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Vol. XII, no. 6 June 1984
The Beggar's Opera: June 8 and 10
The first opera to be performed with orchestra in the United States was presented in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, in 1752. On June 8 and 10, 1984, the Prince George's Civic Opera will celebrate Maryland's 350th anniversary by recreating that event‑‑with a presentation of The Beggar's Opera, by John Gay. Originally performed by the Murray Kean Company of Comedians in Upper Marlboro's Assembly Room, the 1984 production will be offered at the Queen Anne Theater on the campus of Prince George's Community College, Largo. The performance on Friday evening, June 6, will begin at 8 p.m.; the performance on Sunday, June 10, will be at 5:00 in the afternoon.
For more information call 699‑2459 or 337‑1817.
Living History Day Camp
The Living History Day Camp will be offered again this year by the Park and Planning Commission at Riversdale, the Calvert Mansion in Riverdale. Designed for boys and girls entering the 4th through 6th grades, the camp focuses on everyday living of the colonial period. Activities include candlemaking, quilting, cooking, marblelizing paper, fieldtrips, roleplaying, and more, with a special emphasis on Maryland lifestyles. The enrollment cost is $38.00 per session; four sessions will be offered. The dates: July 9‑13, July 16‑20, July 23‑27, and July 30‑August 3. For more information call 445‑4500
Festival of Flight; and Other Activities
A reminder: the Festival of Flight‑‑celebrating the 200th anniversary of Peter Carnes' pioneer balloon ascension at Bladensburg (as well as Maryland's 350th anniversary) will be held at Bladensburg on Saturday, June 16. There will be no meeting of the Society in June; the regular meeting schedule resumes on September 8. The Fall luncheon at Rossborough Inn will be October 6, There are quite few new members of the Society‑‑their names will be published next month. Enjoy the summer!
PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MARYLAND ERECTED ON ST. GEORGE 'S DAY, APR I L 23, 1696
The Business Climate of Prince George's County
This Year the Prince George's Chamber of Commerce celebrates its 60th anniversary. Founded in 1924, the chamber represents hundreds of businesses throughout the county, from the smallest shops to the largest concerns. The Historical Society salutes the Chamber in this anniversary‑year by presenting below a review of the business climate in Prince George's County many years ago‑‑ before the Chamber was founded. The following synopsis of business in Prince George's County is taken from the Seventeenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Statistics and Information of Maryland for the Year 1908.
Prince George County
Prince George, like Montgomery County, adjoins the District of Columbia, and also receives vast advantage from that proximity. Washington furnishes a market for its food products, and a large number of people doing business in the city or holding government positions have built houses and made their homes in the county. Its area is 480 square miles, and its population in 1900 Was 29,898. Along the Washington branch of the Baltimore and Ohio road there is a succession of suburban towns.
The county is bounded on the west by the Potomac River, on the east by the Patuxent. Montgomery, Howard, Anne Arundel, Charles and Calvert Counties and the District of Columbia surround it.
There are 73 white and 39 colored schools in the county. At Upper Marlboro, the county seat, there is an academy.
There are 2,374 farms in the county, producing tobacco, corn, wheat and vegetables, the estimated value of the crops for 1905 being $1,500,000, and giving employment to (including owners and tenants) at least 5,000 persons. Farm lands sell from $4 to $30 per acre.
The county tax rate in 1908 was $1.08 per hundred. In some of the towns and election districts of the county the sale of liquor is prohibited.
Underlying the region near Marlboro, there are vast marl beds, which may become valuable. The Patuxent marshes are famous for wild fowl.
There are a number of railroads in Prince George. The Washington branch of the Baltimore and Ohio crosses the upper section. Across the centre of the county is the Pennsylvania, with a branch from Bowie to the southern boundary [the Pope's Creek line]. The Washington, Potomac and Chesapeake leads from Brandywine, down through Charles and St. Mary's. The Chesapeake Beach road runs across the county from Washington through Marlboro, to Patuxent and on to the bay. From Laurel to Washington there is an electric road [the streetcar].
The Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis electric road passes across the northern part of the county. Steamboats plying along the Patuxent River give communication to the eastern part of the county with Baltimore.
The incorporated towns in the county are Laurel, Hyattsville, Bladensburg, Upper Marlboro and Tacoma Park. Those that are not incorporated are Bowie, Berwyn, Clinton, Brandywine, Forestville, and Woodville [Aquasco].
