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Southern Maryland | |
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![]() A map of the counties of Southern Maryland. According to the state of Maryland, the region includes all of Calvert, Charles, and St. Mary's counties (red) and the southern portions of Anne Arundel and Prince George's counties (light red) [1] | |
Country | United States |
State | Maryland |
Largest Community | Waldorf [2] [3] |
Counties | |
Population | |
• Total | 373,177 |
Time zone | UTC−5 (EST) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC−4 (EDT) |
Southern Maryland, also referred to as SoMD, is a geographical, cultural and historic region, as well as a National Heritage Area, [8] in Maryland composed of the state's southernmost counties on the Western Shore of the Chesapeake Bay. According to the state of Maryland, the region includes all of Calvert, Charles, and St. Mary's counties and the southern portions of Anne Arundel and Prince George's counties. [1] It is largely coterminous with the region of Maryland that is part of the Washington metropolitan area. [9] Portions of the region are also part of the Baltimore Metropolitan Area [10] and the California-Lexington Park Metropolitan Statistical Area. [11] As of the 2020 Census, the region had a population of 373,177. [4] [5] [7] [6] The largest community in Southern Maryland is Waldorf, with a population of 81,410 as of the 2020 Census. [2] [3]
The first European settlement in Maryland was established in Southern Maryland at St. Mary's City in 1634. [12] This settlement is considered by historians to be the birthplace of religious freedom in North America. [13] Throughout the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, the area developed an agricultural slave economy, [14] [15] with agriculture maintaining prominence following emancipation. [16] Many historical events occurred in Southern Maryland during the American Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the American Civil War. [17] [18] [19] Much of the area remains rural, however the region saw suburban growth in the late 20th and early 21st centuries as Washington's suburbs expanded southward. [9] [20]
Counties located in Southern Maryland include Calvert County, Charles County, St. Mary's County, and the southern portions of Prince George's County and Anne Arundel County. The region's northern boundary passes through Prince George's County and Anne Arundel County, [1] east of Washington. Its eastern boundary is the Chesapeake Bay and its southern and western boundary is the Potomac River, Maryland's boundary with Virginia (and through it, the Northern Neck).
The Patuxent River runs through Southern Maryland, separating Calvert County and Anne Arundel County from Charles County, Prince George's County and St. Mary's County.
Land features in Southern Maryland include the St. Mary's Peninsula and the Calvert Peninsula.
Geologic formations of the Chesapeake Group can be found in Southern Maryland, including the Calvert Formation, the St. Marys Formation, and the Choptank Formation. Many of these formations are present at the Calvert Cliffs State Park in Calvert County. [21]
Southern Maryland is within the Atlantic Coastal Plain physiographic region. [22]
Southern Maryland was originally inhabited by the indigenous Piscataway people. [23] [24] [25] English explorer Captain John Smith explored the area in 1608 and 1609. [26] [27]
Cecilius Calvert was granted a charter to establish a colony meant to be a safe-haven for Catholics in 1632. Expeditions were launched into modern day Maryland, with an expedition reaching St. Clement's Island in 1634. [25] [12] Later that year, the Maryland Colony was established by Leonard Calvert, first Governor of Maryland and brother of Cecilius. The colony's capital, and first settlement, was the newly established St. Mary's City. [14] The colony originally focused on tobacco farming and was very successful although disease was a problem and many settlers died until immunities built up in the population. Religious tensions and also periods of open conflict also continued to be a major challenge.
