On Location Series #28-Mount Calvert Historical & Archaeological Park

Mount Calvert’s has a rich archaeological past, boasting historical resources of human ethos. The evidence showed that Native Americans were present from the Archaic and the Woodland Period. They were primarily hunters and gathers who lived around the Upper Patuxent River to crop the river’s natural resources. Around the 1600s was when European settlers appeared.

https://youtu.be/H58hr0AJBhw

The 1684 Act recognized the English colonial town at Mount Calvert for the Advancement of trade. In 1696 and was retitled Charles Town. Soon after the construction of the Anglican Church, courthouse, and jail. There was also plenty of trading that consisted of tobacco. As time progress, especially from numerous trading of food and goods for tobacco, the township moved to the Upper Marlboro area. It became known as Mount Calvert, a ferry landing section of the county.

During the War of 1812, the British planned land assault on the capital as the waterway would be their way inward. This incursion transpired around August of 1814. British ships in the Patuxent River shadowed them as they traveled north, and at Mount Calvert, 500 marines came off of the boats to reinforce the soldiers who were already present. Then they moved south through Bladensburg, Md., sacked Washington, and returned to Mount Calvert to board their ships within about a week. You can see the area where they first dismounted from at the park, a nice bit of history even though it involved the United States being at the losing end of a conflict.

Between the 1780s and 1860s, Mount Calvert was a tobacco plantation. The brick plantation house housed the families of plantation owners John Brown, John Brooks, and Samuel Berry. The farm heavily depended on slave labor, and by the mid-1800s, fifty-one enslaved African-Americans were held against their will on the site.

Now that I am done with the historical part of Mount Calvert…

March 28th of 2021—

Man, the day was a nice cool day for a hike. Now I must admit the grounds of Mount Calvert, located in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, was not the largest place I hiked. But it certainly was not the smallest. The area was nice, a large open field that extended from the manor to the surrounding neighborhood. I would say the community was at least close to half a mile away, still very visible, also within walking distance. The grounds itself had the centerpiece dwelling, Calvert Manor, and the ferry dock further down by the water. I am assuming the dock is still in use as I saw other houses further away, across the waterway, with their individual boat dock. It’s just my assumption because I saw no one using their boats that afternoon.

The manor was huge, closed up due to it being on a Sunday. The park rangers do conduct tours of the estate and the surrounding grounds, but this weekend, I guess. I also saw outdoor tables and chairs along with a few walkways. I can picture this as a nice place to have lunch if the weather was a bit warmer (well, warm, to my judgment).

There were also a few historic readers on the grounds. It showed Mount Calvert’s history, the record that I wrote about at the beginning of this blog. The War of 1812, the convergence of three distinct cultures, and even the touch of the brutality of cattle slavery these grounds saw it all.

But maybe certain things ever left…

While I was there, more so for the last 25 minutes, was something. I felt a presence, well, in truth, more of multiple realities all around me. I felt like I was being watched as I walked around the manor. I saw no one in the windows, and I was ultimately alone while I was on the property. It was an uncanny feeling, but it did not feel malevolent. It just felt many eyes were on me. I could not shake such a sensation, so I continue my trek until I almost reached the middle of the open field. There, I did not have the feeling of being watched. I felt like I did when I first arrived at Mount Calvert. Funny enough, the plains were near the neighborhood, which with an educated presumption, one would think a person was looking at me from their household.