The surface of the county is diversified and is traversed by numerous streams. The soil is particularly favorable to the cultivation of tobacco, corn, wheat, vegetables and fruit.
Iron and cotton goods are the principal manufactured products of the county.
Manufactures
The total number of manufacturing establishments in the county is estimated at 60, the greater number of them being small, employing 1 or 2 men, though it is estimated that the manufacturing products of the county are worth about $573,000, including custom and repairs, but the United States census for 1905 places the figures for the larger manufactures as follows, excluding all producing less than $500 worth of products:
Number of establishments, 42.
Capital invested, $783,022.
Proprietors and firm members, 45.
Salaried officials, 21; salaries $15,397.
Average number of wage‑earners and wages‑‑men, 16 years and over, 186‑‑wages, $69,536; women, 16 years and over, 111‑‑wages, $23,050.
Miscellaneous expenses, 25,385
Cost of materials used, $173,138.
Value of products, $359,747.
In 1830 or thereabouts, the Patuxent Manufacturing Company was incorporated, and started the present cotton mills at Laurel, known as the Laurel Factory. This industry has continued ever since and is the principal manufacturing establishment of the county, Laurel cotton goods being known all over the world.
The only iron works now in operation in rural Maryland is the Muirkirk Furnace, on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, at Muirkirk, in this county. It was erected in 1847, and was modeled after a famous furnace at Muirkirk, Scotland. [This was near Beltsville.]
The following brief list includes other manufactures in Prince George's County:
Printing and Publishing ‑The "Laurel Democrat," Laurel; the "Hyattsville Independent," Hyattsville. Number of employes, 7; value of total product, $7,000; capital invested, $6,00. Also the "Marlboro Gazette," "Marlboro Times [Sydney Mudd's paper]," "Prince George Enquirer," Upper Marlboro.
Iron‑‑Muirkirk Furnace, Muirkirk; Montrose Iron Works, Laurel. Number of employes, 601 value of total product, $95,000; capital invested, $60,000; amount paid annually in wages, $16,000.
Flour and Grist Mill Products‑‑Gibbons & Duvaughn. Croom; Avondale‑Mills, Laurel.‑ Number of employes, 4; value of total product, $10,400; capital invested, $12,500; amount paid annually in wages, $1,200. Also H. Morton Bowen, Aquasco; Mrs. Georgia Boswell, Brandwine; John Charles, Charleston; Mrs. Sallie Marbury, Croom; John C. Dixon, Friendly; Griffith Mill, Laurel; Charles W. Randall, Forestville; Charles H. Walker, Brightseat [the old Walker Mill]; James T. Sedgwick, Upper Marlboro.
Laurel Cotton Mills, cotton goods; E. Rosenfeld & Company, night robes, Laurel. Simms Brothers, cigars, Beltsville; Gustav H. Dahler, cigars, Bladensburg. Number of employes, 216; value of total product, $274,500; capital invested, $22,000; amount paid annually in wages, $78,440.
Carriages and Wagons‑‑John H. Wooten, Laurel.
Brick and Tile‑‑Gilbert Moyers, Bladensburg; Rauser Brothers, Friendly; Benj. F. Stephen, Riverdale.
Lumber and Timber Products‑‑John W. Beale, Accokeek; J.A, Trueman, John W. Young, Aquasco; Turner & Orme, Baden; Benj. C. Hicks, James M. Knowles, J.B. Knowles & Brother, Bowie; Rubin F. Soper, Cheltenham; Clarence Hawkins, T.B.; Gibbons & Duvaughn, Croom; Miller & Sons, Tippett; Jenkins & Butler, R.H. Perrie, Westwood; Charles H. Walker, Brightseat.
Photography‑‑Ray Peckham, Upper Marlboro.
Saddlery and Harness‑‑John H. Treband, Upper Marlboro; F.M. Baker, Laurel.
The territory of Prince George does not include any oyster beds, and the fisheries, which are in the Patuxent and Potomac, are not extensive. About 100 persons are employed by them and $11,000 are invested in boats and apparatus. The number of boats is 34. The annual catch is about $10,000 in value and in weight about 1,000,000 pounds, including 860,000 pounds of alewives and 65,000 pounds of shad. Along the Patuxent River there are marshes to which multitudes of wild fowl resort, including reed birds, ortolan, ducks, etc., and the hunting of them gives employment to many boatmen and hunters.
