Piscataway, Maryland

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Piscataway, Maryland
PISCATAWAY VILLAGE HISTORIC DISTRICT, PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD.jpg
Hardy's Tavern
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Piscataway, Maryland
Location within the state of Maryland
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Piscataway, Maryland
Piscataway, Maryland (the United States)
Coordinates: 38°42′2″N76°58′20″W / 38.70056°N 76.97222°W / 38.70056; -76.97222
Country Flag of the United States.svg  United States of America
State Flag of Maryland.svg  Maryland
County Flag of Prince George's County, Maryland (1963-present).svg Prince George's
Time zone UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
  Summer (DST) UTC-4 (EDT)
GNIS feature ID597903

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. [1] The Piscataway Creek provided sea transportation for export of tobacco. It is located near the prior Piscataway tribe village of Kittamaqundi. [2]

Contents

Piscataway 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). [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. It 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. [5] A "Committee of Correspondence" plotted local actions for the American Revolution in Piscataway. One famous resident was William Marbury, involved in a famous early Supreme Court case. [6] [7] [8]

During Prohibition in the 1920s, the area was known for the production and sale of moonshine. Some of the product was moved by boat to other areas along the Chesapeake Bay. The creek is now silted in and no longer navigable.

The St. Mary's Catholic Church, school, and cemetery are a prominent feature of the community. The complex includes the small 1904 church and a larger 1988 sanctuary. Its parish boundaries include portions of five separate postal towns/communities, giving it the largest territory of any parish in the Archdiocese of Washington.

A number of historic houses still survive in the middle of the little town, including a former hotel/tavern, although the last business (the John Wood store) closed in the 1970s. A large development called "The Preserve" is partially opened and is eventually planned to have 1,100 single-family homes.[ citation needed ] A short bypass road recently opened around the community. The central part of the historic village, centered on a stretch of Floral Park Road, has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The poem "The Sot-Weed Factor," by Ebenezer Cooke, mentions details of life in Piscataway during the early colonial period. The same subject was the subject of a novel by the same name by John Barth. [9]

Notable people

See also

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Hard Bargain Farm is the former country estate and working farm of Alice and Henry Ferguson. It is located at 2001 Bryan Point Road in Accokeek, Maryland, overlooking the Potomac River. The property, now a smaller portion of the 330 acres (130 ha) they purchased, was developed by them into a "country garden". Alice Ferguson, an artist, produced a significant body of her work here, and oversaw both the operations of the farm they established, and studied the prehistoric archaeological remains found on the property. The Fergusons established the Ferguson Foundation in 1954 to manage the property. The foundation operates the property as an educational center focused on land stewardship and historical farming practices in the region. The property includes a heavy timber frame tobacco barn originally constructed between about 1830 and 1850, and rebuilt in the post-American Civil War era. Popular events include the annual Oktoberfest, and "theater in the woods" productions.

References

  1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Piscataway, Maryland
  2. Paul Joseph Travers (1990). The Patapsco: Baltimore's River of History. Maryland Historical Society Tidewater Publishers. p. 20.
  3. Baltz, Shirley Vlasak (1984). A Chronicle of Belair . Bowie, Maryland: Bowie Heritage Committee. pp. 4–7. LCCN   85165028.
  4. "African-American Sites Along the Patuxent River: Queen Anne Town". Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 4 May 2007.
  5. 1 2 Virta, Alan (1984). Prince George's County: A Pictorial History. Norfolk, Virginia: The Donning Company. p. -40.
  6. "Marbury v. Madison". Archived from the original on 22 June 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  7. "Judicial Review and the Supreme Court" . Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  8. Barbara Frederick; Russel Stevenson & Emma K. Young (August 2010). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Piscataway Village Historic District" (PDF). Maryland Historical Trust. Retrieved 1 January 2016.

Further reading