence of Mark Cordea. On the lot he also appears to have had a shoe
.1 In 1707, this property was in the possession of George Parker, in right of his children, by his wife, then deceased, the daughter of Gabriel Parratt. Rent Rolls, Saint Mary's.
2 Archives (Ass. Pro. 1662) p. 455.
4 Kilty, p. 220.
3 Ibid, 1666, p. 29. " Ibid.
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shop. This property subsequently became the residence of Colonel William Digges, Secretary of the Province. Adjoin- ing it on the northwest, and fronting on Middle Street, was the residence of John Baker, and subsequently of Attorney General Charles Carroll. The lot contained one and a quarter acres, and in the house, when owned by John Baker, several sessions of the Council were held. Near this lot, on the northwest, and fronting on the same street, was the "Van Sweringen Tavern", owned by Garrett Van Sweringen. Northwest of this lot, fronting on the same side of this street, were the Law Chambers, owned by Robert Carvile, Christo- pher Rousby, and Robert Ridgely. The lot contained one acre, and was granted in 1679; it was called "Triple Con- tract". Between this and the State House lot, on the same side of the street, were the lots of Nicholas Painter and Cap- tain John Quigley ; the latter, lying nearest the State House, being one of the taverns of the town. Each of them con- tained one acre.
Bordering on the river, and running up to the three last mentioned lots, was the lot on which stood the Secretary's Office, Council Chamber, and "Saint Mary's Room". This was one building ; it was erected in 1664, and at a later period · was referred to as the "Old Court House". In the Council Chamber the first General Assembly under the royal govern- ment in Maryland was prorogued in May, 1692, after which it repaired to the State House. Bordering on the river, also, and lying between the Secretary's Office and Smith's Town House, was the home of Daniel S. Jenifer, Clerk of the Pro- vincial Court. The lot contained four acres, and, as directed by the order for the grant, was not to be "layed out soe neare the Ordinary House or Secretary's Office as to prejudice eyther the Office or the Ordinary's orchard or garden".1
1 As the authorities for the above have to be largely used conjunc- tively, they are given in the following order: Archives, Pro. Cl. 1686, P. 351 ; Ibid, 1684, p. 301 ; Council Book No. 2 p. 150; Archives, Pro. Cl. 1678, pp. 178, 201, 203, 204, 205, 207 ; Ibid, 1692, p. 420; Liber No. 20, pp. 260, 269; Archives, Pro. Ass. 1678, p. 32; Ibid, 1664, p. 539; Ibid, 1666, p. 34; Ibid, 1676, p. 482; Archives, Pro. Cl. 1678, p. 174; Archives, Pro. Ass. 1692, p. 349; Ibid, 1666, p. 123; Resurvey of "Governor's Field." in 1754, now in possession of the author.
ST. MARY'S BLUFF, SITE OF FIRST STATE HOUSE.
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THE FIRST CAPITAL
At the end of Middle Street was the State House lot, called "Saint Mary's Bluff", containing about three acres, and which embraced the entire end of the plateau forming the northwestern extremity of the town. The bluff, by an abrupt descent of about twenty feet, terminates in a broad, sandy flat, and thence into a long point, on which stood, it is said, the town wharf and warehouses, the latter occupying the flat immediately below the bluff, and between it and the wharf.
About ninety feet from the summit of the bluff stood the State House. It was a strikingly beautiful situation, and commanded an extensive view of the town, the river, and the surrounding country; and to those approaching the City, either by land or water, it formed a prominent and picturesque feature of the landscape.
