Broad Creek Historic District | |
Nearest city | Friendly, Maryland |
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Coordinates | 38°45′28″N76°59′49″W / 38.75778°N 76.99694°W |
Architectural style | Georgian |
NRHP reference No. | 11000881 [1] |
Added to NRHP | December 8, 2011 |
Broad Creek in Prince George's County was the first footprint of European settlement in the immediate counties around what would become the nation's capital, Washington, D.C. The area is part of greater Fort Washington.
The area was settled by Europeans in the 1660s and the town was created in 1706 when the colonial Maryland Legislature authorized surveying and laying out the towns of Queen Anne Town, Nottingham, Mill Town, Piscataway, Aire (also known as Broad Creek) and Upper Marlboro (then known as Marlborough Town). [2] [3] [4] [5]
In 1747, the legislature tried to improve the quality and the method of marketing tobacco, then the major crop of the area, and established a formal system of tobacco inspection and quality control. The town was home to one of seven state tobacco warehouses built in Prince George's County. [4]
The site is located 9 miles (14 km) south of the U.S. Capitol building on the Potomac River. Today, this "first footprint" of settlement in the capital area is a Prince George's County Historic District, with three 17th century homesites and an 18th-century Episcopal Church structure. The Broad Creek Historic District comprises 900 acres (3.6 km2) along the Potomac River, and is remarkable for its environmental resources, as well as its 12,000-year-old Indian archeological discoveries.
It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 8, 2011. [1]
The stream named Broad Creek is a tributary of the Potomac River (Mouth: 38°45′03″N77°01′36″W / 38.7509477°N 77.0266428°W ). [6] Henson Creek is a tributary of Broad Creek (Mouth: 38°45′40″N77°00′03″W / 38.7612253°N 77.0008087°W ). [7] The 5.7 mile long Henson Creek Trail is managed by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. [8]
Prince George's County is located in the U.S. state of Maryland bordering the eastern portion of Washington, D.C. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 967,201, making it the second-most populous county in Maryland, behind neighboring Montgomery County. The 2020 census counted an increase of nearly 104,000 in the previous ten years. Its county seat is Upper Marlboro. It is the largest and the second most affluent African American-majority county in the United States, with five of its communities identified in a 2015 top ten list.
Bowie is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 58,329. Bowie has grown from a small railroad stop to the largest municipality in Prince George's County, and the fifth most populous city and third largest city by area in the U.S. state of Maryland. In 2014, CNN Money ranked Bowie 28th in its Best Places to Live list.
Eagle Harbor is an incorporated town in the far southeast corner of Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, and near the rural community of Aquasco that is known as a historic African American community founded in 1925. Per the 2020 census, the population was 67. The Chalk Point Generating Station, owned by NRG Energy, which was sold to Mirant by the Potomac Electric Power Company (PEPCO) in 2000, is located adjacent to the town.
Dumfries, officially the Town of Dumfries, is a town in Prince William County, Virginia. The population was 4,961 at the 2010 United States Census.
Landover is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 25,998.
Oxon Hill is an unincorporated area and census-designated place (CDP) in southern Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. Oxon Hill is a suburb of Washington, located southeast of the downtown district and east of Alexandria, Virginia. It contains the new 300-acre (120 ha) National Harbor development on the shore of the Potomac River.
The Episcopal Diocese of Washington is a diocese of the Episcopal Church covering Washington, D.C., and nearby counties of Maryland in the United States. With a membership of over 38,000, the diocese is led by the Bishop of Washington, Mariann Budde. It is home to Washington National Cathedral, which is the seat of both the diocesan bishop and the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.
The Patowmack Canal, sometimes called the Potomac Canal, is a series of five inoperative canals located in Maryland and Virginia, United States, that was designed to bypass rapids in the Potomac River upstream of the present Washington, D.C., area. The most well known of them is the Great Falls skirting canal, whose remains are managed by the National Park Service since it is within Great Falls Park, an integral part of the George Washington Memorial Parkway.
Conococheague Creek, a tributary of the Potomac River, is a free-flowing stream that originates in Pennsylvania and empties into the Potomac River near Williamsport, Maryland. It is 80 miles (129 km) in length, with 57 miles (92 km) in Pennsylvania and 23 miles (37 km) in Maryland. The watershed of Conococheague Creek has an area of approximately 566 square miles (1,470 km2), out of which only 65 square miles (170 km2) are in Maryland.
The Baltimore and Potomac Railroad (B&P) operated from Baltimore, Maryland, southwest to Washington, D.C., from 1872 to 1902. Controlled by the Pennsylvania Railroad, it was the second railroad company to connect the nation's capital to the Northeastern States, and competed with the older Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.
Piscataway is an unincorporated community in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. It is one of the oldest European-colonized communities in the state. The Piscataway Creek provided sea transportation for export of tobacco. It is located near the prior Piscataway tribe village of Kittamaqundi.
The Wicomico River is a 13.0-mile-long (20.9 km) tributary of the lower tidal portion of the Potomac River located in the U.S. state of Maryland south of Washington, DC. The river empties into the Potomac at Cobb Island and St. Margaret's Island. Its watershed area is 77 square miles (200 km2), with 2% impervious surface in 1994 in Charles, St. Mary's, and southern Prince George's counties. The lower section of the river forms part of the boundary between Charles and St. Mary's counties. The Wicomico River was designated as a Scenic River under the Maryland Scenic River Act in 1968; Scenic River Commissions oversee it in both Charles and St. Mary's counties.
Mattawoman Creek is a 30.0-mile-long (48.3 km) coastal-plain tributary to the tidal Potomac River with a mouth at Indian Head, Maryland, 20 miles (32 km) downstream of Washington, D.C. It comprises a 23-mile (37 km) river flowing through Prince George's and Charles counties and a 7-mile (11 km) tidal-freshwater estuary in Charles County. About three-fourths of its 94-square-mile (240 km2) watershed lies in Charles County, with the remainder in Prince George's County immediately to the north.
Collington is a now defunct settlement in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, dating from colonial times. Collington has been subsumed by the city of Bowie.
Queen Anne in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, is a former port on the Patuxent River. It was delineated as a CDP for the 2010 census, at which time it had a population of 1,280. Per the 2020 census, the population was 1,405.
Oxon Cove Park and Oxon Cove Farm is a national historic district that includes a living farm museum operated by the National Park Service, and located at Oxon Hill, Prince George's County, Maryland. It is part of National Capital Parks-East. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
St. John's Church, St. John's Episcopal Church, or St. John's Episcopal Church, Broad Creek, is a historic Episcopal church located at 9801 Livingston Road in Fort Washington, Prince George's County, Maryland. It is a rectangular Flemish bond brick structure with a bell hipped roof. The interior features a barrel vaulted ceiling with an intricate support system.
Croom is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Southern Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 2,720. Croom largely consists of former tobacco farms and forests converted to Washington bedroom subdivisions such as nearby Marlton. The main part of Patuxent River Park is in Croom.