Whitehall Overseer’s Quarter: Connecting Local African American Histories Through Archaeology on the Broadneck Peninsula

By Jennifer J. Babiarz (Anne Arundel County), C. Jane Cox (Anne Arundel County), and Lisa H. Robbins (Lost Towns Project consultant)

In 2022, The Lost Towns Project, Inc., in collaboration with the Anne Arundel County Office of Planning and Zoning’s Cultural Resources Section, began a county-wide study—documenting and contextualizing architectural and archaeological sites representing African American households living through enslavement, resistance, and freedom during the 19th century. This project was possible thanks to an FY 2022 Historic Preservation Non-Capital Grant Award from the Maryland Historical Trust.

Products of the study include a comprehensive database of these site types in Anne Arundel County; a report providing an historical, architectural, and archaeological context for Anne Arundel County’s 19th-century African American households; and updates to, or creation of, over a dozen historic archaeological inventory forms to ensure that the state’s inventory more fully and holistically reflects the existence and importance of African American households in 19th-century Anne Arundel County.

The work undertaken at the Whitehall Overseer’s Quarters (AA-326A) was one of the more compelling sites the team studied not only because it was poorly documented in state inventory records, but also because it sparked a new level of engagement, interest, and connection with the area’s descendant community and the possibility of future partnerships and discoveries.

(*Note: This building and site is on private property, and should not be visited without the express permission of the owner(s).)

The Whitehall Overseer’s House, which stands about 40 feet west of the Overseer’s Quarters, was built in 1750 by Governor Horatio Sharpe as a one-and-a-half story frame, whitewashed house with an attached kitchen. After Sharpe’s death in 1790, Whitehall and its associated properties were willed to John Ridout, and the Whitehall Overseer’s House (AA-326) remained in the Ridout family until 2022. Horatio Ridout II and his wife Jemima Duvall were the first Ridouts to live in the Overseer’s House and likely constructed the duplex quarter for enslaved families.

The Whitehall Overseer’s Quarters is a 1½-story log structure that rests on a roughly coursed, cut stone foundation. Its style is referred to as a double-pen saddlebag, or duplex, and consists of two independent dwellings under one roof, which were separated by a central chimney with a partition wall and likely would have housed two families. This is a common vernacular architectural form in the mid-Atlantic and the South, though this is the only surviving double-pen log quarters in Anne Arundel County and one of only a few surviving double-pen log quarters in Maryland.

Surviving evidence indicates that the building was originally constructed as one story with an accessible attic/loft, arranged in two bays (each about 14’x12’), with doorways in each corner of the façade. Based on the evidence of the surviving fasteners and finishes, the building likely was constructed between 1840-1860. Remnants of whitewash survive on surfaces throughout the interior of the building, including both logs that were added to create the half-story and logs forming the walls below. The exposed end grain of the logs forming the dovetail corner notches is remarkably unweathered, suggesting that the building may always have been enclosed with siding.

The Whitehall Overseer’s Quarter, viewed from the northeast; the sheathing boards and the shingles are 20th century; the roof frame was replaced in the 19th century.

In the 1840 Census, Horatio S. Ridout II is documented as enslaving 24 individuals; by the 1850 Census the number of individuals he enslaved was 13, and in 1860 the count had dropped to nine.

There is only one recorded manumission by Horatio Ridout II: a man named John Wright in March of 1864 based on his service in the 30th Regiment of the US Colored Troops during the Civil War. Records referred to as the “Slave Statistics,” are particularly important due to their recordation of the full given name and surname of those persons who had been enslaved until the enactment of the Constitution, as well as their age, physical condition, and term of service. In reference to Horatio Ridout II, the statistics are as follows:

John Wright, 35, Male, Good, For Life, Enlisted in US services
Thomas Kemble, 34, Male, Good, For Life
Benjamin Simpson, 22, Male, Good, For Life
Gilbert Calvert, 16, Male, 16, Good, For Life
Moses Bullen, 16, Male, Good, For Life
May Smith, 30, Female, Good, 8 Years to Serve
Hester A. Simpson, 7, Female, Good, 28 Years to Serve
Isaac Smith, 3, Male, Good, 32 Years to Serve

Benjamin and Nellie Ross were interviewed by George McDaniel about the log house they moved into in the 1880s in Charles County, Maryland:

“Everybody pretty much lived in log houses back then. There were very few frame houses, and let me tell you, White and colored lived in log houses.”

(McDaniel 1982:139)

The roofs of frame and log structures were typically covered with shingles, clapboards/planks, or thatch (made from grass and possibly straw in Southern Maryland).

Detail of the northeast corner of the log crib with well-carpentered full-dovetail joints exposed below the current wall covering.

Being located on private property, and now under the stewardship of relatively new owners, the team’s initial site visit was designed to develop a rapport with the new owners, and to gather previously unrecorded details about what we found to be a rapidly deteriorating structure. Dr. Dennis J. Pogue and MHT staff joined on some of the first visits to the site, working with the team to document and interpret this rare surviving building type. Pogue generously shared his extensive experience documenting enslaved housing for the last 15 years with the Virginia Slave Housing Project. The original MIHP form, last updated in 1976, sorely lacked architectural details, a clear statement of significance, and any consideration of possible archaeological value.

While the research design included developing measured drawings and taking photos for architectural documentation, the team also gained the trust and support of the new owners, who agreed to allow a limited Phase I archaeological survey around the Quarters. Excitement built as we began to realize the rare chance to see if there might be undisturbed and archaeologically significant deposits here, that might tell us about the families that had lived in the building during the last half of the 19th century. The team set to developing an achievable research plan for a brief one-to-two-day field session.

Having worked on other nearby sites in the area in previous months, we had also cultivated several points of contact within the local descendant communities, and knowing that they would be interested, and some had even received some limited archaeological training on other projects—we invited them to participate in the archaeological fieldwork. Our hope was that in addition to having their help with the dig, that their collective and individual memories shared through generations of their communities would also help to inform the interpretation of the site—and perhaps guide future research. In fact, we got so much more!

 Volunteers and Descendants Doing Fieldwork in April 2023

Over two days in April 2023, more than a dozen volunteers signed on to help excavate 21 close-interval shovel test pits on the lawns and terraces surrounding the Quarters. Everyone pitched in on every level of work that needed to be done, from paperwork to wielding a shovel, and their stories, laughter, and curiosity made the excavation days fly by. As volunteers from the first day shared this experience with their family and friends, the numbers swelled on the second day and cars packed in along the edge of this narrow dead-end end single-lane driveway. As they trickled in over the day, several shared that they had grown up in the area, and could connect their roots back to those who had been enslaved on the Broadneck Peninsula. Team members scrambled to monitor the digging, while also giving impromptu tours—explaining the history of the site and detailing the architecture of the building. One couldn’t help make the connection that their forefathers and mothers may well have lived in dwellings much like this one—yet most all traces of such old homes have been lost to time. 

While some joined us just to see the site and spent a short time visiting, others were so intrigued that they stuck around, and jumped right in getting their hands dirty. In addition to two of our favorite volunteers April Chapman and Ann Green, we were visited by representatives from the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture, including Director Chanel Compton and Commissioner Elinor Thompson. Well-known local historians Janice Hayes-Williams and Bernadette Pulley-Pruitt, both of whom have direct and profound connections to Broadneck, the Whitehall properties, and the Ridout family were there. Members of several organizations that have missions to help raise up and celebrate this local history also joined us, including representatives of Rev. Samuel Green, Sr. Foundation, Inc., the Annual Fathers Day Foundation such as Devon Edwards and Rev. Randy Rowe Sr, as well as representatives from the Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations Task Force at St Margaret’s Church.