The forgoing list was a list of manufacturers only, and it omits, of course, the many retail and service establishments then in operation in the county‑‑from the Laurel Department Store, to Bladensburg's Palo Alto Tavern, to the general store in Piscataway. Laurel, one can infer from the list, was our largest (and only true) manufacturing town. The night robe factory and cotton mills there employed most of the manufacturing workers in the county. Statistics on employees and wages, etc., presented in these lists refer to all the concerns listed previously in the paragraph, not just the preceding business.
Finally, we would be most remiss if we did not add that the new president of the Prince George's Chamber of Commerce is Kathy Giannetti, whose husband, John, is president of this society.
--Alan Virta
Prince George’s Bounty
The high school journalism students at Queen Anne School, at Leeland, have recently produced a remarkable book entitled Prince George's Bounty‑‑a collection of local lore, interviews, family traditions, and ghost stories much like the famous Foxfire books. The book was a project for Maryland's 350th anniversary and offers an interesting glimpse at a Prince George's County that once was‑-the tobacco culture, the Patuxent River, and many of the details of days gone by, from bootlegging to jousting tournaments, Prince George's Bounty contains 108 pages, softbound, and is illustrated with photos and drawings. Order from Queen Anne School, 14111 Oak Grove Road, Upper Marlboro, Md. 20772.Price: $4.00.
NEWS AND NOTES FROM The Prince George's County Historical Society
Vol, XII, no. 7‑8 July‑Aug. 1984
An Excursion on the Pope's Creek Line
The first passenger train in over thirty years to travel the historic Pope's Creel: line will do so on Saturday, August 18, 1984, on a trip sponsored by the Washington and Baltimore chapters of the National Railway Historical Society. Members and friends of the Prince George's County Historical Society are invited to participate in this journey through Southern Maryland railroad history.
The history of the Pope's Creek Line has been recounted several times in News and Notes; suffice it to say here that it was built between 1868 and 1872 to link Southern Maryland to the city of Baltimore. The line passes through Bowie, Upper Marlboro and Brandywine in Prince George's County and Waldorf and LaPlata in Charles. It terminates now at Morgantown. It has been a freight line only for more than thirty years.
The trip on August 18 leaves Washington's Union Station at 8:35 a.m.; picks up at New Carrollton Amtrack station at 8:45; then heads to BWI Airport station (9:05 a.m.) and Baltimore's Penn Station (9:15 a.m.). It then heads south again, and at Bowie switches over to the Pope's Creek line to Southern Maryland. It will arrive at Morgantown at 12:10. There will be a tour of the PEPCO power plant at Morgantown, and the train will depart at 2:15 p.m. It will arrive again at New Carrollton at 5:45 p.m., after first discharging passengers at BWI and the Baltimore Penn Station.
Capacity of the trains is limited. All seats will be reserved. Prices from Washington or New Carrollton are $38.00 for adults and $35.00 for children (age 5 to 11). Children under 5 who do not occupy a seat ride free. The prices from BWI and Baltimore are $35.00 and $32.00. All passengers will be required to sign a PEPCO Liability Release form before detraining at the Morgantown Power Plant. There will be light food service on the cars; an optional box lunch of fried chicken, etc., may be ordered for an additional $3.75
Order tickets from Baltimore Chapter, NRHS. Address orders, with checks, to the Morgantown Specials Baltimore Chapter of NRHS, P,O. Box 10233, Baltimore, Bid, 21234‑0233. Include your phone number.
PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MARYLAND ERECTED ON ST. GEORGE'S DAY, APRIL 23,1696
This will be a leisurely and sentimental Journey through Southern Maryland. When was the last time you took the Pope's Creek Line to Upper Marlboro?
Festival of Maryland Heritage
The Riversdale Society will sponsor a Festival of Maryland Heritage at Riversdale, the Calvert mansion, on Saturday and Sunday, September 15 and 16. The house will be open for tours and there will be an overnight encampment of Civil War troops on the lawn. The troops will offer military reenactments on both days, and there will be a band on hand to play music of the era.