The Act under which the State House was erected, was passed in 1674, and the building was completed in October, 1676. The contractor was Captain John Quigley, and the contract price for it, and a jail, was 330,000 lbs. of tobacco, of which Saint Mary's City contributed 100,000 lbs. The State House was forty-five feet long and fifty feet deep. An en- closed two-story "porch" in front, "12 by 16 feet in the clear" and a corresponding wing in the rear for the stairway, "16 by 16 feet in the clear", gave it a cruciform shape. The main building was two-and-a-half stories high; the porch and stairway wing being two stories only. It was all built of dark, red vitrified brick, with walls twenty-eight inches thick to the "water table", which was three feet high and "shelving", and twenty-four and nineteen inches thick in the first and second stories, respectively, with steep roof, covered with tile, from the centre of which shot up an iron spire,1 with ball, supporting near its top a vane, on which was inscribed, "1676", the date of its erection. The lower floor of the main building, contained at first, no divisions, and is referred to as "Saint Mary's Hall". The floor of this hall was paved with brick: its ceiling was twelve feet high, and entrance to
1 Captain Randolph Jones, author of "The Buccaneers," and who died a few years since at an advanced age, informed the author that he
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COLONIAL MARYLAND
it from the porch, was obtained through a door ten feet high and five feet wide. The second story contained three rooms, and, in 1682, the lower floor was divided by a brick partition, into two halls for the accommodation of the Upper and Lower Houses of Assembly.
The first and second stories were lighted by eight win- dows, with "double lights and transoms", those below being "eight feet high and four feet wide", and those above, "five feet high and two-and-a-half feet wide". The openings in the porch consisted of a central arch "six feet wide and eleven feet high" (extending from the "keystone" to the floor), and two smaller arches on the "sides above the bentles", the second story having one window immediately over the central arch. The opposite wing contained an oak "half pace" stairway, that extended to the "attic", and which had a window upon each "half pace of the stairs".
By a singular coincidence, the State House was erected without chimneys, owing to a controversy over the proposition to allow it, in conformity with the custom of the times, to be used as an Ordinary, or eating-house, the opposing and pre- dominant faction, in order to make this impracticable, caused them to be omitted altogether. In 1678, however, three out- side chimneys were put up: one at each gable end, and one at the rear of the stairway wing, and which, with a partition in the stairway wing, cost 20,000 lbs. of tobacco. In 1682, outside wooden shutters, and suitable furniture (tables and formes) for the building, were ordered to be purchased.1 The year previous, in order to avoid the expense of maintaining a
distinctly remembered this old spire, and its dismal creek and twang. It was about twelve feet high, and the hollow iron ball, which was near the centre of the spire, was about two feet in diameter. After the State House was pulled down, this ancient structure lay for some time unpro- tected in the Church yard, at Saint Mary's. It ultimately disappeared, most likely by the hands of the "iron speculator," and has, probably, long since been "scattered by the thousand winds of trade." O! ye sons of the times, where slept your vigils ?
1 Archives (Ass. Pro. 1674), p. 404; Ibid, 1678, pp. 27 and 32; Ibid, 1682, pp. 299 and 300.
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MARYLAND'S FIRST STATE HOUSE.
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THE FIRST CAPITAL
Drummer for the convening of the Assemblies and Provincial Courts, a "public bell" was ordered for the State House.2
In 1688, the northwest wing was ordered to be made five feet deeper, and the fireplace ten feet wide in the first story, and eight feet wide in the second, each to be provided with a white oak mantel.3
The accompanying picture of the State House, at Saint Mary's, which the author of this work is happily able to here present, was reproduced from one in his possession, and which it is believed, is the only one extant, or indeed, which ever existed of this old memorial of colonial times, and which, at the time it was built, was not only the "architectural glory" of Maryland, but, perhaps, the finest specimen of architecture in America. The engraving was taken from a mechanical drawing, made from actual measurements of its earth-covered foundation, but excavated for the purpose, and from the spec- ifications set out in the Act of Assembly4 authorizing the building to be erected, defining its dimensions, character, and style, and which was, in effect, the contract between the Prov- ince and the builder-Captain John Quigley. The iron spire was not a part of the original contract, and its size could only be approximately determined from an early written de- scription of it, and from data obtained from persons who dis- tinctly remembered it, both while it was on the building and
1 This is probably the bell at Georgetown College, and which is supposed to have belonged to the little chapel at Saint Mary's. The State House bell is the only one of the kind, which the records mention as being at Saint Mary's, and the one at Georgetown, bearing the date of the purchase of the State House bell, leads to the conclusion that it is the same one. The tone of the bell is exceedingly sweet, and the appliances for hanging and ringing it, very curious. The handsome English-walnut, elliptical-shaped table, known as the "Council table," and which stood in the Council room in the State House, is also at Georgetown College, where it was taken a few years ago, from Saint Inigoe's Manor. It is well preserved, and is an exceedingly interesting relic.