The archaeology was successful. We found evidence of historic compacted living surfaces, likely indicating swept yard spaces to the east and south of the structure, and recovered domestic and architectural artifacts that could yield new information about the historic use and layout of the space, including lead glazed redware, cut nails, and coal slag. The work clearly demonstrated that the site has research potential and further archaeological work could provide important details of everyday life for those enslaved, and later tenant families, living in this building. The archaeology however was also important to better acknowledge and appreciate such a site for state and local history, including for generations of descendants.

For the descendants of those who resisted violence and coercive control by building families, and vibrant households that have survived through generations in the same area, the chance to discover and hold everyday items that had likely been part of their everyday lives during that process was very moving. Many of the descendants that we worked with us expressed feeling closer to their ancestors than ever before; though not necessarily peaceful, it was very meaningful to them. Black spaces are being erased from the landscape at an alarming rate throughout the state and county. It is through ongoing partnership building with descendant communities and landowners that these spaces can be more fully identified and documented through the Maryland Inventory of Historic Places forms. African Americans’ crucial contributions to the economic and cultural development of Anne Arundel County should be acknowledged and celebrated through their representation in the official documentation of local and state histories.

Volunteers, Supporters, and Descendants at Whitehall Overseer’s Quarters-April 2023

References Cited:

ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY COMMISSIONER OF SLAVE STATISTICS (Slave Statistics).  1867, MSA C142, pg 87, Maryland State Archives, Annapolis, Maryland.

Manumission Papers, database, Legacy of Slavery in Maryland (https://slavery2.msa.maryland.gov/pages/Search.aspx: April 11, 2024), Entry for Horatio Ridout.

McDaniel, George W. 1982 Hearth and Home: Preserving a People’s Culture. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Virginia Slave Housing, Special Projects, School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, University of Maryland, College Park (https://arch.umd.edu/research-creative-practice/special-projects/virginia-slave-housing: April 12, 2024)

US CENSUS BUREAU (Census Record, MD), Slaves 1850. Maryland State Archives, MSA SM61-156, pg 369. Annapolis, Maryland.

US CENSUS BUREAU (Census Record, MD), Slaves 1860,. Maryland State Archives, MSA SM61-226, pg 32. Annapolis, Maryland.

www.revsamuelgreensrfoundation.org/

www.annualfathersdayfoundation.com

www.africanamerican.maryland.gov/

www.st-margarets.org/truth-reconciliation-and-reparations-task-force.html

Discovering Nicholas Brice – A Baltimore County African American Patriot of the ‘War of 1812’

By Steven Xavier Lee, Independent Historian

In the ‘War of 1812’, when the British again sought claim of its former American Colonies, Maryland was a major scene. But among its many chronicles, outside of the focus of enslavement, acknowledgement of the patriotism and participation of Maryland’s free African Americans, has been relatively unknown. Indeed, it was the enslaved Black men, who, as property, were more assiduously documented and identified, as they were designated as servants or assistants to the ranking all-white officers of the regiments. Most were recorded by only a single name, such as: “Hamilton, negro, Capt’ servant;  Peter, negro, subaltern’s servant”, or “Servant:  Moses (to Capt. Tobias Stansburry).”^[1] Some of distinction would be listed with their full names.  One of the most notable, Samuel Neale, was an enslaved steward assigned to the military surgeon, Dr. William Hammond, of the First Maryland Calvary. Neale was cited for valiantly aiding and carrying all of Dr. Hammond’s medical instruments for him across many Maryland battlefields, including at the Battle of North Point.

Base map design from Maryland Department of the Environment

But recognition of the free Black men who enlisted and served in the Wars for Independence, has been negligible.  They are among the many chapters omitted in Maryland history, on her extensive early free-Black community.

The Battle of North Point in 1814, engaged the Lower Patapsco Neck in Baltimore County, and was the stage of a seminal victory in the ‘War of 1812’. The Lower Patapsco Neck (the peninsula encompassing today’s Canton, Dundalk, Edgemere, Turner Station and North Point), was recorded in the 1810 U.S. Federal Census, with a total population of about 2,713 people .^[3] Of that total, 1,658 were white (about 61%); and 1,055 (about 39%) were Black. Of that total Black population, about 339 individuals were recorded as free Black people. Thus, about a third of the Lower Patapsco Neck’s African American population, were free people. Where are their stories?

One of those lost stories must be that of Mr. Nicholas Brice, a member of this free-Black community. The 1810 Census listed him as a head of household, residing in the Lower Neck, with four other free Black persons (presumably his family). That would have made the Brices one of 51 Black families, that the U.S. Census counted, residing in the Lower Patapsco Neck (the ‘Patapsco Lower Hundred’ in 1810). In the course of research, a correlation of 19th century Census data and military records fostered the first identification of a free Black ‘War of 1812’ soldier, from the Lower Patapsco Neck. He is none other than, Mr. Nicholas Brice.  

Mr. Brice’s name appears in the 1813 muster and pay rolls, as a Private enlisted in the fifth regiment of the Maryland Militia, serving under Captain Samuel Sterrett. (‘Private’ was the highest rank available to non-white military men of the era of the Wars for Independence, no matter how outstanding their service, i.e. Thomas Carney.)

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  1813 ‘War of 1812 Papers’ 730 – 737 RG 22 S 1 Box 2’, MSA Baltimore City Archives

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  1813 ‘War of 1812 Papers’ 730 – 737 RG 22 S 1 Box 2’, MSA Baltimore City Archives

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• 

Nicholas Brice is also documented in 1814, still serving with Captain Samuel Sterrett, defending the Lower Patapsco Neck in some of the most intense battle campaigns in the ‘War of 1812’, for Fort McHenry and North Point.

The continued enlistment of Nicholas Brice in the Independent Company of Captain Sterrett, evokes a keener interest into this quintessential Maryland story.  Captain Samuel Sterrett (who would later become a Major), was of a prominent Baltimore Town/County Scottish family, many of whom were enslavers. Distinctively, Samuel Sterrett appears to be of a different ethos. He had been an active member of the ‘Maryland Society, for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, and the Relief of Free Negroes, and Others Unlawfully Held in Bondage,’ and was cited in 1791 as the organization’s president. ^[4] Most likely Captain Sterrett had an established rapport and credibility with the area’s African American community. It is most probable that Mr. Nicholas Brice was not the only free Black gentleman in the Patapsco area to join with Samuel Sterrett when he made the call to arms, recruiting for his Company. Within the list of those 76 men in the 1814 Independent Company of Captain Sterrett,^[5] there must be other African American militiamen yet to be so identified.

Map depicting the Battle of North Point

Home-rooted with his family in the Lower Patapsco Neck, Mr. Nicholas Brice was steadfast in defending his homeland, when the British invaded fomenting division and defection among the American people. But the newly united States remained united with the fortitude and fraternity of its people (Black and white). Nicholas Brice’s contribution is not just one of Black history. It is one of Maryland history. He, like other early Maryland African Americans both free and those enslaved, shared in and were a part of those crucible experiences, some horrid and some noble, that connects all Marylanders. Entering the new epoch of the nation’s Semiquincentennial, perhaps for the first time in 250 years, there will come to be equitably, recognition, inclusion and discovery, of the many free early Maryland African Americans, when presenting Maryland history.

References:

[1]  Maryland Militia War of 1812 – Volume 2: Baltimore City and County, page 14 and 75 respectively; by F. Edward Wright;  ISBN# 9781680340068

[2]  Base map design from Maryland Department of the Environment

[3]  The Bear Creek Research Project, ‘American Battlefield Protection Program’ of the National Park Service.

[4]  Program of the “Oration Upon The Moral and Political Evil of Slavery”, July 4, 1791,by The Maryland Society, for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, and the Relief of Free Negroes, and others unlawfully Held in Bondage. ‘Evans Early American Imprint Collection’, University of Michigan.