The centerpiece of the festival will be the unveiling of the old cannon. This seventeenth‑century cannon, originally located at St. Mary's City, has been at Riversdale since the 1840s. Time and weather have taken their toll, though, and the cannon has been in need of restoration work for years. The Maryland ‑Heritage Committee of Prince George's County sent the cannon to a laboratory in Pennsylvania to do the work this summer, and it will be returned for its reinstallation at Riversdale very soon. Ceremonies during the Festival of Maryland Heritage will mark this important event.
Details will follow in the next issue of News and Notes.
The Society's Fall Schedule
The Prince George's County Historical Society will meet this Fall on September 8, October 6, November 10, and December 15‑‑all Saturday afternoons. The October 6 date will be the annual luncheon meeting at the Rossborough Inn, University of Maryland, and the December 15 date will be the Christmas Party. Details will follow in subsequent newsletters.
James H. Starkey, Jr.
We regret to inform the membership of the death of James Henry Starkey, Jr., a member of the Prince George’s County Historical Society for many years. He succumbed to cancer on
July 6 at the age of 68.
James H. Starkey, Jr., was a native of Rockville. He worked for the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture for thirty‑six years, retiring in 1973 as Deputy Director for Science and Education. He maintained homes in Mitchellville, Md., and Long Beach Key, Fla.
Besides our own society, Mr. Starkey was a member of the Maryland and Calvert County historical societies, Southern Maryland Society, and Vansville Farmers Club. He is survived by his wife, Lucia F. Starkey, three sons, and nine grandchildren.
Next meeting of the Society‑Saturday, September 8‑‑2:00 p.m. At Riversdale
The Battle of Bladensburg
August 24, 1984, will be the 170th anniversary of the Battle of Bladensburg. One hundred and seventy years ago the United States and Great Britain were at war‑the War of 1812.
Prince George's County became a battle ground. British ships entered the Chesapeake Bay, sailed up the Patuxent River, and discharged several thousand soldiers at Benedict in Charles County. The soldiers marched north, to Nottingham, and then headed for Upper Marlboro and Long Old Fields (Forestville). They encountered no resistance. Learning that the lower bridges of the Anacostia River had been destroyed, they turned toward Bladensburg, where they knew they could ford the river if necessary. There they finally met the defending American Army, positioned on the heights west of town and the fields below. But it really was no army at all. The American defenders were militiamen from Maryland and the District of Columbia, poorly trained and ill‑equipped. They were no match for the British Army, and they scattered under fire. President Madison and his Cabinet were on hand to witness the debacle, and they fled, too. Opponents of the administration mockingly dubbed the battle the "Bladensburg Races." With the flight of the defenders, Washington was unguarded. The British entered the city and burned its public buildings, including the White House and Capitol.
Not far from Bladensburg, at Riversdale, lived George and Rosalie Calvert and their family. Mrs. Calvert was a native of Belgium, and she wrote home about the battle. We publish below a portion of a letter of hers to her sister, Isabelle Stier van Havre, written on May 6, 1815.
"...We spent last summer in a state of continual alarms; the burning of the public buildings in Washington is the best thing that has happened, as far as we are concerned, in a long time since this has finally settled the question of whether the seat of government should stay there. In future, they will no longer keep trying to change it, and as long as the Union survives, the government will stay in Washington, in spite of the jealousy of Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore. They're very busy rebuilding the Capitol and all the buildings which were destroyed. I was very calm during the battle of Bladensburg, because the only thing I feared was foragers, but we scarcely suffered at all.
"I must tell you an amusing story which happened to my husband when he was on his way to Philadelphia a month or so afterwards. The carriage was full of all sorts of people; they began to talk about the events which had taken place in that general neighborhood, when one man sitting across from Mr. C. mentioned that Bladensburg would certainly have been burned to the ground if it hadn't been for that damned old Tory George Calvert. You can be sure that they made change his tune in a hurry‑‑the poor fellow was really stupefied!. . . "
The Calverts‑‑descendants of the Lords Baltimore‑‑sat out the Revolution, and so had gained reputations as Loyalists. Even after the passage of thirty years, some evidently still thought of them as Tories, and attributed the sparing of the village to some influence they had with the British. It should be pointed out, however, that the British did not burn Upper Marlboro or Nottingham, also in their path as they marched toward. Washington.