St. Mary's City is widely considered to be the birthplace of religious freedom in North America. [28] [25] The colony there started under a mandate of religious tolerance in a time when England was anything but religiously tolerant. This was due to the colony's charter, which did not prohibit non-protestant churches. [14] In 1649, the Maryland Colonial Assembly passed of one of the earliest laws requiring religious tolerance, known as the Maryland Toleration Act of 1649. [29]
After 61 years as Maryland's capital an uprising of Protestants put an end to religious tolerance, overthrowing the old Catholic leadership and putting an end to colonial St. Mary's City itself, moving the colonial capital to Annapolis. [30] [31] [32] [25]
St. Mary's City was abandoned as a capital but was slowly consolidated from smaller farms into a large, single slave plantation by the late 1600s. [33] [34] Originally, laborers were Indentured Servants, with African slaves arriving in 1639. [12] Tobacco and (later) also wheat plantations expanded there [34] and in Southern Maryland as a whole during the slavery era. The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade brought African slaves by the boatloads, with 100,000 slaves disembarking in Maryland during the century before the American Revolution. [15] From the late 1600s to early 1700s, about half of Maryland's enslaved population lived in Calvert, St Mary's, Prince George's, and Charles counties. [14] By 1755, one third of Maryland's population were enslaved Africans. [15] Slavery proved vital to Maryland's economy, with the institution providing the foundation for Maryland's economy and society. [15] The profits from slavery also provided the means for Maryland's gentry to gain power and dominate politics. [15]
272 slaves from across Maryland, including the Southern Maryland counties of Charles, St. Mary's, and Prince George's, were sold during the 1838 Jesuit slave sale to two planters in Louisiana. [35]
A notable abolitionist from southern Maryland was Josiah Henson, a slave who was born in Charles County before escaping to Canada. Henson wrote an autobiography that inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin. [36] Slavery ended in Maryland in November 1864 during the American Civil War, when Maryland ratified a new Constitution that abolished slavery. [15]
During the American Revolutionary War, British forces landed on St. George Island in St. Mary's County on July 15, 1776, under the command of John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore. [18] [37] Dunmore's forces were defeated by local Flying Camp militia led by Captain Rezin Beall, and they left the island on August 9, 1776. [38] During the war, American slaves throughout the Chesapeake region flocked to British lines following Dunmore's Proclamation, which promised freedom for slaves who fought for the British military. [15]
Due to Southern Maryland's proximity to the national capitol, the region was deeply affected by the War of 1812, with the war severely disrupting the lives of the region's citizens. [18] During August and September 1814, the British launched a campaign in the Chesapeake region. British forces landed in Benedict, Charles County on August 19, 1814. [39] Intent on marching to Washington, the British marched to Upper Marlboro before engaging American troops at the Battle of Bladensburg. The battle resulted in a British victory. By nightfall on August 24, 1814, British forces entered Washington and burned several government buildings. [40] The British then marched back to Benedict. [41] Similarly to what occurred in the Revolutionary War, enslaved Marylanders fled to British controlled areas to receive freedom. [15]
During the American Civil War, wartime sympathies were divided in Maryland [42] [43] and Southern Maryland was sympathetic to the Confederates next to Maryland's Eastern Shore. From the war's beginning, however, large numbers of Union occupying troops and patrolling river gunboats prevented the state's secession, although frequent nighttime smuggling across the Potomac River with Virginia took place, including of Maryland men volunteering for Confederate service. John Wilkes Booth was helped by several people in his escape through the area and in crossing the river after killing President Abraham Lincoln. [17] [42] Thousands of captured Confederate troops were confined in harsh conditions at Point Lookout Prison Camp at the southern tip of the peninsula. [19] During the war, in November 1863, Maryland ratified a new state Constitution which abolished slavery in the state. [15]
Southern Maryland was traditionally a rural, agricultural, oyster fishing and crabbing region; linked by passenger and freight steamboat routes. [44] These steamboat routes operated on the Chesapeake Bay and major rivers until the 1930s before the building of highways and the Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge on U.S. Highway 301. (The latter highway was named after Robert Crain, an attorney who owned the state's largest farm, Mount Victoria, and who campaigned for the road's construction [45] ). Weekend excursion boats also carried Washingtonians to small amusement parks and amusement pavilions at numerous Potomac shore locations. [46] From 1949 (1943 in some places) to 1968, the region was known for its poverty and its slot machine gambling. [47]
