Saint Mary's City, Maryland

A brief history of St. Mary's City during Colonial Times

        Leonard Calvert and the settlers on St. Clement's Island soon outgrew their small settlement on the Potomac. A contract was soon agreed upon with the Yaocomico Indians to purchase the land. The settlers described purchasing "40 miles of land from the Indian King". Indian King most likely means the chief or other tribal leader of the Yaocomico tribe. Relations with the Yaocomico remained friendly for years, with the tribe even being included in protection treaties, as they thought they were being threatened by tribes from further north in Maryland. The Yaocomico started disappearing from records in the 1680's, most likely due to disease introduced by the colonists.


        Saint Mary's City was laid out according to a Baroque town plan, as the Calverts wanted a centralized city that symbolized their vision for their new colony. The center of the city was the location of the house of the mayor, and from there the streets were laid out so that they created two triangles. Located at two points of the western triangle was the first Maryland state house and the jail. The northern point of the triangle was home to a Catholic church and a school, the town layout was meant to symbolize the separation of Church and State.


        The late 1600's brought St. Mary's City an economic boom related to the growth and sale of tobacco. The huge profit turned in by the sale of the profitable crop allowed for the construction of an inn, a jail,a state house, and a Jesuit Chapel among other buildings and private residences in the thriving town.


        Despite Maryland's initial vision of religious tolerance (Maryland Toleration Act of 1649), fights often broke out between Catholics and Protestants. In 1689 there was a Protestant revolution directed against Lord Baltimore himself and in 1695 the revolutionaries turned the State House into a Protestant Church. In 1704 the new governor enacted rules called "An Act to Prevent the Growth of Popery within this Province"  that closed the Catholic churches and schools in St. Mary's City. The city's population declined after the capital was moved, the only residents left mainly being farmers.


By the time of the American Revolution, little remained of the site of Maryland's first capital. Recently, archaeologists have turned up many significant finds in St. Mary's City. Among the notable finds are:

        An English fort (Pope's Fort & St. Thomas Fort) with a moat dating back to 1645, which has been claimed to be the only evidence of the English Civil War found in the American colonies to date.

        Kutahya ceramics, from Turkey, one of only 2 sets found in the colonies

        3 lead coffins from the 1600's

        Lead Type, indicating a colonial printing house

        Garret Van Sweringen's Inn, a 17th century inn