Very little else by the Calverts written about the Battle of Bladensburg survives. On October 22, 1814, however, Rosalie included this tantalizing line in a letter to her father: "I am sending enclosed an account of the Battle of Bladensburg written by Caroline [her 14‑year old daughter].” Unfortunately, the whereabouts of that account are unknown.
Rosalie Calvert's letters home are preserved in private family collections in Belgium. Our thanks to Susan Pearl for obtaining copies and translating them for us from Rosalie's
French.
In Support of Prince George's County's Heritage
In celebration of Preservation Week in May the Prince George’s County Committee of the Maryland Historical Trust presented a $1,000 check to the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission's History Division. These funds are designated for furnishings in Riversdale, the Calvert mansion. The check was presented by W. Dickerson Charlton, chairman, and Ruth Sippel of the County Committee. Receiving the check were John M. Walton, Jr., of MNCPPC and Ann Ferguson, chair of the Riversdale Society.
Another $1,000 check was presented to the Maryland Heritage Committee of Prince George's County to be used for a poster/map of county historic sites. The check was presented to Joyce Rumburg, chair of the Heritage Committee by James G. Boss, past president of the County Committee. The map is being designed and prepared by the cartographic laboratory of the University of as the university's contribution to Prince George's County's celebration of the 350th anniversary; the donated funds will be used to cover printing costs.
Barbara C. Dockendorf
We regret to inform the membership of the death of Barbara C. Dockendorf on May 7. A native of Charlottesville, Va., and a graduate of the old Hyattsville High School, Mrs. Dockendorf worked for the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission. She had resided in University Park since childhood. She was a deacon of the Riverdale Presbyterian Church and a member of the Prince George's County Historical Society. Survivors include her husband, Charles Dockendorf, four children, five grandchildren, and her mother, Marion S. Dunn, of Charlottesville,
New members of the Society will be announced next ‑month
NEWS AND NOTES FROM The Prince George's County Historical Society
Vol. XII, no. 9 September 1984
The September Meeting: Victorian Glass
"Victorian Glass of the 1880s and the Gay 90s" will be the topic of discussion at the September meeting of the Prince George's County Historical Society, to be held on Saturday, September 8, at Riversdale. Our guest speaker will be Jessie Ward of College Park, an American glass historian who is also a member of our society. Mrs. Ward will discuss the exquisite art glass of the Victorian period, including art glass, Tiffany, art nouveau, and colored pattern glass. She will bring a lighted exhibit to accompany her presentation.
As is the custom, the meeting will begin at 2 p.m. Riversdale, the Calvert mansion, is located at 4811 Riverdale Road in Riverdale. Guests are welcome, and refreshments will be served. Plan to be with us at this first meeting of the new season for a most interesting program.
The Festival of Maryland Heritage: September 15 and 16
Prince George's County's celebration of Maryland's 350th year continues with the Festival of Maryland Heritage, a two‑day celebration to be held this month at Riversdale. The festival begins at noon on Saturday, September 15, with the rededication of the ancient Calvert cannon. This cannon, which was brought to Maryland in the seventeenth century, has been recently restored by the Maryland Heritage Committee of Prince George's County, and its reinstallation on the mansion grounds will be the occasion for this ceremony.
Other events during the festival include tours of the house, an exhibit by the National Quilting Association (including the Maryland Bicentennial Quilt), performance by the wind quartet of the Prince George's Philharmonic Orchestra, and premier showing of the film, "The Calvert Cannons." Outdoors there will be Civil War encampments by the First Maryland Regiment and the First Minnesota, military music by the Patuxent Martial Band, and a display of antique firearms by Herb Robinson, an expert gunsmith. Hours are noon to 4 p.m. each day. Admission: $2.00 for adults, $1.50 for seniors, and $1.00 for children (includes refreshments). The festival is sponsored by the Riversdale Historical Society and MNCPPC. Information: call 779‑2011.
PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MARYLAND 'ERECTED ON ST. GEORGE'S DAY, APRIL 23,1696
Revolutionary Encampment at Montpelier
The Maryland Militia, a recreated company of colonial militia, will be encamped at Montpelier, the Snowden mansion, on September 22 and 23, offering visitors an opportunity to see what life was like at a "flying camp" of the Revolutionary era. There will be demonstrations of drills, guard duty, and general camp life each day between noon and 6 p.m. Montpelier, an 18th century home, is located on Route 197 (the Laurel‑Bowie road) less than a mile north of the Baltimore‑Washington Parkway. There will be a small fee for parking.