[5] ‘The Citizen Soldiers of North Point and Fort McHenry’, 1889 publication  –  INTERNET ARCHIVE 

Special Acknowledgements:

Dr. Glenn T. Johnston, Stevenson University / Bear Creek Research Project

Owen E. Lourie, Maryland State Archives

Jeni Spamer, MSA Baltimore City Archives

Announcing the FY 2024 African American Heritage Preservation Program Awardees

Robert W. Johnson Community Center – Washington County ($150,000) | Sponsor: Robert W. Johnson Community Center, Inc.

Funding will help restore the Robert W. Johnson Community Center – founded as a school for Black children in 1888 before becoming a Black YMCA in 1947 – so it can continue to be a place for community events and educational programming. The RWJCC offers after school programming as well as adult education classes. Funding will support renovation of the community pool, plumbing and electrical upgrades, and other renovation efforts.

Hoppy Adams House – Annapolis ($245,000) | Sponsor: Charles W. “Hoppy” Adams Jr. Foundation, Inc.

Known for spreading soul and R&B music to Black and white audiences, Charles “Hoppy” Adams Jr. was a celebrated African American radio broadcaster with WANN Annapolis. Adams hosted popular concerts at Carr’s Beach, an important venue on the Chitlin Circuit during segregation. In 1964, Adams built this expansive brick ranch-style home within the tight-knit Black community of Parole, on land passed down by his family since 1880. Adams lived in the house until his death in 2005. Funding will support ADA compliance efforts, electrical upgrades, and structural support. 

American Hall – Washington County ($250,000) | Sponsor: The Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge, Free And Accepted Masons Of Maryland And Its Jurisdiction, Inc.

The Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge, Free And Accepted Masons Of Maryland And Its Jurisdiction, Inc. , aims to restore American Hall, which was the meeting place of Lyon Post #31 G.A.R. Making it one of the last surviving meeting places of an African American G.A.R. post in the country.  Originally built in 1883, American Hall used to house the fraternal lodge, community meeting space, and a school in the basement. This project aims to rehabilitate the building for further community use with the addition of an exhibit. Funding will support structural repairs, architectural drawings, and a bathroom addition.

Upton Mansion – Baltimore City ($250,000) | Sponsor: Afro Charities, Inc.

Upton Mansion, located in the Old West Baltimore Historic District, was once the home of Robert J. Young, one of Baltimore’s most successful African American real estate developers in the early 20th century. This project aims to restore the mansion as the headquarters for Afro Charities, Afro Archives, and the AFRO American Newspapers. The archives include approximately three million photograms, several thousand letters, back issues of the newspaper’s 13 editions, and personal audio recordings of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. The Upton Mansion will serve as the permanent home and research center for this collection, allowing it to be available to the public. Funding will support new construction of an annex and windows and doors repairs. 

Henry’s Hotel – Worcester County ($250,000) | Sponsor: Henry Hotel Foundation, Inc.

Built in the late 1800s, Henry’s Hotel, formerly known as “Henry’s Colored Hotel,” is one of the oldest hotels in Ocean City. It was also the last hotel that allowed African Americans access to the beach during Jim Crow-era restrictions. This project aims to turn the building into a museum and learning center that will educate the public on how African Americans contributed to the town’s development, yet suffered from discrimination under segregation. Funding will support a new foundation, staircase, and porch.

Historic Oliver Community Firehouse – Baltimore City ($247,000) | Sponsor: African American Fire Fighters Historical Society, Inc.

Built in 1905, the historic firehouse in Baltimore’s Oliver neighborhood, Truck House #5, is a two-story structure with two truck bays that will be acquired from the City through the Vacants to Value program and restored as the International Black FireFighters Museum & Safety Education Center. Funding will support exterior rehabilitation including window repairs as well as carpentry and masonry repairs. 

Brown’s UMC Multi Cultural Heritage Center – Calvert County ($250,000) | Sponsor: Brown’s UMC Multi Cultural Heritage Center, Inc.

Built in the 1890s, the one-room Brown’s United Methodist Church (UMC) serves as a reminder of the days of segregation and is one of the oldest African American churches in Calvert County. Once completed, the UMC Multi-Cultural Heritage Center will have an exhibit showcasing local history within. Rehabilitation of the cemetery will allow for self-guided as well as guided tours of the cemetery. Funding will support foundation repairs, flooring repairs, and a roof replacement.

Buffalo Soldier Living History Site – Wicomico County ($250,000) | Sponsor: Buffalo Soldier Living History Site Co.

Formerly known as the “Colored Settlement,” the Buffalo Soldier Living History Site will be established on a site, bought in 1898, of former Buffalo Soldier Thomas E. Polk. The site aims to revitalize this dwelling by establishing a museum. Exhibits will include preserving local and state African American military history and holding  reenactments. Funding will support selective demolition, structural repairs, and door repairs. 

Brewer Hill Cemetery – Annapolis ($250,000) | Sponsor: Brewer Hill Cemetery Association, Inc.

Brewer Hill Cemetery is the oldest Black graveyard in the City of Annapolis. Judge Nichols Brewer originally owned the cemetery and used it to bury those he enslaved, his servants, and other employees of the Black community. Among the interred are people with significant stories, such as Mary Naylor, who maintained her innocence until her hanging in 1861 for allegedly poisoning her master. Funding will support overall cemetery conservation efforts including fence repairs and masonry repairs.

The Bellevue Passage Museum – Talbot County ($250,000) | Sponsor: Mid-Shore Community Foundation, Inc.

The Bellevue Passage Museum aims to shed light on African American culture and heritage by showcasing the untold story of Bellevue’s self-sufficiency and how they thrived and contributed to the state’s economy. Bellevue was once a self-sufficient African American community that initially was centered around employment provided by the W.H. Valliant Packing Co., established in 1895. The museum is on a mission to conserve the African American maritime story that is largely being erased and to become a center of entrepreneurship to the younger generation and a place for community gatherings. Funding will support construction of a new annex, site work, and accessibility improvements. 

The Fruitland Community Center – Wicomico County ($203,000) | Sponsor: Fruitland Community Center, Inc.

The Fruitland Community Center is housed in the former Morris Street Colored School, constructed in 1912. Since 1985, the building has been used as a community center that assists low-income youth in Fruitland by providing an after school program that seeks to provide educational activities and teaching African American history. Funding will support structural repairs, carpentry and metal repairs, as well as mechanical and electrical upgrades.

Grasonville Community Center – Queen Anne’s County ($250,000) | Sponsor: Grasonville Community Center

Grasonville Community Center aims to connect and share the African American experiences in the community by providing a place where one can go to engage in programs that offer mentorship, physical and mental health guidance, and other resources. Future plans include providing an after school and summer program that will use the Center’s Black History Library and Health Room to teach history to young visitors. Funding will support kitchen upgrades, interior and exterior rehabilitation, and window repairs.

Malone Methodist Episcopal Church – Dorchester County ($250,000) | Sponsor: Harrisville/Malone Cemetery Maintenance Fund, Inc.

Free-born families began settling in Malone in the late 18th century. Malone Methodist Episcopal Church began serving this African American community when it was built in 1895.  The church and community have links to Harriet Tubman’s extended family, who lived in the area and are buried in the cemetery adjacent to the church. Funding will support floor and roof repairs, exterior rehabilitation efforts, and finishes and painting.

Bryan’s Chapel and Cemetery – Queen Anne’s County ($250,000) | Sponsor: Bryan’s United Methodist Church, Inc.

