USA > Maryland > Leading Events of Maryland History: With Topical Analyses, References, and questions for original thought and research, revised and enlarge > Part 16
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ANNE ARUNDEL
High School Building, Annapolis From a photograph
Anne Arundel county was erected in 1650, and has an area of 400 square miles. It was named after the Lady Anne Arundel, whom Cecilius Calvert married. It fronts eastward on the Chesapeake, and within its territory five rivers are con- tained - the Severn, the most beautiful sheet of water of its size in the United States; Magothy, South, Rhode, and West. On the north and northeast is the Patapsco, and Howard county lies northwest of Anne Arundel. The Patuxent separates it from Prince George's on the west, and Calvert is on the south. An- napolis, the state capital, is also the county seat. In 1694 it sup-
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planted St. Mary's city as the seat of government in the colony, and grew to be the "Paris of America," the abode of wealth, elegance, and fashion. In the Senate Chamber of the historic old State House Washington resigned his commission as com- mander-in-chief, to the Continental Congress, at the close of the Revolution ; on State House Hill, where Revolutionary troops encamped, is a heroic statue of Baron de Kalb, commander of the Maryland Line on the gory field of Camden. Near the State House is the Executive Mansion, and in the vicinity are numer- ous specimens of eighteenth century architecture. The city and county are rich in historical associations. Eden, the last of the colonial governors, died in Annapolis, and his grave is on the Severn. Tombs of the early settlers, bearing still familiar names, and other traces of the past preserve county history. The Mary- land Gazette, first printed in 1745, is one of the Annapolis news- papers.1 The United States Naval Academy is a government reservation adjoining the city. The population of Annapolis is 8,609. It was named after Queen Anne. Agriculture and hor- ticulture are leading industries of the county, and its manufac- turing interests are numerous, and some of them of great impor- tance. South Baltimore, in the northern part of the county, is a manufacturing centre, with car-works and other large plants; Brooklyn has various industries; Annapolis, a port of entry, is a leading centre of the oyster industry. Tobacco, wheat, corn, vegetables, and fruits are grown, and woodland areas have heavy growths of oak, pine, and other trees. The railroads are the Bal- timore and Potomac ; Baltimore and Ohio; Annapolis, Baltimore and Washington ; and Baltimore and Annapolis Short Line. St. John's College, the alma mater of many distinguished Mary- landers, is at Annapolis. Anne Arundel institutions have been notable in the educational annals of Maryland.
1 See Page 109.
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CALVERT
A Launching at Shipyards, Solomon's From a photograph
Calvert county has 222 square miles of territory, and is the smallest in the state. It dates back to 1654, and preserves the family name of the proprietary. The Patuxent curves around the southern and western sides of the county, and its eastern line is washed by the Chesapeake. The bayside is marked by highlands, and the "Cliffs of Calvert " attract much attention among students of geology and physiography. The soil is pro- ductive, and divided between sandy and clay loams. Tobacco and cereals are the chief crops, and a considerable number of the people are interested in fisheries. The oyster grounds of Calvert are among the best in the state. Timber is plentiful, and iron ores and silica are found in extensive deposits. Drum Point, at
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LEADING EVENTS OF MARYLAND HISTORY
the mouth of the Patuxent, has one of the finest harbors in the United States, and in time may become the location of a vast Federal or commercial maritime enterprise. Fruits and vege- tables mature early on the sheltered lands, with southern exposure, along the waterways. The county seat is Prince Frederick, which is centrally located, and, like other Calvert towns, is small in population. Solomon's, in the southern part of the county, 26 miles from Prince Frederick, has a marine railway and shipyards, and Sollers', on St. Leonard's creek, St. Leonard's, Chaneyville, Lower Marlboro, Drum Point, Huntingtown, Plum Point, are among the villages of the county. In the colonial and early state history of Maryland Calvert was conspicuous. The first railroad to enter the county is the Chesa- peake Beach, which was built from Hyattsville, near Washing- ton, to the bay a few years ago, and runs for a short distance through the upper part of Calvert. A large portion of the popu- lation is colored. Among noteworthy sons of the county were General James Wilkinson and Rev. Mason Weems (" Parson Weems "), the once popular biographer, who pointed a moral with his celebrated myth of little George Washington, his hatchet, and his father's cherry tree.
