Timeline of Southern Maryland

Southern Maryland
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]
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]

The following is a timeline of the history of the region of Southern Maryland.

3rd century

  • 200 - Beginning occupation of a Piscataway village near present day Biscoe Gray.[2]

14th century

17th century

The arrival of The Ark in 1634 marked the beginnings of colonization in Southern Maryland.

18th century

  • 1711 - After coming under the influence of the Great Law of Peace, the Piscataway become known by their anglicized Iroquois name "Conoy."[7]
  • 1725 November 5 - "Williams' Old Field" replaces Calvertown as the county seat for Calvert County following an Act of Assembly.[12][16]
  • 1728 October 30 - "Williams' Old Field" is renamed "Prince Frederick."[16]
  • 1732 - Construction completed for the Calvert County courthouse.[12][16]
  • 1732 November 4 - Thomas Johnson is born near St. Leonard's Creek.[17][16]
  • 1748 April 20 - Fire destroys Calvert County courthouse.[16]
  • 1780 - British troops invade Calvert County, destroying property and burning buildings.[18][19]
  • 1783 - Maryland prohibits the importation of enslaved people.[20]
  • 1789 June 15 - Josiah Henson, who Harriet Beecher Stowe cites as being one of the inspirations for her 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, is born in Port Tobacco.[11][21]
  • 1779 January 14 - Joseph Kent is born in Calvert County.[16]
  • 1794 - Following the Battle of Fallen Timbers some members of the Piscataway tribe migrated south, returning to their ancestral lands in Maryland.[7]

19th century

Matthew Henson was born in Nanjemoy on August 8, 1866.
  • 1814 June 8-10- Several attacks involving the Chesapeake Bay Flotilla take place near and around St. Leonard's Creek.[22][16] During this time, many enslaved people living in Southern Maryland found freedom by fleeing to the British military.[23]
  • 1814 July 19- British burn the Prince Frederick Courthouse.[16] At least 14 enslaved persons escaped to freedom via a British Vessel in Lower Marlboro.[9]
  • 1819 - Third Prince Frederick courthouse is constructed.[16]
  • 1837 - Charles Ball publishes his autobiography, “The Life and Adventures of Charles Ball."[24]
  • 1845 July - Two enslaved men named Mark Caesar and Bill Wheeler lead a slave rebellion Charles County.[9]
  • 1858 February 12 - The town on Leonardtown is incorporated.[25]
  • 1863 October - Camp Stanton, a site created for the recruiting and training of African American men, is established near Benedict.[9]
  • 1864 November 1 - Maryland ratifies a new constitution that prohibits slavery.[11]
  • 1865 April 15 - John Wilkes Booth stops at St. Catharine, Samuel Mudd's house in Waldorf.[26][27]
  • 1866 August 8 - Explorer Matthew Henson is born in Nanjemoy.[28]
  • 1867 - Isaac Solomon started a commercial fishery on what was then referred to as "Somervell's Island"[29] or "Sandy Island,"[19] later to be known as Solomon's Island.[12]
  • 1869 - Wallville School opens in Calvert County serving as a one room schoolhouse for African American students.[30]
  • 1870 - Construction completed on a Solomon's Island Post Office and a causeway connecting the island to Calvert County's mainland.[29][19]
  • 1877 - Issac Davis completes construction of the first framed bugeye, "Clyde," on Solomons Island.[19]
  • 1882 March 3 - Calvert County courthouse destroyed, along with its records, in a fire.[24][16]
  • 1884 - Fourth Prince Frederick courthouse is constructed.[16]
  • 1886 April 7 - The town of Chesapeake Beach is incorporated.[31]
  • 1888 March 6 - The town of Chesapeake Beach's incorporation is repealed.[32]
  • 1888 April 4 - The towns of La Plata[33] and Port Tobacco Village are incorporated.[34]
  • 1890 - Drayden African American Schoolhouse is built in St. Mary's county.[9]
  • 1890 - Indian Head Naval Surface Warfare Center opens.[35]
  • 1894 April 3 - The town of Chesapeake Beach is reincorporated.[36]
  • 1895 - Turkey Tayac is born.[7]