Bryan’s Chapel was founded in the 1800s and is the second oldest African American Methodist Episcopal Church in the United Methodist Peninsula-Delaware Conference. The Bryan’s Church congregation helped establish a school, a beneficial society, and the county’s NAACP Chapter. Shortly after the Civil War, the congregation helped establish an African American school in 1866 that a Rosenwald school later replaced. Funding will support ground penetrating radar, headstone conservation, and foundation and masonry repairs of the Chapel.

Locust United Methodist Church – Howard County ($233,500) | Sponsor: Locust United Methodist Church

Locust United Methodist Church was founded in 1869 by a group of formerly enslaved people in what was then called Freetown (Howard County). The predominantly African American congregation has been active for more than 150 years and in its current structure since 1951. This project will  renovate and add an addition to serve as the home of the current history collection and stories of community members descended from the church’s founders. Funding will support selective demolition, new construction of a pavilion, and interior rehabilitation efforts.

Two Sisters’ Houses (Caulkers’ Houses) – Baltimore City ($250,000) | Sponsor: The Society For The Preservation Of Federal Hill And Fell’s Point, Inc.

Built around 1979, the Two Sisters’ Houses (or Caulkers’ Houses) are the only extant survivors of a wooden building type that was once the predominant housing stock for the lower and middle classes in Baltimore. These once-common buildings were vitally important to the early architectural and physical character of the port city of Baltimore. The buildings housed many working Baltimore residents, including African-American ship caulkers Richard Jones, Henry Scott, and John Whittington from 1842 to 1854. Funding will support fire safety improvements, carpentry and masonry repairs, and mechanical and electrical upgrades. 

The Yellow/Hearse House – Kent County ($200,000) | Sponsor: Kent County Public Library

The Yellow/Hearse House was originally built in 1906 and served most of its existence as the only funeral parlor for those of African descent in Kent County. The Hearse House represents the rich history of Kent County’s African American-owned businesses. This project aims to increase heritage education and tourism in the Calvert Street business and residential corridor, highlighting the Walley family and the neighborhood in which their business, the funeral parlor, existed. Funds will support insulation installation, bathroom and kitchen upgrades, and framing repairs. 

Jones & Moore Luncheon/Bambricks Cards & Gifts – Dorchester County ($138,000) | Sponsor: Alpha Genesis Community Development Corporation

The Jones & Moore Luncheon/Bambricks Cards & Gifts aims to renovate a two-story commercial property located at the corner of Cannery Way.  The rear parking lot of the building is now the viewing area for the nationally acclaimed “Take My Hand” mural of Harriet Tubman. Rehabilitation of the building will help bring new arts and cultural programming as well as other business ventures into the district. Funding will support gutter and downspout repairs, window and door repairs, and roof replacement. 

Mt. Calvary United Methodist Church – Meeting Hall and Cemetery – Anne Arundel County ($186,000) | Sponsor: Mt. Calvary Community Engagement Incorporated

With grant funds supporting both cemetery and building preservation efforts, Mt. Calvary United Methodist Church will establish a heritage center in its Meeting Hall to share the histories of the local African American community in Arnold. The Hall served as the original Meeting House for the African American community between 1832-1842. By preserving the cemetery, where Civil Rights activists and veterans are buried, the church can provide further educational opportunities in addition to programs in the Meeting Hall. Funding will support ground penetrating radar, site work, and foundation and masonry repairs.

Ridgley Methodist Church and Cemetery – Prince George’s County ($111,000) | Sponsor: Mildred Ridgley Gray Charitable Trust, Inc.

Ridgely Methodist Church is one of only two buildings that remain in the small rural African American community of Ridgely, founded by freedmen around 1871. Historically, the church also functioned as a school for the local Black children. By undergoing rehabilitation efforts, the church hopes to increase the awareness of African American history through special programs, lectures, and tours. Funding will support cemetery conservation efforts, ground penetrating radar, and a fence installation.

Scotland African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Zion Church – Montgomery County ($104,000) | Sponsor: Scotland A.M.E. Zion Church

Scotland A.M.E. provides an opportunity for the public to continue to learn the local history of the predominantly African American Scotland community that has persisted for over 115 years as a congregation and 150 years as a community. The project will provide an opportunity for the public to continue to learn the local story of the predominantly African American Scotland community through interpretive panels and stories shared by congregants in public programs Funding will support foundation repairs, lifting the building, and stabilization efforts. 

Bushy Park Community Cemetery – Howard County ($63,500) | Sponsor: Bushy Park Community Cemetery, Inc.

Bushy Park Community Cemetery was historically part of farmland worked by the enslaved populations of Howard County. The cemetery is the burial location of many enslaved and freed individuals, United States Colored Troops soldiers, and Civil Rights leaders. The cemetery’s restoration, supported by grant funds, will allow for educational opportunities centered on those interred there. Funding will support cemetery conservation efforts, ground penetrating radar, and vegetation removal.

James Stephenson House, Enslaved Quarters – Harford County ($119,000) | Sponsor: Maryland Department of Natural Resources

The James Stephenson House, and its associated dwellings, was originally built at the turn of the eighteenth century. The house and quarters are located within Susquehanna State Park. When the quarters building was originally surveyed in the late 1970s, it was mistaken for a smokehouse. The building, now one of the few documented freestanding quarters on public land. Funding will support roof, window, and door repairs, carpentry and masonry repairs, and chimney and shutter repairs.

American Legion Mannie Scott Post 193 Building – Caroline County ($250,000) | Sponsor: The American Legion, Department Of Maryland, Mannie Scott Post #193, Incorporated

Mannie Scott Post No. 193 was chartered in 1947 by the American Legion – a United States veteran association and nonprofit organization created to enhance the well-being of American veterans, their families, military members, and their communities. Post No. 193 is Caroline County’s only African American active post dedicated to those who have served in active duty military in all branches of America’s Armed Forces. Post No. 193 offers programming to the local community that promote justice, freedom, and democracy. Funding will support insulation installation, bathroom and kitchen upgrades, and siding repairs or replacements.

Announcing the FY2024 Historic Preservation Non-Capital Grant Awards

MHT is excited to announce the FY2024 recipients of our Historic Preservation Non-Capital grants! Funded through the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority Financing Fund, this grant program supports a wide variety of research, survey, planning, and educational activities involving architectural, archaeological, or cultural resources. 

This year, a total of $300,000 is being awarded to non-profit organizations and universities for an exciting slate of eight projects across the state. Below are descriptions of all the projects awarded:  

The Early 17^th-Century Jesuit Mission at Potapaco Town​ – St. Mary’s College of Maryland ($33,000) 

St. Mary’s College of Maryland, in partnership with the Piscataway Conoy Tribe and the Maryland Park Service, will conduct archaeological testing at Potabaco I, a centuries-old Indigenous settlement at Chapel Point State Park and possible Jesuit mission to the Potapaco Indians. This site is threatened by climate change-related erosion, and this project will seek to document those threats and provide recommendations on how to plan for the future. In addition, interpretive materials will be developed for the Maryland Park Service. 

Artifacts discovered at a Piscataway site. Photo courtesy of grantee.  

Tracking Native American Cultural Heritage of Maryland’s Upper Eastern Shore ​– Washington College ($40,000) 

To enhance our understanding of the Native American cultural landscape in the Upper Choptank watershed, the Washington College Archaeology Lab will conduct an archaeological survey and excavation within Caroline County. Climate-induced sea-level rise and erosion, coupled with a robust five-year strategic plan for economic development, threaten resources located along the shorelines of the Upper Choptank and its tributaries. Field and laboratory work will be conducted as a public archaeology endeavor and new Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties (MIHP) Archaeology Site Forms will be produced. 

Dr. Julie Markin of Washington College. MHT staff photo. 