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CHARLES
Court House, La Plata From a photograph
Charles county lies on the Potomac river, its southern and western boundary, with Prince George's on the north and St. Mary's on the east. Between the two counties, a tongue of Charles extends to the Patuxent, and it was on this, at Benedict, that Ross's army disembarked for the march to Washington in 1814. The county was organized in 1658, and given the Chris- tian name of the second lord proprietary. Its area is 460 square miles, and its great reach of water front on the Potomac, in a huge bend of which it is situated, gives it important resources
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in riparian products, - oysters, fish, water-fowl. The Wicomico river, Nanjemoy, Port Tobacco, and Mattawoman creeks are tributaries of the Potomac in this county. Tobacco is the prin- cipal crop, the average yield being 500 pounds to the acre, and corn and wheat are grown in considerable quantities. The Pope's Creek line of the Baltimore and Potomac railroad terminates at Pope's creek, on the Potomac. In the middle section of the county the land is level and in other parts its rolling surface is locally designated as "valleys." Port Tobacco, from colonial times the county seat, was succeeded a decade ago by La Plata, on the railroad. The entire village population of the county is . very small. The United States Naval Proving Grounds, a gov- ernment reservation at Indian Head in northwestern Charles, is where guns and projectiles for the navy are tested. Marshall Hall, nearly opposite Mt. Vernon, is closely connected with the memory of Washington, and is now an excursion resort. Gen- eral William Smallwood was from Charles, and for a century his grave on the ancestral estate, near the old brick dwelling in which he and General Washington held Masonic meetings, was marked only by a walnut tree. On July 4, 1898, the Maryland Society of the Sons of the American Revolution unveiled a massive monument on the spot. This county was also the home of Thomas Stone, a signer of the Declaration of Independence; of Michael Jenifer Stone, a representative in the first Congress, who voted to place the seat of Federal government on the Potomac; of Governor John Hoskins Stone, distinguished at Long Island, White Plains, Princeton, Germantown; of Robert Hanson Harrison, Washington's military secretary, and a long list of able and brilliant men.
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BALTIMORE
Marble Quarry, Cockeysville From a photograph
Baltimore stands at the head of Maryland counties in popula- tion, wealth, and resources, and its area of 622 square miles is exceeded only by Garrett and Frederick. When the " Belt " was annexed to Baltimore city in 1888, the county lost considerable territory, 36,000 inhabitants, and the towns of Waverly, Oxford, Woodberry, Hampden, Calverton. The eastern neighbor of Baltimore county is Harford, its western, Carroll; and it is bounded on the south by the bay, the city, and the Patapsco river separating it from Anne Arundel and Howard. The Penn- sylvania state line is the northern boundary. The topography of the county is diversified and attractive, elevated and rolling, watered by numerous picturesque streams, and well timbered. The soil is strong and fertile, and a great variety of crops is grown. In mineral resources Baltimore is particularly fortunate.
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From the early days of the colony its iron ores attracted capital, and from time to time numerous iron-manufacturing establish- ments have been in operation. Copper mines were formerly worked in the county, and from this industry grew the present large copper works at Canton, which now use copper from Mon- tana, the mining of the county deposits being very expensive. The first discovery of chrome ore in America was made a few miles north of Baltimore city, and a flourishing industry in the manufacture of products from this ore, of wide applicability in the arts, was established. The building stones of the county have given it high rank in the industrial world. The famous Woodstock granite is found in the southwestern corner, and has been quarried since the thirties. It has been used in many of the chief buildings in Baltimore city, and in the Congressional Library and Washington Post Office. The most valuable of Maryland's limestone deposits, it is said, are the highly crystal- line marbles of Baltimore county. The Beaver Dam marbles have been used in the construction of the Washington monu- ments in Baltimore and Washington, and Federal, state, and municipal buildings throughout the East. Gneiss and gabbro rocks are also used in building. The county is noted for its min- eral waters - Chattolanee, Roland, Strontia, Lystra, etc. There are valuable deposits of serpentine and porcelain clays. Along the Patapsco and the bay are numerous pleasure resorts, and fishing and gunning shores. The Baltimore and Ohio; Phila- delphia, Wilmington and Baltimore; and the Baltimore and Potomac run through its southern portion : the Northern Central extends northward through the county into Pennsylvania; the Western Maryland runs northwesterly from Baltimore city ; and there are several short lines and electric roads. The county seat is Towson, named after General Nathan Towson, seven miles from Baltimore, on the Maryland and Pennsylvania railroad.