Poverty was common in St. Mary's County in the 1960s, [48] and gambling in the region came to be seen as a blight and was outlawed by Governor J. Millard Tawes and the state legislature. [49] A local political figure, St. Mary's County politician J. Frank Raley Jr. organized a slate of local candidates with the platform of challenging the political status-quo and lifting the region out of its generations long poverty. [49]
The region's isolation was ended by having a series of bridges built and roads expanded into highways. [48] [50] These developments are credited for enabling the development of modern St. Mary's County. [48] [50]
Raley was falsely accused of working to end gambling outright in the region, [49] which ended in his defeat and his official political career. [49] In fact he had supported a referendum on gambling which would have put the decision directly in the hands of voters. [49] He continued nevertheless lobbying on behalf of the Southern Maryland region and sitting on development boards and continued to have a major influence on economic development in the region for the rest of his life. [50]
Since the 1980s, the region experienced suburban development as the Washington suburbs expanded southward. [51] [52] [9] [53] This expansion took place primarily in Prince George's County, and around Waldorf (a regional shopping hub) and St. Charles (a planned community in Charles County), Lexington Park (St. Mary's County) and Prince Frederick (Calvert County). Much of the area remains rural, a mixture of forest and farmland, despite suburban growth. [54] [55] [16] [20] [56] This suburban growth has occurred and continued despite concerns from locals and environmental advocates. [53] [57] [58]
Many southern Marylanders work for the United States Armed Forces or the United States Federal Government and its related industries. Other smaller industries include a nuclear power plant [59] and a liquified natural gas terminal [60] (both in Lusby), a Naval ordnance test ground (at Indian Head), [61] [62] electric power plants (at Aquasco and Morgantown) [63] and an oil terminal [64] (at Piney Point). The towns of Solomons Island and Chesapeake Beach are tourist resorts. [65] [66] [67] The Maryland International Raceway and Budds Creek Raceway near Chaptico attract many auto and motocross racing enthusiasts. [68] [69]
Military installations in Southern Maryland include:
Suburban areas of Southern Maryland also have many Washington-area military related commuters. [81] [82]
The Southern Maryland National Heritage Area was established in the National Heritage Area Act in 2022. [83] The National Heritage Area will help preserve and promote destinations in four counties. [84] [85]
It is also one of thirteen state heritage areas and is administered by the Maryland Historical Trust through the Maryland Heritage Areas Program. [86]
Tourist Attractions in Southern Maryland include historical sites, such as the Thomas Stone National Historic Site, Historic St. Mary's City, and Port Tobacco Village,among others. [87] [88] [89] Museums in the area include the Calvert Marine Museum, and the Patuxent River Naval Air Museum. [87] Waterfront sites along the Chesapeake Bay, the Potomac River, and the Patuxent River are also tourist attractions. These include Mallows Bay and Solomon's Island. [87] [66]
The entire region is contained within Maryland's 5th Congressional District, [90] [91] which has been represented by Rep. Steny Hoyer since 1981. [92]
Maryland's 2 U.S. Senators are Chris van Hollen (junior) and Ben Cardin (senior). [91]
Oysters are still widely available although they were once fished from the bay and its tidal tributaries in greater numbers, and are served either fried, raw, or stuffed. "Rockfish", the Maryland word for striped bass, is considered the most prized fish dish in Southern Maryland. [93]
Perhaps the most notable food dish originating from Southern Maryland is stuffed ham, which includes cabbage, kale, onions, spices and seasonings that are chopped and mixed, then stuffed into deep slits slashed in a whole, corned ham. [94]
Club | League | Venue | Established | Championships |
---|---|---|---|---|
Southern Maryland Blue Crabs | ALPB, Baseball | Regency Furniture Stadium | 2008 | 0 |
Many residents also identify with national sports teams in Washington DC or Baltimore.
Colleges in Southern Maryland include:
Maryland is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The state borders Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, Delaware to its east, the Atlantic Ocean, and the national capital of Washington, D.C. With a total area of 12,407 square miles (32,130 km2), Maryland is the ninth-smallest state by land area, and its population of 6,177,224 ranks it the 18th-most populous state and the fifth-most densely populated. Maryland's capital is Annapolis, and the most populous city is Baltimore. Occasional nicknames include Old Line State, the Free State, and the Chesapeake Bay State. It is named after Henrietta Maria, the French-born queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland during the 17th century.