History of Prince George's County
Prince George's Community College will again offer a non‑credit course in county history this fall. The course will begin on Tuesday evening, September 25, at 7 p.m. and meet for five consecutive Tuesday nights. The first meeting will be at the community college campus; the other sessions will be at historic sites. Tuition will be $20.00. The first lecture, on the colonial history of Maryland (as an introduction) will be offered by Alan Virta of the Prince George's County Historical Society. For more, information call the college at 322‑0875.
New Members of the Society
We welcome the following individuals to membership in the Prince George's County Historical Society:
Sponsor
Eugenia Lamar Brown Newberry, S.C. Mr. F. De Marr
Mr & Mrs Fred Simmons Silver Spring Mr. J. Giannetti
Barbara Kirkconnell Fort Washington Mr. J. Giannetti
Scott & Mary Sibley Hyattsville Mr. F. De Marr
Gail Lisenbee Lacroix Sterling, Va. Mr. F. De Marr
Rebecca E. Livingston Hyattsville Mr. S. Hines
John E. Rogers Mt. Rainier Mr. F. De Marr
Mr & Mrs William H. Bayne, Hyattsville Mr. H. Embrey
John Simon Pallas University Park Mr. J.L. Pallas
Frank &,Sandy Nesbit Croom Mr. F. De Marr
Dale Manty Cheverly Mr. A. Virta
Elizabeth Tuckermanty Cheverly Mr. A. Virta
Lonnie L. Walls Huntingtown Mr. P. Lanham
Lauren R. Brown Greenbelt Mr. A. Virta,
A Colonial Wedding
The National Colonial Farm will stage a typical, farm wedding of the mid‑18th century on Sunday, September 23, at 1 and 3 p.m. traditional wedding feast and gifts of the period will be displayed, and visitors, may toast the bride and groom with fresh apple cider and taste an l8th‑century wedding cake. The farm is located at 3400 Bryan's Point Road, Accokeek. Phone 283‑2113.
The Saint Maries Chapel: An Archeological Excavation
Maryland's history began at the ancient city of St. Maries, known to us today as St. Mary's City. In honor of the 350th anniversary of the founding of Maryland we print below an article that appeared in the Congressional Record of October 4, 1983, and the February 1984 issue of the Chronicles of St. Mary's. Written by Mr. and Mrs. Fred McCoy, it is republished here with the permission of the authors.
In St. Mary's City, Maryland archeologists are conducting an extremely interesting excavation. They are exposing the massive foundations of the St. Maries Chapel and an adjacent schoolhouse. Both were substantial, brick buildings. Dating probably from the 1660s, they may have been the first brick buildings in Maryland. The foundations are being outlined and marked so they will be seen by the thousands of visitors to St. Mary's City, the first capital of Maryland, in 1984, on the anniversary of Maryland's first settlement.
A few months ago [i.e. about a year ago] at the "deserted village" of St. Maries, the St. Mary's City Commission, an agent of the Free State of Maryland, obtained the Chapel‑field from private ownership. No plans were made to have an archeological exhibit or historical signs ready for the great celebrations of 1984, nor were there funds in the State Budget to do so. Concerned citizens of the area took it upon themselves to collect funds to have the foundations of the ancient Chapel, Priest‑house and school, and cemetery located and marked for 1984. Over one-half of the needed money has been raised for this Chapel‑field project and the Committee is anxiously soliciting small and large donations for its completion.
The Chapel‑field is located in the original townlands of the village of St. Maries, just south of the reconstructed State House and next to the home of the first Governor Leonard Calvert. In this field, the first Catholic Chapel was built, as well as a Priest's house and school. In the field is a cemetery which contains the graves of Father Thomas Copley, S.J., Father Gravener, S.J., and Brother Gervase, S.J., as well as other early English missionaries and distinguished Colonial Catholics. The long searched‑for final resting place of Governor Leonard Calvert, who died at St. Mary's City in 1647, is probably in this cemetery, adjacent to his home and suitable for his interment in his church's consecrated ground.
Although the Chapel was Catholic and the leaders of these Pilgrims were English Catholic gentlemen, Maryland was not a Catholic colony. Jamestown was an Anglican Colony and Massachusetts a Puritan Colony, but Maryland was unique, it was a haven for all Christians. All her colonists were free to follow the dictates of their conscience in religious matters. Maryland was the first place in the world where religious toleration was made a matter of government policy.