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It is the terminus of a city electric car line, and is situated in the midst of a superbly developed agricultural country. It has a population of 3,500. Canton and Highland town, small cities in themselves, largely given over to manufacturing, adjoin the eastern limits of Baltimore city. Cockeysville has a large stone quarry ; at Lutherville is a female seminary ; Emory Grove and Glyndon are noted camp grounds ; Catonsville and Mt. Wash- ington, with Roland Park and other towns, are known for their fine residences and picturesque locations. Hundreds of industrial establishments, large and small, are located in the county, and Steelton (Sparrow's Point) is the seat of the mammoth plant of the Maryland Steel Company. The county has many fine estates and country seats, and from its formation, in 1659, has been the home of a great number of the foremost men of colony and state. The battle of North Point was fought on its soil. For years it had a congressman of its own. Baltimore was the name of the Irish estates of the Calverts. The private and sectarian educa- tional institutions of the county are numerous, and some of them of widespread fame.
Grazing Scene, Samuel Shoemaker's Farm From a photograph
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TALBOT
Scene on Miles River From a photograph
" Talbot county was formed in 1660-61. The order by which it was created has not been found, but the Assembly proceedings first show its existence in this year. The existing records of the province have not discovered to us what were its exact limits anterior to the year 1706. In that year they were definitely set- tled by the existing Act of 1706, Chapter 3, which enacts that 'the bounds of Talbot county shall contain Sharp's Island, Chop- tank Island, and all the land on the north side of the Great Chop- tank river ; and extend itself up the said river to Tuckahoe Bridge ; and from thence with a straight line to the mill com- monly called and known by the name of Swetnam's mill, and thence down the south side of Wye river to its mouth, and thence down the bay to the place of beginning, including Poplar Island and Bruff's Island'" (McMahon, History of Maryland). The second public school in Maryland was established in Talbot under the Act of 1723. That this school was something more than a mere elementary school is clear from the curriculum laid down in the act, namely, " Grammar, Good Writing and Mathe:
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matics." There is sufficient evidence for believing that the Talbot Free School was better supplied with good teachers than the private subscription schools, which were often filled by indentured servants. Bampfylde Moore Carew, the "King of the Beggars," came to Talbot as an unwilling emigrant, and the captain of the ship that brought him over recommended him to a planter of Bayside as a "great scholar and an excellent schoolmaster." The school seems to have prospered for a long series of years and was "looked upon as the most frequented in the province." But after the year 1764 no record of it has been found. How long it flourished and when it ceased to exist is unknown. It is believed, upon tradition merely, that it con- tinued in successful operation up to the outbreak of the Revolu- tionary War. Talbot people have long cherished their public schools as their most valued privilege and right. The county has an area of 285 square miles, and derives its name from Lord Talbot. It is cut up into peninsulas by the Chesapeake and its tributaries, and is famous for its landscapes and waterscapes. Agriculture, canning, and oyster-catching are its industries. It has furnished governors, United States senators, a secretary of the treasury, and numerous state and national officials and men of mark. Maryland's first historian came from Talbot, and it was the home of Robert Morris's father and the birthplace of John Dickinson. The Delaware and Chesapeake, and Balti- more, Chesapeake, and Atlantic are its transportation lines. Easton, the county seat, was the former "capital " and seat of government on the Eastern Shore, and the first newspaper on this side of the bay was established there more than a century ago. Oxford and St. Michael's are also historic.