Prince George's County is a county 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. The county is part of the Central Maryland region of the state.
Calvert County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 92,783. Its county seat is Prince Frederick. The county's name is derived from the family name of the Barons of Baltimore, the proprietors of the English Colony of Maryland. Calvert County is included in the Washington–Arlington–Alexandria, DC–VA–MD–WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. It occupies the Calvert Peninsula, which is bordered on the east by Chesapeake Bay and on the west by the Patuxent River. Calvert County is part of the Southern Maryland region. The county has one of the highest median household incomes in the United States. It is one of the older counties in Maryland, after St. Mary's, Kent County and Anne Arundel counties.
Anne Arundel County, also notated as AA or A.A. County, is a county 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.
St. Mary's County, established in 1637, is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 113,777. Its county seat is Leonardtown. The name is in honor of Mary, the mother of Jesus. St. Mary's County comprises the California-Lexington Park, Maryland Metropolitan Statistical Area, which also is included in the Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA Combined Statistical Area. It is part of the Southern Maryland region. The county was the home to the first Maryland Colony, and the first capital of the Colony of Maryland. Settled by English Catholics, it is considered to be the birthplace of religious freedom in North America, at a time when the British colonies were settled primarily by Protestants. The county is home to the Patuxent River Naval Air Station and St. Mary's College of Maryland. Traditionally, St. Mary's County has been known for its unique and historic culture of Chesapeake Bay tidewater farming, fishing, and crabbing communities. But with the advent of the military bases, growth of an extensive defense contractor presence, and the growth of St. Mary's College of Maryland, as well as increasing numbers of long-distance Washington, D.C. commuters, it has been undergoing a decades-long transformation which has seen the county's population double since 1970.
Prince Frederick is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Calvert County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of Prince Frederick was 3,226, up from 2,538 in 2010. It is the county seat of Calvert County.
Solomons, also known as Solomons Island, is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Calvert County, Maryland, United States. The population was 2,368 at the 2010 census, up from 1,536 in 2000. Solomons is a popular weekend destination spot in the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area.
Lexington Park is a census-designated place (CDP) in St. Mary's County, Maryland, United States, and the principal community of the Lexington Park, Maryland Micropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 11,626 at the 2010 census.
The Patuxent River is a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay in the state of Maryland. There are three main river drainages for central Maryland: the Potomac River to the west passing through Washington, D.C., the Patapsco River to the northeast passing through Baltimore, and the Patuxent River between the two. The 908-square-mile (2,352 km2) Patuxent watershed had a rapidly growing population of 590,769 in 2000. It is the largest and longest river entirely within Maryland, and its watershed is the largest completely within the state.
Maryland Route 4 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The highway runs 64.85 miles (104.37 km) from MD 5 in Leonardtown north to Southern Avenue in Suitland at the District of Columbia boundary, beyond which the highway continues into Washington as Pennsylvania Avenue. MD 4 is a four- to six-lane highway that connects Washington and communities around Interstate 95 (I-95)/I-495 with southern Prince George's County with southwestern Anne Arundel County. The highway is the primary highway for the length of Calvert County, during most of which the route runs concurrently with MD 2. MD 4 also connects Calvert and St. Mary's counties via the Governor Thomas Johnson Bridge across the Patuxent River. The highway connects the Southern Maryland county seats of Leonardtown, Prince Frederick, and Upper Marlboro.
The recorded history of Maryland dates back to the beginning of European exploration, starting with the Venetian John Cabot, who explored the coast of North America for the Kingdom of England in 1498. After European settlements had been made to the south and north, the colonial Province of Maryland was granted by King Charles I to Sir George Calvert (1579–1632), his former Secretary of State in 1632, for settlement beginning in March 1634. It was notable for having been established with religious freedom for Roman Catholics, since Calvert had publicly converted to that faith. Like other colonies and settlements of the Chesapeake Bay region, its economy was soon based on tobacco as a commodity crop, highly prized among the English, cultivated primarily by African slave labor, although many young people came from Britain sent as indentured servants or criminal prisoners in the early years.