These colonial excavations are interesting to all Americans but especially to Catholics who can trace their American roots to the Chapel of St. Maries, and their school system to a building in the Chapel‑field. Here was the first Catholic Church in the Thirteen Original Colonies, built prior to 1638. It succeeded the Indian lodge used by Father Andrew White, S.J., as a place of worship.
This week [one year ago] a great sixteen inch, six‑plow tractor, working slightly deeper than the small tractors and horse‑plows of the past, turned up the foundation bricks. They had been covered for over two and a half centuries, when in 1704, the Royal Governor Seymour, appointed by the King, padlocked the Chapel and castigated Father Hunter, S.J., for saying Mass, when he should know that religious services were available in the newly‑established Anglican Church. It was then that devout Catholics took the bricks from the Chapel and transported them down‑river to the St. Inigoe's Manor farm of the Jesuits, where tradition has it they were incorporated into the St. Inigoes Manor House.
Professional archeologists will discover the exact measurements of these old building and can evaluate the artifacts churned up by the deep plow. They can ascertain when and where the last chapel was built circa 1660, and then, the previous one, perhaps burned by Pirate Ingle in 1645, and down to the earliest, prior to 1638. They will explore the cellar of the Priest house and school, grudgingly mentioned by Governor Nicholson in 1697 to the English Board of Trade, "few schools, and those but very mean ones either of Master or House: But the Jesuits and Priests had some, especially one brick one at St. Mary's." Perhaps in the future, they can identify those early graves in this, the oldest Maryland town in our State. However, today's experts did not "find" these foundations. Legend and hearsay from generations of Marylanders have made the Chapel‑site common knowledge. Archeological studies of Henry Chandlee Forman in the 1930S outlined the Church building. Bricks from the foundations were used in the Father Andrew White Memorial, across the river from the city in 1934, the 300th anniversary of our founding. Artifacts and bricks were placed in the cornerstone of the "America" national magazine building in New York City in the 1960s. This building was dedicated to Father John LaFarge,S.J., renowned inter‑racial leader, author, editor and educator, who served as Pastor of several Southern Maryland parishes in the early 20s and 30s.
Since 1704, the field has been in agricultural use and privately owned. Efforts to purchase or even mark the field were unsuccessful. Much frustration has been experienced by historians, Catholic and non‑Catholic alike, about the lack of identification of this known Colonial site where Catholics had a Church, a Priest house, a school and a cemetery. Tourists, visiting St. Mary's City, are shown the stones marking the outline of the original State House, which at the time of the abrogation of the Toleration Act was turned over to the newly‑established Church of England. The Capital of Maryland was then moved to Annapolis.
The "Noble and Pious" Experiment of the Calverts was ahead of its time. George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, had had experience in colonization. He had been involved in both the Virginia and Massachusetts Colonies and in his own Colony of Avalon in Newfoundland [Canada]. Experience had taught him much. He knew that his Maryland adventure must be well‑planned and be economically sound if his altruistic purpose of founding a Land of Sanctuary was to succeed. He died, however, before the venture could be completed, but his son, Cecil Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore, was more than adequate in fulfilling his father's dream.