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SOMERSET
A Part of Main Street, Crisfield From a photograph
Somerset county was erected August 22, 1666, by an order of the provincial Council, and embraced "all that Tract of land within this our province of Maryland bounded on the South with a line drawn from Wattkin's point (being the North point of th't bay into wch the river Wighco formerly called Wighcocomoco afterwards Pocomoke & now Wighcocomoco againe doth fall exclusively) to the Ocean on the East, Nantecoke river on the North & the Sound of Chesipiake bay on the West"; which was erected in the name and as the act of the Lord Proprietary "into a county by the name of Sommersett county in honor to our Deare Sister the lady Mary Somersett." The commissioners, Stephen Horsey, William Stevens, William Thorne, James Jones, John Winder, Henry Boston, George Johnson, and John White, were empowered "to enquire by the Oath of good & lawfull men of all manner of fellonies Witchcrafts inchantmts Sorceryes Mag- ick Arts Trespasses forestallings ingrossing & extorcons " and
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"all & singler other Misdeeds and offences." The order ap- pointed "Edmond Beachchampe Clark and Keeper of the Records," and the council issued the same day a commission to Stephen Horsey to be "Sherriffe of Somersett." The first effort to settle the long-standing boundary dispute with Virginia resulted in Scarborough's line depriving Somerset of 23 square miles of territory. Like Dorset, Somerset has jurisdiction over several islands, one of which, Deal's Island, was celebrated early in the last century for its Methodist " Parson " Thomas, who, tradition says, foretold the death of Ross in the attack on Balti- more, and preached to the British on his island. The south- eastern corner of Somerset is separated from Accomac, in Virginia, by the Pocomoke river, and the division line continues through Pocomoke sound. The Western Shore is washed by Tangier sound and the bay. The area of Somerset is 362 square miles, and it heads the list of oyster counties, half its population being engaged in that industry. The value of the annual oyster yield from Somerset waters is $2,000,000, and the pack- ing-houses along the southern and western shores utilize from one to one and a half million bushels yearly. In summer oyster- men find employment in the crabbing industry, and these shell- fish are shipped in enormous quantities to city markets- 250,000 dozen going from Crisfield alone in a single season. Terrapin are more plentiful in Somerset than in other coun- ties, and " diamond-back farming " is successful. Agriculture is profitable in the interior, and truck-farming is carried on along the lines of the New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk railroad. Crisfield, near the mouth of the little Annamessex river, with a population of 3,468, is a port of entry for hundreds of vessels, and has extensive industrial and commercial interests. The county seat, Princess Anne, was founded in 1733. Other towns are Fairmount, Oriole, Mt. Vernon, and Kingston.
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DORCHESTER
Cambridge Hospital, Cambridge From a photograph
Dorchester county is the largest on the Eastern Shore, having an area of 610 square miles, and ranks fourth in point of size in the state. The Great Choptank river and Caroline form its north- ern boundary, and it has a few miles of eastern border on the Delaware line. The Nanticoke flows along the southeastern border, and on the south and west arms of the Chesapeake and the bay itself inclose the county. Dorchester was formed in 1669-1670, and its name is traced to the earl of Dorset or to Dorsetshire. Various islands are included in its territory, and the Little Choptank, the northwest fork of the Nanticoke, Honga, Fishing, Blackwater, Transquaking, Chicacomico, are rivers and creeks of Dorchester. Fishing bay, Tar bay, Trippe bay, Hooper's straits, and other bodies of water add to the geographical nomen clature of the county. There is a great extent of marsh land, fre- quented by myriads of wild ducks, and oysters, crabs, and terrapin
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COUNTY HISTORIES
abound in the county waters. Sand, clay, and marl make a diver- sified soil, and corn, wheat, potatoes, tomatoes, and fruits are grown. Great quantities of oysters, tomatoes, and corn are used by the packing-houses. The annual income from the oyster catch is $1,000,000 or more, and Dorchester ranks next to Som- erset in this industry. Cambridge is the home port of a vast fleet of dredging and tonging vessels, the seat of large packing- establishments, of shipyards and other manufactures. The Cam- bridge and Seaford and the Baltimore, Chesapeake, and Atlantic railroads traverse northeastern Dorchester, and steam and sailing vessels reach all parts of the county lying on water. Cambridge, the county seat, with a population of 6,407, has a fine salt-water situation on the Great Choptank, 18 miles from its mouth. The river here, between the Dorchester and Talbot shores, is several miles in width, and the town is built on level ground, extending to the water's edge. The streets are well shaded, and brick and stone structures predominate in the business section. East New Market is in the midst of a thriving agricultural sec- tion, has a population of 280, and Secretary (on Secretary Sewell's creek), Hurlock, Williamsburg, Salem, Taylor's Island, Bucktown, Linkwood, Dailsville, are some Dorchester villages. Vienna, on the Nanticoke, was long noted for its shipyards, and many swift and shapely ocean-going vessels were built there before steam and iron supplanted wood, and when the white oak forests of Dorset still afforded the best material known in former naval construction. Dorchester was harried by the British during the War of 1812. Governor John Henry, first United States senator from the Eastern Shore, and William Vans Murray were from this county.