20th century

The Governor Thomas Johnson Memorial Bridge opens in 1977, connecting Solomons to Lexington Park.
  • 1910 - The town of North Beach is incorporated.[37]
  • 1916 October - Following the razing of the fourth Prince Frederick Courthouse, the fifth, and current courthouse completes construction.[38]
  • 1920 - WWI Memorial Statue designed by Edward Berge is erected in font of the Calvert County Courthouse. The statue lists names of fallen White soldiers separate from fallen Black soldiers.[9]
  • 1920 April 16 - The town of Indian Head is incorporated.[39]
  • 1922 - Central Industrial School opened in Prince Frederick as a multi-room school for African Americans in Calvert County.[30]
  • 1925 - Chesapeake Biological Laboratory begins operations in Solomons.[40] R.V. Truitt serves as the facility's first director.[41]
  • 1930's - Owings Eagles begin to play on Gray's Field.[9]
  • 1933 - Pomonkey High School opens as the first high School for African Americans in Charles County.[9]
  • 1933 August 23 - A storm hits Solomon's Island, destroying oyster beds and packing houses.[19]
  • 1934 - Wallville School ceases operations as a school.[30]
  • 1937 December 27 - Calvert County agrees to equal pay for their African American school teachers following a suit from Harriet Elizabeth Brown and NAACP attorney Thurgood Marshall.[42]
  • 1939 - W. Sampson Brooks High School opens as the first high School for African Americans in Calvert County.[30]
  • 1940 December - Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge opens.[43]
  • 1942 - The Naval Amphibious Training Base Solomons is established.[12]
  • 1943 April 1 - Naval Air Station Patuxent River is commissioned.[44]
  • 1952 July 30 - The first Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Annapolis completes construction.[45]
  • 1957 - John Hanson Highway completed.[46]
  • 1958 - Charles County Community College is established, hosting night classes at La Plata High School. This school will eventually become the College of Southern Maryland.[47]
  • 1961 - Piscataway Park is authorized by Congress.[48]
  • 1963 - Four Black students integrate Calvert High School.[49]
  • 1963 December - Due to high levels of traffic on the Bay Bridge, a second span of the Chesapeake is proposed, including one that would have connected Calvert County and Dorchester County as part of the larger 1964 Chesapeake Bay crossing study. The second span would eventually be built very close to the first span.[50]
  • 1964 April 15 - Chesapeake Bay Bridge–Tunnel opens.[51]
  • 1964 July 19 - Moyaone is added to the National Registry of Historic Places.[52]
  • 1966 October 15 - Moyanone is designated a National Historic Location.[3]
  • 1968 - College of Southern Maryland La Plata Campus opens.[47]
  • 1973 June 28 - The second span of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Annapolis is completed.[53]
  • 1974 March 31 - Billy Tayak, Turkey Tayac, and Avery Wind Rider file papers to incorporate the non-profit "Piscataway Conoy Indians Inc."[4][7]
  • 1977 - Construction completed on the Governor Thomas Johnson Bridge.[54]
  • 1978 - Community College at St. Mary's County is established at Great Mills High School.[47]
  • 1979 - Following the passage of HB 5419, the remains of Turkey Tayac were moved from Cedar Hills Cemetery in Suitland to Piscataway Park.[55][56][48]
  • 1980 -Community College at Calvert County is established.[47]
  • 1982 - Appointed to fill a vacancy on the Commissioner Board, Jesse Reid becomes the first African American to hold the office of County Commissioner in Calvert County.[57]
  • 1988 - Bernie Fowler holds the first "wade-in" in Broomes Island.[58]
  • 1990 March 30 - St. Charles Towne Center opens.[59]
  • 1992 - The Historic McConchie One-Room School that served African American students in Charles county, is moved to the Charles County Fairgrounds.[9]
  • 1997 - Leonardtown Campus of the College of Southern Maryland opens.[47]

21st century

The community colleges in St. Mary's, Charles, and Calvert counties officially rebranded as the College of Southern Maryland in 2000.
  • 2000 - The Southern Maryland Agricultural Development Commission (SMADC) is formed as part of the Tobacco Buyout.[60]
  • 2000 July 1 - the previously named "Charles Community College" is officially renamed the College of Southern Maryland.[47]
  • 2000 July 29 - An African American Monument is dedicated in Freedom Park.[9]
  • 2005 - Prince Frederick campus of the College of Southern Maryland opens.[47]
  • 2005 June 23 - The 2005 Chesapeake Bay crossing study suggests two options for bridges connecting out of Calvert County, one connecting to Talbot County and one connecting to Dorchester county[61]
  • 2006 - Salvageable portions of the building that housed Wallville School were moved to Calvert Elementary School.[62]
  • 2008 May 2 - Southern Maryland Blue Crabs host their first game at Regency Furniture Stadium.[63]
  • 2010 June 8 - Edward T. Hall Aquatic Center opens in Prince Frederick.[64]
  • 2011 June 22 - Southern Maryland Roller Derby is established in Waldorf.[65]
  • 2011 September - St. Mary's College of Maryland becomes one of the first campuses to ban the sale of Chick-fil-A because of the organization's financial ties to anti-gay groups.[66][67]
  • 2012 January 9 - The Piscataway become the first state recognized tribe in Maryland. They are still not federally recognized.[68]
  • 2017 - CSM opens their Regional Hugesville campus.[47]
  • 2018 - Construction is completed on submarine communications cable connecting Cove Point to Taylor's Island.[69][70][71]
  • 2020 - According to the US census, at some point between 2010 and 2020, Charles County's largest racial group changed from being White to Black.[72]
  • 2021 September 13 - The Wellness & Aquatics Center in Leonardtown comes under the management of the St. Mar's Department of Recreation & Parks.[73]
  • 2023 January 3 - Dr. Yolanda Wilson becomes the first African American president at CSM.[47][74]

