Maryland Day

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Maryland Day
Seal of Maryland (reverse).svg
Maryland State Seal
Observed by Maryland
TypeLocal, Historical
SignificanceAnniversary of first colonists landing at St. Clement's Island
Date March 25
Next timeMarch 25, 2024 (2024-03-25)
Frequencyannual
Related to Feast of the Annunciation
The Ark and the Dove, 1934 Issue Maryland Tri Cen 1934 Issue-3c.jpg
The Ark and the Dove, 1934 Issue

Maryland Day is a legal holiday in the U.S. state of Maryland. [1] It is observed on the anniversary of the March 25, 1634, landing of the first European settlers in the Province of Maryland, the third English colony to be settled in British North America. [2] On this day settlers from The Ark and The Dove first set foot onto Maryland soil, at St. Clement's Island in the Potomac River. The settlers were about 150 in number, departed from Gravesend on the Thames River downstream from London. Three Jesuit priests were collected from Cowes on the Isle of Wight in England where they avoided having to give the oath of allegiance and supremacy to the King. [3] The colony's grant was renewed to Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, (1605-1675), two years prior by Charles I of England, after first being given to his father Sir George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, (1574-1632), along with the title of "Lord Baltimore", and a first grant of the Province of Avalon, in the Newfoundland Colony, (modern Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada), (title named after lands and town Baltimore, in Ireland) who had served the King in many official and personal capacities as Secretary of State, 1619-1625 (despite his conversion to Roman Catholicism). In thanksgiving for the safe landing, Jesuit Father Andrew White celebrated the Mass for the colonists led by the younger brother of Lord Baltimore, Leonard Calvert, (1606-1647), who served as the first governor, and perhaps for the first time ever in this part of the world on the first landing at Blackistone Island, later known as St. Clement's Island off the northern shore of the Potomac River, which was the new border between the new colony and the earlier English settlements in Virginia) and erected a large cross. The landing coincided with the Feast of the Annunciation, a holy day honoring Mary, and the start of the new year in England's legal calendar (prior to 1752). Maryland Day on 25 March celebrates the 1634 landing at St Clements. Later the colonists and their two ships sailed further back down river to the southeast to settle a capital at St. Mary's City near the point where the Potomac flows into the Chesapeake Bay.

The holiday began its official observance in 1903, the date chosen by the State's Board of Education to honor Maryland history and to increase the teaching of state and local histories in the public schools. In 1916, the General Assembly (state legislature) authorized "Maryland Day" as a legal holiday (Chapter 633, Acts of 1916).

Ceremonies, activities, historical pageants and other commemorative events are held annually in Historic St. Mary's City in St. Mary's County, the first colonial capital of the province and the site of several reconstructed provincial and colonial structures including the first State House with a tourism/historical agency which runs operations and provides interpretative information. This was where the first sessions of the General Assembly of Maryland were held, over 375 years ago.

An annual ceremony is held at the base of the 1908 statue of Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, (1605-1675), on the steps of the west front of the Baltimore City Circuit Courthouse (renamed 1985 after national civil rights leader Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr., 1911–1984) facing St. Paul Street with the ceremony continuing further inside in a ceremonial courtroom.

Delegates Jones, Williams, Anderson, Toles and Fisher celebrate Maryland Day 2022 at Lawyers Mall in Annapolis Maryland Maryland Day.jpg
Delegates Jones, Williams, Anderson, Toles and Fisher celebrate Maryland Day 2022 at Lawyers Mall in Annapolis Maryland

The annual Maryland Day weekend celebration is held in the Four Rivers Heritage Area of Maryland (from the State Capital in the City of Annapolis to Southern Anne Arundel County). This Maryland Day celebration highlights Maryland's history, heritage, culture and environment at approximately 20 sites with over 40 events during Maryland's Birthday weekend.

The 2020 Maryland Day celebration was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne Arundel County, Maryland</span> County in Maryland, United States

Anne Arundel County, also notated as AA or A.A. County, is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 588,261, an increase of just under 10% since 2010. Its county seat is Annapolis, which is also the capital of the state. The county is named for Anne Arundell, Lady Baltimore, a member of the ancient family of Arundells in Cornwall, England, and the wife of Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore (1605–1675), founder and first lord proprietor of the colony Province of Maryland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore</span> English peer (1605–1675)

Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, also often known as Cecilius Calvert, was an English nobleman, who was the first Proprietor of the Province of Maryland, ninth Proprietary Governor of the Colony of Newfoundland, and second of the colony of Province of Avalon to its southeast. His full title was "First Lord Proprietary, Earl Palatine of the Provinces of Maryland and Avalon in America". He received the proprietorship after the death of his father, George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, for whom it had been intended. Cecil, Lord Baltimore, established and managed the Province of Maryland from his home, Kiplin Hall, in North Yorkshire, England. As an English Roman Catholic, he continued the legacy of his father by promoting religious tolerance in the colony.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baron Baltimore</span> Noble rank held by the Calvert family (1625–1771)