Queen Anne’s County Architectural Heritage Book Project – Kent Island Heritage Society ($62,000) 

This project will constitute the first phase of work to create a book on the early architectural heritage of Queen Anne’s County. It will include research and fieldwork, as well as introductory and contextual essays analyzing the changes in buildings and landscapes from the earliest European settlement through the industrial period. The completed publication will include topical studies on pre-industrial Queen Anne’s County architecture; summaries of significant, representative properties; and engaging photographs. 

Dudley Chapel, Queen Anne’s County. MHT staff photo.

Documenting Dairy Farms in Maryland, Phase III​ – University of Delaware ($30,000) 

Building on Phases I and II of this project, the University of Delaware’s Center for Historic Architecture and Design will conduct a cultural resource survey of historic dairy farms and their associated structures in Baltimore and Howard counties. The work will include approximately 10 MIHP Architecture Forms, a selection of measured drawings, and brief historic contexts on dairy farming in each county. 

Indian Spring Farm 2, Harford County. Photo courtesy of grantee.

Phase II: Architectural Survey of US Route 1​ – Anacostia Trails Heritage Area ($50,000) 

This Phase II project will survey US Route 1 from the southwestern Baltimore City line to the Pennsylvania state line, including Baltimore City, and Baltimore, Cecil, and Harford counties. Phase I was funded by an FY2022 Historic Preservation Non-Capital grant. The work will include a literature review and a supplemental research report for the project area, a reconnaissance-level survey, and 5-8 MIHP Architecture Forms for selected properties. 

Beltsville Garage, Prince George’s County. Photo courtesy of grantee. 

Architectural and Archaeological Survey of the Westminster Historic District – City of Westminster ($30,000) 

This work will produce an updated National Register nomination and supporting documentation for the Westminster Historic District, originally completed in 1980. The new research will expand upon topics such as the rural free delivery system, the area’s Civil War history, and underrepresented histories of the African American, Irish, and Greek communities of Westminster. 

Shellman House in Westminster Historic District, Carroll County. MHT staff photo.

Curating the Mayr Collection: Artifacts and Records of Archaeological Sites  ​- The Lost Towns Project ($40,000) 

The Lost Towns Project will enhance their stewardship of the recently obtained Thomas Mayr collection, amassed from over 50 years of systematic collecting in central and southern Maryland. Before these collections can yield valuable information on sites in these areas, the collection needs to be professionally curated, processed, and cataloged. Funds will support an interdisciplinary team of professionals who will process and rehouse the collection to Maryland State curation standards, create a digital catalog of the artifacts and associated documentary materials, update MIHP Archaeology Site Forms, and produce a technical report. 

Processing of artifacts. Photo courtesy of grantee.

Condition Assessment for the Lemuel Wallace House​ – American Chestnut Land Trust ($15,000) 

This project will produce a condition assessment report for the Lemuel Wallace House, one of the best-preserved cultural resources on hiking trails maintained by the American Chestnut Land Trust in Calvert County. Wallace was an African American farmer and landowner in the community of Parkers Creek. The report will detail the most urgent preservation, maintenance, and conservation needs, as well as develop treatment strategies and cost estimates for recommended treatments. 

Lemuel Wallace House, Calvert County. MHT staff photo.

Availability of FY2025 funds through the Historic Preservation Non-Capital Grant Program will be announced in the spring of 2024 on MHT’s website ( https://mht.maryland.gov/Pages/funding/grants-noncapital.aspx). Application deadlines and workshop dates will also be found on this page at that time.  

For more information about the grant program, please contact Heather Barrett, Administrator of Architectural Research at MHT, at 410-697-9536 or heather.barrett@maryland.gov.  For information about organizations receiving grants, please contact the institutions directly. 

The Remarkable Survival and Resilience of Maryland’s Piscataway Peoples

By Dr. Matthew D. McKnight, Chief Archaeologist

Inspired by a desire to celebrate and acknowledge Native American Heritage Day, I was approached by a few MHT staffers to write a blog post highlighting some of our work related to Indigenous cultures in Maryland. While the entire archaeology team is frequently involved in research projects that document the history of Maryland’s Indigenous peoples, I wanted to instead focus less on Indian identity as something “from the past” and instead put the emphasis on the continuum of Native American identity that stretches back through time.

“Canavest” by Dennis C. Curry – available now from MHT Press.

For the last couple of years, I have been involved in an effort by MHT Press to publish a significant volume highlighting the last permanent village of the Piscataway (also known as Conoy) Indians within Maryland. Canavest: the History and Archeology of a Late 17th Century Piscataway Indian Fort by former MHT Chief Archaeologist, Dennis Curry tells the story of a fort established on Heater’s Island in the Potomac River by the Piscataway Tayac (or principal chief), Ochotomoquath and his followers. The site was excavated in 1970 by the University of Maryland, but a detailed site report was never produced. Dennis spent the last several years of his career at MHT, meticulously scrutinizing the artifact collection and field records from these excavations to reconstruct what was learned about Piscataway life in the late 17th and early 18th centuries at this important site. Rico Newman, a prominent elder of the Choptico Band, Piscataway-Conoy Tribe of Indians, described the work as a portrayal of, “…the Piscataways’ remarkable survival and resilience during the onslaught of an advanced yet subversive Colonial government and its agents, while maintaining a semblance of traditional lifeways.” In keeping with that theme, I wanted to publish here some brief historical glimpses of that continued survival and resilience during the time period that followed the occupation at Heater’s Island.

The first thing to understand about the term “Piscataway” is that it has always referred to a confederation of Algonquian-speaking communities, rather than a single group. During the colonial period there were numerous Indigenous groups known by names such as Choptico, Mattawoman, Nanjemoy, Potapaco, Yaocomaco, Zekiah, and other names [1]. They all were part of the Piscataway confederacy of Maryland’s western shore, which were organized into an alliance and to some degree obligated to the Piscataway Tayac. Relations between the English colonizers and the Piscataway confederacy varied over time, but were generally friendly. Increasingly, however, encroachment by white settlers, the depletion of hunting territory, and insulting English accusations took their toll. The historical records suggests that many of the Piscataway people of the Late 17th century were using migration as a means to avoid problems with the English, eventually settling on Heater’s Island in the Potomac. While the Tayac and a large number of Piscataway did eventually leave Maryland altogether, there were also those who chose not to leave, or to fall off the trail of migration along the way and return to southern Maryland.

Both the colonial records of Maryland and Pennsylvania make it clear that by 1701, a large number of the Piscataway (increasingly referred to as the Conoys or Ganawese) were contemplating abandonment of Maryland for Pennsylvania. A Piscataway Indian named Weewhinjough (possibly the Tayac’s brother) was present at a meeting in Philadelphia on April 2nd, 1701 between several Indian leaders, the Council of Pennsylvania, and Proprietor William Penn in which both parties promised peace, loyalty to the Crown of England, and agreements were made regarding the English settlement of lands around the Susquehanna River [2, 3]. A few years later, the Piscataway abandoned Heater’s Island in December of 1704 due to a smallpox epidemic. At least 57 men, women, and children reportedly died in the epidemic and the following year, the Piscataway Tayac failed to present himself to the Maryland Governor to renew Articles of Peace with the English [4]. He may have succumbed to the disease and this is one of the last mentions we have of the Piscataway in the “official” records of Maryland.

While some of the Piscataway may have returned and stayed on at Heater’s Island until as late as 1712 [5, 6], a large contingent headed north into Pennsylvania. Some “Ganawense” from Maryland were established at a site called Conejoholo when Pennsylvania Secretary James Logan was visiting several Indian towns along the river in October of 1705 [7]. The “Canoise” are again reported in this location, 9 miles above Pequea, when Pennsylvania Governor John Evans visits the region in the summer of 1707 [8]. From there, the Piscataway/Conoy move farther and farther north and then west during the 18th century. They make one of their last appearances in the historical record in 1793 in Ohio when the Conoy, along with several other Indigenous nations sign two letters demanding that the Americans honor British agreements setting the Ohio River as the southern and western boundary of Indian lands [9]. Their pleas were ignored, and the Battle of Fallen Timbers followed a few months later.