References

  1. ^ "Legislative Election Districts: Southern Maryland". Maryland Manual Online. Maryland State Archives, State of Maryland. 14 March 2022. Retrieved 22 June 2022. Southern Maryland: Calvert, Charles & St. Mary's Counties & parts of Anne Arundel & Prince George's Counties
  2. ^ Calvert County Natural Resources Division (27 October 2016). "OPEN HOUSE". Archived from the original on 25 July 2025. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  3. ^ a b William and Mary Center for Archaeological Research. "Return to Potomac Creek (44ST2): Archaeology at a Late Prehistoric Native American Village Archived August 7, 2011, at the Wayback Machine." Virginia Department of Historic Resources.
  4. ^ a b c d "History". www.piscatawayconoytribe.com. Retrieved 2025-07-07.
  5. ^ a b Peters, John (2015-06-14). "375th Anniversary Celebration of the Baptism of the Piscataway Chief Kittamaquund by Fr. Andrew White, SJ on July 5th, 1640". Prince George's County Historical Society. Retrieved 2025-07-25.
  6. ^ National Park Service (September 1969). "Piscataway Park: General Historic Background Study" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 June 2025. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  7. ^ a b c d e f Tayac, Gabrielle (June 1999). Spirits in the River: A Report on the Piscataway People (PDF). Smithsonian Institution National Museum ofthe American Indian.
  8. ^ "The Peopling of Maryland Colony". National Park Service. Archived from the original on August 30, 2010. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Uunila, Kirsti; Kent, Michael; Thompson, Cathy; Smith, Dorothea. "AFRICAN AMERICAN HERITAGE GUIDE". Calvert County Government. Archived from the original on 8 July 2025. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
  10. ^ a b c d Merrell, James (October 1979). Cultural Continuity among the Piscataway Indians of Colonial Maryland. The William and Mary Quarterly.
  11. ^ a b c d Baker, Tim; Rice Bachmann, Elaine; Squires, Emily Oland; Haley, Chris; Davis, Maya; Cox, Ryan; Berlin, Ira; Brewer, Herbert (February 2020). "A Guide to the History of Slavery in Maryland" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 May 2021.
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  21. ^ Nichols, Charles (1958). "The Origins of Uncle Tom's Cabin". The Phylon Quarterly. 19 (3).
  22. ^ Shomette, Donald (1982). Shipwrecks on the Chesapeake. Centreville, Maryland: Tidewater Publishers. pp. 87–93. ISBN 978-0-87033-283-8.
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  30. ^ a b c d "The Old Wallville School – Calvert County's Reconstructed African American One-Room School". 2010. Retrieved 2025-07-07.
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  57. ^ FALLIN, SARAH (2018-02-28). "Reid, Calvert's first African-American commissioner, dies at 84". SoMdNews.com. Retrieved 2025-07-08.
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  59. ^ Spinner, Jackie (1996-09-01). "In Charles County, All Roads Lead to the Mall; Waldorf's Bustling Towne Center Has Become Area's Social, Entertainment 'Mecca'". The Washington Post.
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  64. ^ "Calvert's Edward T. Hall Aquatic Center Grand Opening is June 8". Southern Maryland Online. 2010-05-28. Retrieved 2025-08-18.
  65. ^ "Southern Maryland Roller Derby | Roller Derby Stats & Rankings | Flat Track Stats". flattrackstats.com. Retrieved 2025-07-24.
  66. ^ Kelly, Evan (27 September 2011). "Resolution Encourages Grind to Stop Serving Chick-fil-A". The Point News. Archived from the original on 17 August 2012.
  67. ^ "North Carolina College Suspends Chick-fil-A". HuffPost. 2012-08-13. Retrieved 2025-07-07.
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  69. ^ csoptelean@somdnews.com, Caleb M. Soptelean (2021-09-13). "Progress being made on broadband in Southern Maryland; however, problems remain". SoMdNews.com. Retrieved 2025-08-06.
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  73. ^ Government, St Mary's County (2021-09-10). "Department Of Recreation & Parks Launches Website For Wellness & Aquatics Center". The BayNet. Retrieved 2025-08-18.
  74. ^ College of Southern Maryland (3 Jan 2023). "Dr. Yolanda Wilson Begins Tenure as CSM's Sixth President". Archived from the original on 28 July 2025. Retrieved 28 July 2025.
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