Cecil Calvert firmly believed in the ancient institutions of old England, in the "Magna Carta" and the "Petition of Rights" which had given every Englishman liberty of person and security of property. He also was sufficiently wise and perhaps brave to realize that these ancient rights, so sacred to old England, were of no avail without "liberty of Conscience," a right then being denied in the Mother Country. The Lord Baltimore had to contend with not only the views of various Protestant denominations, who also wished freedom of religion for themselves but not for others, but also, with his own Catholic Church, which had been for so many centuries the only Christian Church, and who jealously held to her age‑old perogatives. Now, Catholics must live in a world of other churches which they perceived as heretical. To settle these conflicting church matters, Cecil Calvert is believed to have relied heavily on his friend, the English Jesuit Provincial Henry More, a man of foresight. Calvert and More together settled difficulties with the Jesuit missionaries and plowed new ground in what was to be the church's policy in countries with plural religions. Henry More, S.J. was the great grandson of Sir Thomas More, the "King's Good Servant" and author of "Utopia," who lost his head when King Henry the Eighth demanded "not only the things that were Caesar's but also the things that were God's." Cecil Calvert was determined to found his Utopia in Maryland and worked out a "Modus Vivendi" that would fit a country made up of persons of various faiths. His experiment, with the brief exception of Ingle's and the Puritan rebellion, was a success. From 1634 until 1687, at the time of the so‑called "Glorious Revolution," Catholics and Protestants lived in harmony. When the Calverts were replaced by royal governors, the penal laws of England were enforced, priests were persecuted, Catholics were fined for their religious practices, disenfranchised and those of all faiths were taxed to build and support the King's Churches now the established State religion. No wonder Catholics, like the Carrolls, laid their lives and their fortunes on the line to support the American Revolution to recoup their freedom enjoyed in early Maryland. No longer the "Land of Sanctuary," they were joined in their rebellion by the Presbyterians, the Quakers, Methodists, the Reformed and Lutheran Churches and also many parishioners of the King's Church who saw the justice of freedom of religion and who were saddled with an inept clergy sent over from England.
The valiant Jesuit missionaries, some of whom came on the Ark and Dove, lived and died in this Chapel‑field. They should be named and honored; Maryland is deeply indebted to them for the success of the colony. Father Andrew White, S.J., is the acknowledged narrator of the voyage and faithful reporter on the Indians, the flora, the fauna, and the terrain of the new colony. The "Blackrobes" as they were called by the natives, were soon beloved by them for their spiritual and physical ministrations. The wellbeing and safety of the colonists in their relations with the Indians was effected primarily through the Jesuit Fathers, in great contrast to the hostilities suffered in the earlier English settlements of Massachusetts and Virginia. For well over three hundred years, the Jesuit Fathers of Maryland served in the mission field. Their houses were the focal point of religious, cultural and social enrichment of the area. From St. Mary's they went forth up the rivers and bays to their Indian missions and English settlements on Kent Island and the Eastern Shore, at Mattapany, Newtown, White's Neck, Port Tobacco, Piscataway, and Anacostia. From here they went to Pennsylvania and to New York State. Their mission schools were the nucleus of Georgetown University in 1789. They established churches, schools and universities in Maryland, Pennsylvania and New England. After the revolution, they were in the vanguard as missionaries and teachers as the frontier pushed farther and farther West. Yes, it was in the Chapel‑field in St. Mary's City that the first foundations were laid. These roots, so gently planted in the loam of Colonial Maryland, have yielded a harvest of a thousand‑fold.
Editor's note: Continuing excavations have uncovered more foundations and quite a few ancient graves, including some of children. Anyone wishing to contribute to the completion of this project should made their tax‑deductible check payable to Chapel Field Project, and mail to Mr. and Mrs. Frederick McCoy, Scotland, Md. 20687.
Lectures of Local Interest
Sept. 17: Orlando Ridout V speaks on "Architecture in Maryland" to Friends of Montpelier at Montpelier mansion, south of Laurel. 8 p.m. Phone 779‑2011 (business hours).
Sept 8: Frederick Tilp speaks on Facts and Fiction on the Potomac. 1 p.m. at Alice Ferguson Foundation's Hard Bargain Farm, 2001 Bryan Point Road, Accokeek. Reservations required. Phone 292‑5665.
A Chronicle of Belair
An important new book will be published this month, A Chronicle of Belair, by Shirley Baltz. A Chronicle of Belair will tell the story of the Belair estate, from the building of the great mansion‑house in the mid‑18th century to the present day, tracing its history as the Home of Governors, the Cradle of American Thoroughbred Racing, and finally as the site of one of the largest suburban development projects in this county's history. A book party and ceremony will celebrate the publication on September 15 at 1 p.m. at the Belair Stables. This event is being held in conjunction with a large arts and crafts show at the stables, to be held on the 15th and 16th from 1 to 5 p.m. The Belair Stables are located at the intersection of Belair Drive and Tulip Grove Road in the city of Bowie. A. fuller review of A Chronicle of Belair will appear in a future issue of News and Notes; in the meantime we look forward to the publication of this important work.
This newsletter is a monthly publication of the Prince George's County Historical Society, P.O. Box 14, Riverdale, Md. 20737. Dues of $5.00 per year include a subscription. Alan Virta, Editor. John Giannetti, President. New members welcome!
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