2 Archives (Ass. Pro. 1681) p. 144.
* Archives (Ass. Pro. 1674) p. 404.
3 Ibid, 1688, p. 223.
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COLONIAL MARYLAND
after the latter was pulled down.2 This picture has never before been presented to the public, except that, in 1894, on the occasion of the celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the removal of the Capital from Saint Mary's to Annapolis, permission was given the Baltimore Sun to print a wood cut of it in connection with its account of those ceremonies.
On the "State House Square", about seventy feet dis- tant, stood the historic "Old Mulberry" tree, under whose broad, spreading branches the first colonists of Maryland assembled, and under which, also, traditionary history says, the first mass at Saint Mary's was celebrated, and the treaty between Governor Calvert and the Yaocomico Indians was made. Of this venerable tree, whose mass of foliage con- tinued for two hundred years afterward to crown the State House promontory, it is further recorded, that "on it were nailed the proclamations of Calvert and his successors, the notices of punishments and fines, the inventories of debtors whose goods were to be sold, and all notices calling for the public attention." Within comparatively recent years even, curious relic hunters were able to pick from its decaying trunk, the rude nails which there held the forgotten State papers of two centuries and more ago.2
This aged tree had watched over the City in its infancy ; in its development and prosperity, and in its pride and glory, as the metropolis of Maryland ; it had seen it stripped of its prestige and its honors, and lose its importance and its rank ; it had witnessed its battle with adversity and its downfall and decline, and it had mourned the departure of nearly every symbol of its existence and memorial of its glory, which, under the winning game of time, had one by one, faded and passed away ; and still it stood-stood as a "silent sentinel of time, whose watchword is death"-stood "daily distilling the dews of Heaven" upon the sacred ground around it-stood, sheltering the generations of men who were buried beneath its
1 The late Doctor Alexander Jones, in Leonardtown Herald, in 1840, and the late Doctor John M. Brome, and Captain Randolph Jones.
Bryant, p. 504.
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THE FIRST CAPITAL
luxuriant shade-stood telling the story of the first Capital of Maryland, and marking the spot where once it was-stood until 1876, when, like the almost forgotten City-the compan- ion of its prime-its time-worn and shattered trunk laid down to rest.
About fifteen feet northeast of the State House, stands what is called the "Calvert Vault", and which is said to con- tain the remains of Governor Leonard Calvert, Lady Jane Calvert, wife of Charles Lord Baltimore, and Cecelius Calvert, their oldest son,1 but it is highly probable that it is the Copley and not the Calvert vault. The tradition is certainly incorrect as to Lady Jane Baltimore, who died in England and was buried at "Saint Giles", on the 24th of January, 1701,2 and from the fact that no allusion was made to it as the place of Governor Calvert's interment, or even to the existence of a vault, at the time the lot on which it stands was purchased for State purposes (fifteen years after his death), it is fair to assume that he, also, is not buried there. It is, however, a matter of record, that the first Royal Governor of Maryland, Lionel Copley, and Lady Copley, his wife, are both buried at Saint Mary's, and in a vault which was built by order of the State, at the State's expense, and presumably, upon the State's property.
On July 27th, 1694, it having been made known "to his Excellence, that the bodies of the late Governor Copley and his Lady, deceased, lye still at the Great House", and "con- fessing it was expected an order would have been received for carrying them by some man-of-war to England", it was or- dered by the Council, "that they be interred in a vault, to be built for the purpose, at Saint Mary's, and that the ceremony
1 Stanley, in Pilate and Herod, p. 16 says: "About thirty or more years ago (1823), (for I write from memory of a vestry record, and a verbal explanation or statement, made to me by a then vestryman of the Parish, the late Richard Thomas, of Saint Mary's, a worthy man) some young men, while under the influence of liquor, broke into this vault, forced open a leaden coffin, and discovered the corpse of a lady, sup-