Baron Baltimore, of Baltimore, County Longford, was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1625 and ended in 1771, upon the death of its sixth-generation male heir, aged 40. Holders of the title were usually known as Lord Baltimore for short.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Mary's City, Maryland</span> Place in Maryland, United States

St. Mary's City is a former colonial town that was Maryland's first European settlement and capital. It is now a large, state-run historic area, which includes a reconstruction of the original colonial settlement, and a living history area and museum complex. Half of the area is occupied by the campus of the public honors college, St. Mary's College of Maryland. The area also contains a community of about 933 residents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Province of Maryland</span> British colony in North America (1632–1776)

The Province of Maryland was an English and later British colony in North America that existed from 1632 until 1776, when it joined the other twelve of the Thirteen Colonies in rebellion against Great Britain and became the U.S. state of Maryland. Its first settlement and capital was St. Mary's City, in the southern end of St. Mary's County, which is a peninsula in the Chesapeake Bay and is also bordered by four tidal rivers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Maryland</span> Flag of the U.S. state of Maryland

The flag of the state of Maryland is the 17th-century heraldic banner of arms of Cecil, 2nd Baron Baltimore. It consists of the arms of his father George, 1st Baron Baltimore (1579–1632), quartered with those of his grandmother, heiress of the Crossland family. The flag was officially adopted by the General Assembly of Maryland in 1904.

Sir Arthur Aston was appointed Proprietary Governor of Avalon in 1625 by Sir George Calvert (1579-1632), former Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to King James I of England, (later titled first Baron and Lord Baltimore in Ireland and received charter from King Charles I of the Kingdom of England in 1632 just before his death to found colonial Province of Maryland further south along Chesapeake Bay in future United States of America, carried out in 1634 by his eldest son/heir Cecilius Calvert, second Baron and Lord Baltimore and his nephew, Leonard Calvert, the first provincial Governor of Maryland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore</span> English politician and coloniser

Sir George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, was an English politician and colonial administrator. He achieved domestic political success as a member of parliament and later Secretary of State under King James I. He lost much of his political power after his support for a failed marriage alliance between Prince Charles and the Spanish House of Habsburg royal family. Rather than continue in politics, he resigned all of his political offices in 1625 except for his position on the Privy Council and declared his Catholicism publicly. He was created Baron Baltimore in the Peerage of Ireland upon his resignation. Baltimore Manor was located in County Longford, Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore</span> 17/18-century colony of Maryland

Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, inherited the colony of Maryland in 1675 upon the death of his father, Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, (1605–1675). He had been his father's Deputy Governor since 1661 when he arrived in the colony at the age of 24. However, Charles left Maryland for England in 1684 and would never return. The events following the Glorious Revolution in England in 1688 would cost Calvert his title to Maryland; in 1689 the royal charter to the colony was withdrawn, leading to direct rule by the British Crown. Calvert's political problems were largely caused by his Roman Catholic faith which was at odds with the established Church of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Arundell, 1st Baron Arundell of Wardour</span>

Thomas Arundell, 1st Baron Arundell of Wardour was the eldest son of Sir Matthew Arundell of Wardour Castle in Wiltshire, and Margaret Willoughby, the daughter of Sir Henry Willoughby, of Wollaton, Nottinghamshire, and wife Margaret Markham. He distinguished himself in battle against the Ottoman Turks in the service of the Emperor Rudolf II, and was created a Count of the Holy Roman Empire. His assumption of the title displeased Queen Elizabeth, who refused to recognize it, and imprisoned him in the Fleet Prison. In 1605 Arundell was created 1st Baron Arundell of Wardour. In the same year, he was briefly suspected of complicity in the Gunpowder Plot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leonard Calvert</span> First governor of Maryland colony (1606-1647)

The Hon. Leonard Calvert was the first proprietary governor of the Province of Maryland. He was the second son of The 1st Baron Baltimore (1579–1632), the first proprietor of Maryland. His elder brother Cecil (1605–1675), who inherited the colony and the title upon the death of their father George, April 15, 1632, appointed Leonard as governor of the Colony in his absence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elihu Emory Jackson</span> American politician (1837-1907)

Elihu Emory Jackson, a member of the United States Democratic Party, was the 41st Governor of Maryland in the United States from 1888 to 1892. He was born in 1837 in Delmar, Maryland and died in 1907 in the City of Baltimore, Maryland. He is buried at the Parsons Cemetery in Salisbury, Maryland, the county seat of Wicomico County. He was part owner of Pemberton Hall, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Clement's Island State Park</span> State park in St. Marys County, Maryland