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CECIL
Memorial Hall, Tome Institute, Port Deposit From a photograph
Cecil county, named in honor of the second Lord Baron of Baltimore, was erected in 1674, the tenth county in order of formation, and it is situated in the northeast corner of Maryland, on the borders of Pennsylvania and Delaware, and cut off from the remainder of the state by the Sassafras river on the south, and the Chesapeake bay and Susquehanna river on the west. It is one of the smaller counties in area - 350 square miles - much of which is, however, under water, as it is intersected by several rivers, notably the North East, the Elk, and the Bohemia.
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COUNTY HISTORIES
The surface throughout is rolling, the northern portion being hilly ; this gives considerable water power, which is utilized by a number of large paper, iron, cotton, flour, phosphate, kaolin, and fluor-spar mills. The third largest pulp and paper mill in the United States is located at Elkton, the county seat. In the eighteenth century the output of pig and bar iron at the Principio Company's furnaces was the largest in America. The soil generally is fertile, varying from a yellow clay in the south to a disintegrated rock in the north, producing fruits, grain, and hay in abundance. So noted has its hay crop become that the high- est grade on the Baltimore market is known as "Cecil county hay." Along the Susquehanna river are several large granite quarries, affording the best building material, a stone which, when polished, as is done at Port Deposit, is excelled in beauty by no other. Kaolin is largely worked for use in the manufac- ture of paper and in porcelain factories, and chrome has been extensively mined. Although possessing such excellent water facilities, marsh land is almost unknown. The banks of the Susquehanna river rise abruptly to a height of from 80 to nearly 600 feet. At Port Deposit the granite banks rise almost per- pendicularly 200 to 300 feet. The fisheries, as might be ex- pected, are of much importance. Elkton, the largest town, has about 2,487 inhabitants, followed by Port Deposit, Perryville, Rising Sun, North East, Chesapeake City, and Cecilton. The scenery in places is picturesque in the extreme. That along the Susquehanna, near Conowingo, and on the Octoraro, near Porter's Bridge, attracts artists from a distance, and compares most favorably with the Wissahickon and other rugged streams so often delineated by the painter's brush. The county is about equidistant from Philadelphia and Baltimore, is intersected by the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore; the Philadelphia division of the Baltimore and Ohio, and the Baltimore Central
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railroads, also by the Chesapeake and Delaware canal. Cecil county was one of the first to engage in school work. In 1723 the colonial legislature appointed a committee consisting of John Ward, John Dowell, Benjamin Pearce, and others, to open free schools, and they opened one. St. Stephen's Church, organized in 1692, opened a public school about 1734. The Friends' Meeting House at Calvert was organized by William Penn in 1702, and soon after opened a school. The church of St. Francis Xavier was organized in 1704, and afterward opened a school. The county in 1859 organized a system of free public schools, thus antedating that of the state six years. Among the more prominent private schools are the West Nottingham Academy, opened about 1741 by Rev. Samuel Finley, who after- ward became the president of Princeton University. It is situ- ated near Colora. The Tome Institute, most beautifully situated on the bluff at Port Deposit, presided over by Dr. T. S. Baker, with a corps of over 60 teachers, and more than 500 pupils, was endowed by the late Jacob Tome with several millions of dollars.
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PRINCE GEORGE'S
Maryland State College of Agriculture From a photograph
Prince George's county, named in honor of Prince George of Denmark, husband of Queen Anne, was formed in 1695, having been originally a part of Charles. The seat of local government was first established at Mt. Calvert on the Patuxent river, but it was soon removed to Upper Marlborough (named for the Duke of Marlborough, in 1706). The number of white children of school age is over 6,000, while that of colored children is under 5,000. Prince George's is one of the most progressive and pros- perous counties of the state. Its growth is promoted largely by its proximity to the national capital. The resources of the county are mainly agricultural. In the upper section, bordering upon the District of Columbia, trucking is followed to a large extent. In the middle and southern sections, corn, wheat, and tobacco are cultivated -the last named on an extensive scale, forming the staple product. The annual output of the county is larger than that of any other of the tobacco-growing counties. The principal towns are Upper Marlborough, Laurel, Hyatts-
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