2 Genealogist, vol. I.
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COLONIAL MARYLAND
be performed by the next Provincial Court, with all the decency and grandeur the Constitution and circumstances of affairs will admit of, and that three brass guns, being all that's to be had, be in readiness, and also the militia of adjoining parts".1 Pur- suant to this order, the interment took place October 5, 1694.2
On the north side of the State House lot, and on the declivity facing Saint John's Creek, stood the jail. It was erected in 1676; was two stories high, twenty-four feet long and fifteen feet wide, in the clear, with ceilings nine feet high, and was built of brick, with tiled roof and paved floor. It had three windows, each having "three iron bars upright and two across", into which the upright bars were wrought.8. Below the jail was "Gallows-green", the property of Richard May, Chief Clerk to the Secretary, and which, as first granted, says the record, extended beyond the "gallows", and across the plateau as far as the "great white mulberry tree"." This, however, subsequently became a part of the State House lot.
On the northeast side of Middle Street, adjoining the State House lot, and extending through it to Saint John's Creek, was the lot on which stood the famous hostelry, known as "Jellie's Tavern"." It was built of brick; was about thirty-five by forty-five feet, and was two-and-a-half stories high. The walls and chimneys of this building were standing within the recollection of a few very old people living up to a recent period, and its site is still pointed out, near that of the present rectory of Trinity Church. It was owned and operated by Robert Jellie, and from the following proceedings taken against it, by the Council, in 1686, it may be inferred that in
posed to be Lady Ann Calvert, adorned with trinkets of gold and such a dress as denoted her rank." It may be added that these young men were most probably influenced by curiosity, rather than drink, as would appear from the following interesting letter written only a few days after the occurrence, by one of the participants. It should also be noted, that Lady Ann Calvert was never in Maryland. . She died in London, in 1649.
1 Cl. Pro. H. D. 2, p. 43. 2 Ibid, p. 65.
Governor Copley left three children, two sons and one daughter .- Ibid, p. 98.
3 Archives (Ass. Pro. 1674) p. 406.
4 Liber 16, p. 594, Land Office.
5 Re-survey, 1723.
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THE FIRST CAPITAL
its latter days, its reputation for order and sobriety became somewhat tarnished :
"It is considered by this Board, that the House wherein Robert Jellie keeps Ordinary at the City of Saint Mary's, is very inconvenient and prejudicial to the public, for that at the time of Provincial Court, the Jury, attorneys and suitors are at said House often detained and disordered, * * and said House being also near the State House, wherein the Public Offices of the Province are kept, the Clerks of said offices are often found to frequent said House, by which means there is great occasion to suspect that the public affairs of the Province are much impeded by reason of said Ordinary. * * * This Board does, therefore, represent the same as a Public grievance to the Mayor and Aldermen of said City, in order to have the same suppressed".1 1198617
In the ravine, below this tavern, was located the "Town Spring".
Adjoining the tavern lot on the east, fronting on Middle Street, and extending through to Saint John's Creek, was the residence of Philip Lynes, Mayor of Saint Mary's City at the time of the removal of the Capital to Annapolis,2 and adjoin- ing it on the east, was the traditional site of the Protestant Episcopal Church. It is alleged that Trinity Church, on
1 Archives (Cl. Pro.) pp. 494, 498.
Among the tavern keepers at Saint Mary's, from time to time, may be mentioned, William Smith, Robert Ridgely, John Baker, Garrett Van Sweringen, and John Quigley, the two latter being partners. Ordinaries were regularly licensed, and were subject to stringent laws, both as to accommodations and rates. At Saint Mary's, each innkeeper was re- quired to have at least twelve feather beds, and to provide stable room for at least twenty horses, and was limited to the following charges : Lodging in bed with sheets, 12 pence; diet, I shilling per meal; brandy, malaga, and sherry, 10 shillings per gallon; canary, 12 shillings ; French, Renish, Dutch, and English wines, 6 shillings; Mum, 3 shillings; plain cider, 25 and boiled cider, 30 ibs. tob. per quart. Archives (Ass. Pro. 1666-1676) pp. 295, 407, 554, and Ibid, 1682, p. 429; Archives (Cl. Pro. 1672) p. 118, and Ibid, 1692, p. 420.