St. Clement's Island State Park is a publicly owned historic preservation and recreational area that encompasses St. Clement's Island, an uninhabited Potomac River island lying one-half mile southeast of Colton's Point, St. Mary's County, Maryland. The state park features a 40-foot stone cross dedicated to the beginnings of freedom of religion in the United States as well as a reconstruction of the historic Blakistone Island Light. It is the central feature of the St. Clement's Island Historic District that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yaocomico</span> Group of indigenous people native to North America

The Yaocomico, also spelled Yaocomaco, were an Algonquian-speaking Native American group who lived along the north bank of the Potomac River near its confluence with the Chesapeake Bay in the 17th century. They were related to the Piscataway, the dominant nation north of the Potomac.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew White (Jesuit)</span> English missionary in America (1579–1656)

Andrew White, SJ was an English Jesuit missionary who was involved in the founding of the Maryland colony. He was a chronicler of the early colony, and his writings are a primary source on the land, the Native Americans of the area, and the Jesuit mission in North America. For his efforts in converting and educating the native population, he is frequently referred to as the "Apostle of Maryland." He is considered a forefather of Georgetown University, and is memorialized in the name of its White-Gravenor building, a central location of offices and classrooms on the university's campus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phillip Calvert (governor)</span> Colonial Governor of Maryland

Hon. Phillip Calvert, also known as Hon. Philip Calvert, was the fifth Governor of Maryland during a brief period in 1660 or 1661. He was appointed by the royally chartered proprietor of Maryland, Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore (1637–1715), as a caretaker to replace Lt. Gen Josias Fendall (1628–1682), the fifth/sixth? provincial governor.

<i>Maryland Dove</i>

Maryland Dove is a re-creation of the Dove, an early 17th-century English trading ship, one of two ships which made up the first expedition from England to the Province of Maryland. The modern Dove was designed by the naval architect and naval historian William A. Baker. The Dove was a trading vessel that could be sailed by a crew of seven. The much larger Ark, was a passenger ship, and was sailed by a crew of 40 or more. The Dove was left behind as a local trading vessel to facilitate commerce between Maryland and the other colonies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Carroll of Annapolis</span> American planter and lawyer (1702–1782)

Charles Carroll II (1702–1782) known as Charles Carroll of Annapolis to distinguish him from his similarly named relatives, was a wealthy Maryland planter and lawyer. His father was Charles Carroll the Settler,, (1661–1720), an immigrant to Maryland who had arrived in the colony in 1689 with a commission as Provincial Attorney General, and had accumulated a vast fortune, emerging as Maryland's wealthiest citizen. Charles Carroll of Annapolis inherited and extended his father's fortune but, as a Roman Catholic, was barred from participation in Maryland politics. It would fall to his son, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, (III), (1737–1832), one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, to see religious toleration restored to Maryland and many political and scientific/technological advances in the newly independent state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maryland in the American Revolution</span>

Then Province of Maryland had been a British / English colony since 1632, when Sir George Calvert, first Baron of Baltimore and Lord Baltimore (1579-1632), received a charter and grant from King Charles I of England and first created a haven for English Roman Catholics in the New World, with his son, Cecilius Calvert (1605-1675), the second Lord Baltimore equipping and sending over the first colonists to the Chesapeake Bay region in March 1634. The first signs of rebellion against the mother country occurred in 1765, when the tax collector Zachariah Hood was injured while landing at the second provincial capital of Annapolis docks, arguably the first violent resistance to British taxation in the colonies. After a decade of bitter argument and internal discord, Maryland declared itself a sovereign state in 1776. The province was one of the Thirteen Colonies of British America to declare independence from Great Britain and joined the others in signing a collective Declaration of Independence that summer in the Second Continental Congress in nearby Philadelphia. Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, and Charles Carroll of Carrollton signed on Maryland's behalf.

<i>The Ark</i> (ship)

The Ark was a 400-ton English merchant ship hired in 1633 by Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore to bring roughly 140 English colonists and their equipment and supplies to the new colony and Province of Maryland, one of the original Thirteen Colonies of British North America on the Atlantic Ocean eastern seaboard. On the historic trans-oceanic voyage from England in late 1633 and early 1634, The Ark was accompanied by the smaller 40-ton pinnace Dove.

References

  1. "2015 Maryland Code :: GENERAL PROVISIONS :: Title 1 - RULES OF INTERPRETATION :: Subtitle 1 - DEFINITIONS :: § 1-111 - Legal holiday". Justia Law . Retrieved March 25, 2020.
  2. White, S.J., Father Andrew (1995). Voyage to Maryland (1633) Relatio Itineris In Marylandiam. Maryland Historical Trust, Crownsville, MD: Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, Inc. p. 2. ISBN   978-0-86516-279-2.
  3. See Father Blount's diary of the voyage
  4. "Maryland Day | Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Maryland". Maryland Day. Four Rivers Heritage Area. Archived from the original on March 25, 2020. Retrieved March 25, 2020.

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