Map of Piscataway Migrations from The Archaeology of Colonial Maryland: Five Essays by Scholars of the Early Province – available from MHT Press.

But that is certainly not where the story of the Piscataway ends. While the Piscataway as a named Indian community disappear from historical records, during the 19th and 20th centuries there are consistent whispers of a distinct community of people living in southern Maryland that insisted upon their “Indianness”. This story is more fully fleshed out in the excellent book Indians of Southern Maryland by Rebecca Seib and Helen Rountree, but by as early as the 1880s (basically around the time that the field of Anthropology was forming…and anyone began asking), there were reports of individuals in southern Maryland claiming to have Native American ancestry. In an early report of the American Anthropologist (only the second year of the journal’s existence), Elmer R. Reynolds provided a detailed account of his expedition to examine the shell middens at the mouth of the Potomac River. In his article, he relays that he was led to these sites by an individual named “Swann” who claimed native ancestry [10]. Not long after, the Smithsonian Institution took an interest and began requesting information from local medical doctors, court judges, and other officials related to a community in the area that claimed Indian ancestry and practiced endogamous marriage [11].

This community lived predominantly in Prince George’s and Charles Counties in the area around Oxon Hill, Waldorf, LaPlata, Bryantown, and Chaptico, and consisted of folks with the surnames Butler, Gray, Harley, Linkins, Mason, Newman, Proctor, Queen, Savoy, Swann, Thompson, and a few others [12, 13]. The terms used by researchers to describe this community changed over time. In “official” government records they were often listed simply as “colored” which says more about the forced racial designations on government paperwork at the time than anything about how members of the community identified themselves. Parish records sometimes provided additional detail, and there are several accounts of individuals with these surnames proclaiming their Indian identity, as well as advocating for their own local schools (this during the period of segregation) or their own facilities in churches and other public buildings. Catholic parish birth, marriage, and baptismal records were detailed enough so that researchers like Paul Cissna and Rebecca Seib were able to determine that these families were, in a majority of cases, actively seeking marriage partners from within the community who identified, like them, as Indigenous [13, 14]. From the period of 1757 until the 1950s, upwards of 70% of the marriages were between individuals within this community and not with individuals with outside surnames. Typically these marriages were arranged by female elders, suggesting a continued emphasis on the importance of matriarchy among the Indians of southern Maryland [14, p. 171].

In addition, certain distinctive practices were kept alive. One of the most important was the Green Corn festival celebrated during the two weeks surrounding August 15th. In the 19th and early 20th centuries this event typically took the form of a prolonged family reunion, with several nights of community dinners and games, horseback races, as well as socializing and celebration of the harvest. By the 1930s, conflicts with church authorities who wanted to shift emphasis to the entire non-Indigenous congregation and the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (held on August 15), led to decline in the practice [14]. However, by the late 1940s and into the 1950s, the pan-Indian pow-wow celebration would emerge in the region as a more overt expression of Native American identity, with the first being held in Washington, DC in 1949 [14, p. 176].

Increasingly, over the course of the 20th-century, voices from within this community began to speak out more publicly about their Indian (and increasingly Piscataway) identity. One of the most prominent leaders to emerge during this period was Philip Sheriden Proctor, also known as Turkey Tayac. Tayac was a veteran of the first World War and active in eastern states veterans organizations. He used connections he had within these wider organizations and with federal institutions to seek out others in the wider Native American community with whom he could find common cause. A traditional herbalist, Turkey Tayac appears to have always been outspoken about his Indian identity and began encouraging others within the southern Maryland community to speak out and to start taking steps towards formally organizing. This process really began getting underway in the 1970s [14, p. 176].

Though Turkey Tayac would not live to see it (he passed away in 1978), he helped to lay a groundwork that eventually led to formal recognition of the southern Maryland tribal community by the State of Maryland. Though there were setbacks along the way, Governor Martin O’Malley issued an executive order on January 9th, 2012 formally recognizing two groups: the Piscataway Indian Nation and the Piscataway-Conoy Tribe [15]. When one considers all of the shifting cultural, socio-political, and legal forces stacked up against that moment taking place, there is no word that more aptly describes the Piscataway peoples of Maryland than “resilient”. Despite the loss of Indigenous lands and language, government interventions to break up traditional leadership and kinship structures, and outside religious and social forces that sought to suppress Indian identity, Piscataway people have found ways to persevere and to stand up and say I am Indigenous and I am here. Today, we celebrate that perseverance.

Representatives of the Piscataway Indian Nation at Native American Heritage Day 2023 at Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum

Works Cited

1 – Maryland
2022 “Native Americans.” In Maryland at a Glance. The Maryland State Archives, Annapolis. Available online at https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/01glance/native/html/01native.html.

2 – Browne, William H., Edward C. Papenfuse et. al. (editors)
2018a [1701]  Assembly Proceedings, May 8-May 17, 1701. Reproduced in Proceedings and Acts of the General Assembly, April 26, 1700-May 3, 1704. Originally published 1883, ongoing, Archives of Maryland, 215+ volumes, Baltimore and Annapolis, Volume 24, p.145-146.

3 – Pennsylvania
1852 [1701]  Minutes of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania, from the Organization to the Termination of the Proprietary Government. Volume II. Jo. Severns & Co., Philadelphia, p.14-19.

4 – Browne, William H., Edward C. Papenfuse et. al. (editors)
2018b [1701]  Proceedings of the Council of Maryland, 1705. Reproduced in Proceedings of the Council of Maryland, 1698-1731. Originally published 1883, ongoing, Archives of Maryland, 215+ volumes, Baltimore and Annapolis, Volume 25, p.187.

5 – Curry, Dennis C.
2014 “We have beene with the Empeour of Pifcattaway, att his forte”: The Piscataway Indians on Heater’s Island. Presentation at the 2014 Middle Atlantic Archaeological Conference, Langhorne, PA.

6 – McKnight, Matthew D.
2019 “The Piscataway Trail: Clues to the Migration of an Indian Nation.” In The Archaeology of Colonial Maryland: Five Essays by Scholars of the Early Province, edited by Matthew D. McKnight, pp. 174-181. The Maryland Historical Trust Press, Crownsville.

7 – Pennsylvania
1852 [1701]  Minutes of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania, from the Organization to the Termination of the Proprietary Government. Volume II. Jo. Severns & Co., Philadelphia, p.244-247.

8 – Pennsylvania
1852 [1701]  Minutes of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania, from the Organization to the Termination of the Proprietary Government. Volume II. Jo. Severns & Co., Philadelphia, p.386-390.

9 – Curry, Dennis C.
2011 “A Closer Look at the “Last Appearance” of the Conoy Indians”. Maryland Historical Magazine 106 (3): 345-353.

10 – Reynolds, Elmer R.
1889 The Shell Mounds of the Potomac and Wicomico. The American Anthropologist 2(3): 252-259.

11 – Mooney, James
1889 Answers to Mooney’s ‘Circular’ from Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, and North Carolina, 1889-1912. MS 2190. Smithsonian Institution, National Anthropologial Archives.

12 – Seib, Rebecca and Helen C. Rountree
2014 Indians of Southern Maryland. The Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore.

13 – Cissna, Paul B.
1986 The Piscataway Indians of Southern Maryland: An Ethnohistory from Pre-European Contact to the Present. Ph.D. Dissertation. The American University, Washington, DC.