2 Re-survey, 1723; Scharf, I, p. 347.
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COLONIAL MARYLAND
Trinity (Smith's) Creek, six miles below, erected in 1642,1 and probably the first Protestant church built by the Maryland colonists, was moved to Saint Mary's,2 and located, according to tradition, in the "Creek lot", close by the old graveyard, now crowned with cedar and holly trees. It being most prob- ably a wooden structure, and the State House at an early date having been dedicated to Protestant worship, the history of this little church appears to have passed away with its usefulness. That there was, however, a Protestant church at Saint Mary's at an early period, is clearly established,3 and of its architecture, it is also known that it had an "arched ceil- ing", after the design of which the State House ceiling was subsequently modeled.4
Adjoining the church lot on the east, stood the residences of John Llewelyn and Philip Evens. Of these houses little is known; the records, as well as tradition, being silent, both as to their character and size, except that the former furnishes a scant notice of the home of Clerk of the Council, John Llew- elyn," from which it may be inferred that it was a house of comfortable proportions.
A little further east, and near the point where Mill Creek falls into Saint John's, stood the town water mill, erected in 1635. The mill site and lot contained nine acres. It was built by Thomas Cornwaleys, who having completed it, pro- ceeded, as he said, to "build a house to put my own head in". In 1723, it had ceased to be operated, and the "old dam", remains of which are still visible, was all that was then left of its ruin.®
It is worthy of note, that this was not only the first water mill set up in Maryland, but was one of the earliest in
1 Allen, Who Were the Early Settlers of Maryland.
ª Butler, p. 23.
3 See statement of Governor Seymoure in trial of Father Brooke, Scharf, I, p. 369.
* See Extracts from William & Mary Parish Records, in Whitting- ham Library, by Allen.
5 Archives (Cl. Pro. 1684) p. 308; Re-survey, 1723.
6 Relation, 1635; McSherry, p. 57; Re-survey, 1723.
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THE FIRST CAPITAL
America, and was one of the few in the country which was erected as a private enterprise, rather than by public contri- bution.1
In 1639, the Assembly authorized another mill to be built at Saint Mary's, the cost not to exceed 20,000 lbs. of tobacco, to be raised by general taxation.2 As the assessment, how- ever, for this mill appears not to have been made, it is highly probable that it was never erected.
The records also speak of a "wind mill" at Saint Mary's, the property of Major General Edward Gibbons, and purchased by Lord Baltimore, in 1656, for fioo sterling, and which, he directed, should be specially cared for and improved.ª
Between the mill lot and Middle Street was the traditional site of "Market Square". Under the charter, a "market" was to be held weekly ; the town officers also being authorized to hold an "Annual Fair", to which the ancient Court of "Piepoudrea" was to be an incident.
On the south and east side of the Fort was the "Chapel land". It extended from Key's Creek, across the plateau to the fresh of Saint John's (above tide-water, called Mill) Creek. The Chapel itself, stood near the intersection of "Middle" and "Mattapany" Streets, fronting northeast, and on the former street. It was a brick building, and, judging from its foundation lines (visible until a recent period), it
1 Improvements of this character were of slow growth at that time. The first water mill in Massachusetts was built in 1633, five years after the colony had settled. The same year a saw mill was erected near London, but it was deemed a machine which would deprive the laboring people of employment and it was demolished .- Bozman.
2 Bozman, p. 156.
3 Archives (Pro. Cl.) p. 326.
" The lowest-and at the same time the most expeditious Court of Justice known to the law of England, is the Court of Piepoudrea, curia pedis pulveri zati, so called from the dusty feet of the suitors, or accord- ing to Sir Edward Coke, because justice is there done as speedily as dust can fall from the foot. It was held at markets so that attendants on the markets might have their causes heard and determined expeditiously, and thus no loss of time by the delays of the law. Blackstone, vol. III, p. 31.
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COLONIAL MARYLAND
was about eighteen by thirty feet. Over the altar, was a carved representation of clouds,1 and of the flames of Pente- cost.2 The exact date of its erection has not been ascertained, but it was prior to 1638,3 and it was undoubtedly (barring the little wigwam fitted up by Father White, and called by him the "first Chapel in Maryland") the first church built by the Maryland colonists.
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