Point Lookout State Park is a public recreation area and historic preserve occupying Point Lookout, the southernmost tip of a peninsula formed by the confluence of Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River in St. Mary's County, Maryland. The state park preserves the site of an American Civil War prisoner of war camp and the Point Lookout Light, which was built in 1830. It is the southernmost spot on Maryland's western shore, the coastal region on the western side of the Chesapeake Bay.
Colonel Thomas Brooke Jr. of Brookefield was President of the Council in Maryland and acting 13th Proprietary Governor of the Province of Maryland. He was the son of Major Thomas Brooke Sr. and Esquire and his second wife Eleanor Hatton who later remarried Col. Henry Darnall. He was grandson of the Reverend Robert Brooke Sr., who had similarly held the office briefly during the Cromwellian period in 1652.
Benedict is an unincorporated town and census-designated place in Charles County, Maryland, United States, located on the Patuxent River in southern Maryland. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 261.
Clyde Bernard Fowler was an American politician from Maryland. He was a Calvert County Commissioner from 1970 to 1982, and served in the Maryland Senate between 1983 and 1994. Fowler is best known for his advocacy for the cleanup of the Patuxent River, the largest river to be found entirely within the State of Maryland.
Maryland Route 231 (MD 231) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The state highway runs 16.39 miles (26.38 km) from Olivers Shop Road near Hughesville east to MD 765 in Prince Frederick. MD 231 crosses the Patuxent River on the Benedict Bridge, which connects Benedict in eastern Charles County with Hallowing Point in central Calvert County. The highway directly connects MD 5 in Hughesville with MD 2/MD 4 in Prince Frederick. MD 231 was constructed from Hughesville to Benedict and from Hollowing Point to Prince Frederick in the early 1920s. The portion of the state highway west of Hughesville was built in the early 1930s, about the same time ferry service began between Benedict and Hallowing Point. The Benedict Bridge was started in 1950 and was completed in 1952; the bridge remained the southernmost crossing of the Patuxent River for 25 years. The bridge was tolled from its opening until around 1955. MD 231 was reconstructed between Hughesville and Prince Frederick in the mid- to late 1950s to better serve intercounty traffic.
St. Inigoes, sometimes called St. Inigoes Shores, is a small, rural, unincorporated farming, fishing and crabbing community at the southern end of St. Mary's County in the U.S. state of Maryland that is undergoing a transition to small residential subdevelopment plots. Its western side is bordered by a number of coves and creeks that are connected to the St. Marys River, a brackish tidal tributary, near where it feeds into the mouth of the Potomac River and close to its entry point into the Chesapeake Bay.
Benedict Swingate Calvert was a planter, politician and a Loyalist in Maryland during the American Revolution. He was the son of Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, the third Proprietor Governor of Maryland (1699–1751). His mother's identity is not known, though one source speculates that she was Melusina von der Schulenburg, Countess of Walsingham. As he was illegitimate, he was not able to inherit his father's title or estates, which passed instead to his half brother Frederick Calvert, 6th Baron Baltimore (1731–1771). Benedict Calvert spent most of his life as a politician, judge and planter in Maryland, though Frederick, by contrast, never visited the colony. Calvert became wealthy through proprietarial patronage and became an important colonial official, but he would lose his offices and his political power, though not his land and wealth, during the American Revolution.
John Frank Raley Jr. was a Maryland politician and an advocate for education, economic development and protection and restoration of the Chesapeake Bay.
St. Mary's Peninsula is part of the Western Shore region of Maryland. From the Charles County line, just north of Charlotte Hall, Maryland, to the southern tip of St. Mary's County at Point Lookout State Park, St. Mary's Peninsula stretches about 39 miles (63 km). It is bordered on the southwest by the Potomac River, on the north and east by the Patuxent River and on the east by Chesapeake Bay. From the end of these two rivers, the peninsula has about 15 miles of shoreline along the Bay's western shore from Lexington Park, Maryland to Point Lookout. Its shoreline stretches for a total of 536 miles along the Patuxent River, Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay.
Southern Maryland: Calvert, Charles & St. Mary's Counties & parts of Anne Arundel & Prince George's Counties
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