14 – Seib, Rebecca and Helen C. Rountree
2014 Indians of Southern Maryland. The Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore.

15 – Dresser, Michael
2012 “O’Malley formally recognizes Piscataway tribe”. The Capital Gazette. Available online at https://www.capitalgazette.com/bs-md-omalley-tribes-20120109-story.html.

Following Freedom’s Footprints: Exploring MHT’s Easement Sites in the Network to Freedom

By Dr. Brenna Spray, MHT Outreach Coordinator

In honor of International Underground Railroad Month, we want to share some of the Maryland Historical Trust (MHT) easement sites included in the National Park Service’s Network to Freedom, an effort that aims to “honor, preserve and promote the history of resistance to enslavement through escape and flight.” Across the United States, from Maine to Florida and Virginia to Kansas, there are over 740 sites, facilities, and programs; a few even reach as far west as Colorado and California! Maryland hosts nearly 90 of these 740 sites, and MHT holds preservation easements on nine of them, working with property owners to safeguard them in perpetuity. 

Sotterley Plantation (St. Mary’s County)

Cape Coast Castle (Wikicommons)

Sotterley Plantation began in 1703 with James Bowles, the son of a wealthy London merchant who traded tobacco, lumber, livestock, and enslaved people throughout England, West Africa, and the Caribbean. In September of 1720, the Generous Jenny delivered 218 enslaved men, women, and children to Bowles, who had purchased them from the Windward Coast (modern day Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Ivory Coast) and from the Cape Coast Castle on the Gold Coast (modern day Ghana). It remains unclear how many of these enslaved individuals stayed at Sotterley, as on Bowles’ death in 1727, his widow and daughters inherited 41 enslaved people. James Bowles’ daughter, Rebecca, married George Plater II, initiating four generations of Plater ownership at Sotterley Plantation (Our History – Sotterley, 2018). 

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Between the 1780s and 1790s, those enslaved by the Plater family made numerous attempts to seek freedom, including Clem Hill and Towerhill, whose attempts put Sotterley in the Network to Freedom. Clem Hill, described as ‘exceedingly artful’ in his runaway ad, left Sotterley in November 1784 (Plater, 1784). Enslavers in North America specifically targeted western Africa, particularly the Gold Coast, when searching for artisans; is it possible that Clem was descended from the original group of enslaved brought from the Gold Coast to Sotterley (Holloway, 2005, pp. 34, 42–44)? In January 1786, a 25-year-old man named Towerhill left Sotterley, likely aiming for Baltimore – a popular destination for freedom seekers, due to transportation options and the large free Black population (Plater, 1786). Is it possible that he reached the city? We will never know for sure, but Towerhill of Sotterley left two years before the birth of a freeborn man named Towerhill who lived in Baltimore City, according to his 1809 certificate of freedom (Certificate of Freedom for Towerhill, 1809). 

Port Tobacco Courthouse and Jail (Charles County)

In July of 1845, 75 enslaved men embarked from Charles County on a journey to find freedom in Pennsylvania, led by Mark Caesar and Bill Wheeler, in a movement now known as the Port Tobacco Escape of 1845. While traversing southern Maryland into Montgomery County, this group was attacked by the “Montgomery Volunteers,” a group of men Sheriff Daniel Hayes Candler of Rockville called together to stop the men from Charles County. These freedom seekers resisted, and around 30 managed to evade capture—unfortunately, Mark Caesar and Bill Wheeler were not among them.  

Although Mark Caesar had been promised emancipation in 1844 by his enslaver, Port Tobacco planter John Barnes, he was tried as an enslaved man when arrested and faced conviction on “ten indictments for assisting ten slaves to runaway” in November 1845. Mark Caesar’s conviction resulted in consecutive sentences of five years each. He survived only five years in jail, where he died of consumption in November 1850 (Mark Caesar, 2011). 

After Bill Wheeler’s conviction for the uprising, he initially received a death sentence by hanging. However, a special act of the Legislature ensured that he would have life imprisonment should his sentence be commuted—which the Governor did eventually. He managed to escape from jail, once again seeking freedom. It is unclear whether he eventually achieved freedom (William “Bill” Wheeler, 2010). 

Both men faced trial at the Port Tobacco Courthouse and imprisonment at the Port Tobacco Jail, part of the Network to Freedom. Hear the full story of these two men and the Port Tobacco Escape from Charles County. 

Belair Mansion (Prince George’s County)

Samuel and Anne Tasker Ogle owned Belair Mansion (c. 1745), beginning over a century of Ogle and Taskers calling the site home. At any one time, the Ogles held at least 50 enslaved people at the property. In addition to inventories that list the names, ages, and occasionally occupations of those enslaved, we know of several who tried to seek freedom. 

Runaway ad for Dennis (Maryland State Archives)

The earliest known attempt was by a cook named Joe, who sailed on a boat to Philadelphia in 1744. A shoemaker named Tom escaped and may have found freedom in 1775 with the assistance of “some white people who make too familiar with [Ogle’s] slaves” (Explore Network to Freedom). In 1814, a different Tom left Belair with British soldiers—it is unclear whether he travelled with them or if he enlisted to gain freedom. The last known attempt occurred in 1852 by 27-year-old Dennis, although there is little information accompanying his runaway ad.

Riversdale House Museum (Prince George’s County)

Belgian immigrant Henri Stier built Riversdale, now a historic site owned by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) in 1801. His daughter, Rosalie Stier Calvert, took over ownership when the Stier family returned to Europe, and the Calvert family maintained ownership for many generations.

Emily Plummer

Adam Francis Plummer was one of the many people enslaved by the Calverts at Riversdale. He married Emily Saunders in 1841 at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC, and they went on to have nine children together—despite the fact that they were enslaved at different plantations. In 1863, while enslaved at Woodlawn by the Thompson family, Emily decided to seek freedom in Baltimore with three of their older children and their twin toddlers, Nellie and Robert. The six freedom seekers did not make it to the city and were instead jailed. The Thompsons lacked the money to secure their release, and when Adam heard that his family was imprisoned in Baltimore, he received permission from Charles Benedict Calvert to retrieve them. Emily and the children arrived at Riversdale in December 1863.

The entire family was emancipated in 1864 at Riversdale, and the Network to Freedom now includes the site to commemorate Emily’s bravery. This is something that their daughter, Nellie, goes on to write about in her book, Out of the depths; or The triumph of the cross (1927):

No young woman of today can imagine the bravery that it took on mother’s part to venture to Baltimore alone, as it were, through troops of soldiers, during war time, with a girl of 11 years and a boy of 12, a girl 9 years, and two babies to be carried. Rut love knows no fear. We still think she was a heroine, indeed! (Plummer, 1927, p. 83)

Marietta House (Prince George’s County)

Marietta House, a tobacco plantation, was built by enslaved workers at the direction of US Supreme Court Justice Gabriel Duvall, who enslaved anywhere between nine and 50 individuals, including families of Ducketts, Butlers, Jacksons, and Browns. Freedom seekers born at Marietta, including Frank (last name unknown), Joe (last name unknown), and Benjamin Duckett, attempted to self-emancipate. These stories are what made  Marietta House – also a historic site operated by the M-NCPPC – a part of the Network to Freedom.

Little is known about Frank, except that he left in 1814. In a runaway ad published by Gabriel Duvall in May 1837, Joe is said to have had two brothers, Tom and Phil. By 1837, Tom lived as a freeman in Baltimore, and it is likely that Joe would have attempted to reach this location (Duvall, 1837).

Runaway ad for Benjamin Duckett, 1856 (MSA)

A few years later, in 1844, Gabriel Duvall passed away and his grandsons, Edmund and Marcus, divided Benjamin Duckett’s family and dispersed much of the enslaved population at Marietta. As a boy, Duckett would have observed many self-emancipation attempts by those in his community, including Joe.  Zachariah Berry purchased and enslaved Benjamin Duckett from Edmund Duvall sometime between 1849 and 1856. Although the exact property where Duckett lived is uncertain – Zachariah Berry had properties in Washington, DC, and Prince George’s County – we do know that Benjamin Duckett left from Prince George’s County in September 1856 (Berry, 1856). He arrived in Philadelphia three weeks later, though his route is unknown. He was given a small amount of money by the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee so that he could continue his journey northward (Benjamin Duckett, 2017). It does not appear that Duckett was ever forced to return to Zachariah Berry, as three years later, Berry was still advertising for Duckett’s return—his reward had gone from $50 to $500 (Berry, 1859).

Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Museum (Baltimore City)

Resurrection of Henry “Box” Brown (Wikicommons)

Freedom seekers often utilized the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad to achieve self-emancipation. A train was a riskier choice as there was a higher chance of recapture due to its crowded, public nature; this is why more covert methods of travel were often preferred, despite being slower. Henry “Box” Brown and the Craft family journeyed through the Baltimore station (the current site of the B&O Railroad Museum). Perhaps the most famous among these individuals, Brown, arranged to be shipped to Philadelphia via the Adams Express Company (which was known for both efficiency and confidentiality—they never looked inside the boxes they carried) (Robbins, 2009, pp. 12–13). After purposely burning his hand with sulfuric acid to avoid work that day, Brown managed to fit into a roughly 3x3x2 foot box to pose as dry goods. His full journey encompassed 27 hours of multiple wagon journeys, railway trips, and steamboat and ferry sailings to reach his destination, including passage through Baltimore. How much does it cost to seek freedom? For Henry “Box” Brown, $86 (or $3,414 in 2023) (Morris, 2011, pp. 15–17). 

Mount Clare (Baltimore City)

Built over 250 years ago, Mount Clare was originally an 800-acre plantation on the Patapsco River and housed the Baltimore Iron Works (one of the largest industrial undertakings of the colonial period). Both were owned and operated by Charles Carroll. Between the Mount Clare plantation and the Baltimore Iron Works, Carroll enslaved over 200 people. The enslaved workers at the Baltimore Iron Works had a wide range of skilled knowledge, with occupations such as blacksmith and hammerman (Slavery and Freedom in Maryland, 2007).

Runaway ad for Eddenborough (MSA)

Situated only five miles from Baltimore, it is unsurprising that there were many attempts at freedom by the enslaved population throughout the 18^th century. In 1777, when the iron works facility suffered from food shortages, a manager at the Baltimore Iron Works wrote that the “people and stock were almost starving” (Industrial Slavery, 2007). That same year, Carroll placed a runaway ad for the cooper Eddenborough (Carroll, 1777). In it, Eddenborough is described as having an accent, so it is possible that he was born in Africa. Assuming he went to Baltimore, Eddenborough would have had many options with the city’s growing free Black population and Philadelphia only a 40-mile journey.

St. Stephen’s African Methodist Episcopal Cemetery (Talbot County)

Headstone of Matthew Roberts at St. Stephen’s

St. Stephen’s African Methodist Episcopal Cemetery in Talbot County serves as the final resting place for nearly 18 soldiers of the USCT, many of whom were originally enslaved at Wye Plantation. Their names are John Blackwell, Ennels Clayton, Isaac Copper, John Copper, Benjamin Demby, Charles Demby, William Doane, William Doran, Harace Gibson, Zachary Glasgow, Joseph Gooby, Joseph H. Johnson, Peter Johnson, Edward Jones, Enolds Money, Frederick Pipes, Henry Roberts, and Matthew Roberts.

Despite many objections by the Governor and other politicians, as well as slaveholding citizens, in 1863, the United States Colored Troops (USCT) began mass enlistments of Black men to fight for the Union. These men were often recruited directly from plantations in Maryland. One contemporary of Col. Edward Lloyd VI (owner of Wye Plantation during this period), wrote about the “boat loads” of enslaved men enlisting with USCT:

It appears that since we left the county [Talbot County] two week[s] ago, recruiting for the negro regiments have been going on with accelerated rapidity, and new vigor….I hear that Mr. Edward Lloyd, of Miles River neck, our largest slave holder, lost at One time as many as 84 able bodied hands and that enough have not been left to him “to black his boots…” (Wagandt, 1967, p. 135).

Before USCT conducted this mass recruitment at Wye Plantation, Matthew Roberts self-emancipated himself from Col. Edward Lloyd VI by using the local terrain to evade slave catchers. He then faked his own death and took a ferry to Baltimore, joining the 4^th USCT (Mathew Roberts, 2014). Roberts, along with the other soldiers, found their own way out of enslavement through escape and military service. After the end of the Civil War, Roberts and the other members of USCT built a Black community, Unionville, just a few miles from the site of their original enslavement (Messner, 2020). St. Stephen’s serves as a place of remembrance for these soldiers and their descendants.

Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum (Calvert County)

Enlistment papers for William Coates (Ancestry.com)

According to the 1850 census, George Peterson enslaved 16 people at what is today known as Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum (JPPM). During the height of the Civil War, both William Coates (aged 18) and William Jones (aged 19) enlisted at Camp Stanton for a three-year term with with Peterson’s permission: a signed statement by Peterson showed that they were enslaved at his farm on the Patuxent River. During this period, any enslavers were compensated for allowing men to join the USCT (for example, Peterson received $300 in place of the labor Coates would have provided).

A private all through his service, Coates was enlisted in Company I of the 7^th Regiment, while Jones rose to corporal in Company H of the 7^th Regiment. We know both men were mustered out in Texas in October 1866. Coates returned to Calvert County where, by 1880, he married a woman named Rebecca and lived near the Peterson farm. We do not know what became of William Jones (Samford, 2021).

While MHT does not have an easement with JPPM, it is a state-owned museum for history and archaeology. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its 9,000 years of documented human inhabitation and the cultural diversity of the sites at JPPM (Patterson Archeological and Historic District, 1982).

There is always more to learn and explore about the Underground Railroad and the Network to Freedom. Created by the Maryland State Archives, the Legacy to Slavery database has an extensive digital collection of runaway ads, slave schedules, manumissions, and more. Medusa, MHT’s online database of architectural and archaeological sites, is a great way to fully explore any Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties sites and National Register of Historic Places properties in Maryland. You can also read past MHT blog posts about the underground railroad here:

International Underground Railroad Month in Maryland, Part I: “I See the Underground Railroad Everywhere”

International Underground Railroad Month in Maryland, Part II: “A State Located at the Intersection of Slavery and Freedom”

References

B & O Transportation Museum & Mount Clare Station. (1961, September 15). National Register Properties in Maryland. LINK

Belair. (1977, September 17). National Register Properties in Maryland. LINK

Benjamin Duckett. (2017). Maryland State Archives. LINK

Berry, Z. (1856, October 8). Runaway Ad for Benjamin Duckett. Planter’s Advocate. LINK

Berry, Z. (1859, January 5). Runaway Ad for Benjamin Duckett. Planter’s Advocate. LINK

Carroll, C. (1777, August 19). Runaway Ad for Eddenborough. LINK

Certificate of Freedom for Towerhill (C290-1, Entry 51). (1809). LINK

Duvall, G. (1837, May 20). Runaway Ad for Joe. Daily National Intelligencer. LINK

Explore Network to Freedom. (2023). LINK

Holloway, J. E. (2005). Africanisms in American Culture, Second Edition. Indiana University Press.

Industrial Slavery—The Baltimore Iron Works. (2007). LINK

Marietta. (1994, July 25). National Register Properties in Maryland. LINK

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