Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1878-09-05
Dcaa CItles in Maryland.

burning w0stes Of the Syrian desert,
comes suddenly upon vailed town, built
complete Of The pink granite and mar
ble and porphyEy. Temple and tomb
are there as well as house and palace,
fortress and granary, but the roofs and
windows are goae, and TIE city's gales
have long ago been unhinged. The city
10 deserted; IL has no inhabitants at al
but the ioxes that IuFk under the fallen
archways and the cwIs and bats that
nulaeF beneath The dafkened vaults, ard
the Bed0uin fees from the spot IN dread,
luseAi1sss EnEgE 1I1all1e eIlozx = Is md
abode ol Sheilan, place accursed. III
Is indeed . city that has been dead
perhaps two thousand years, and the
desert contains many such wiered spec
tres Of the populous past.
So the v0Ysger in tropical seas, as he
coasts BY islands which the earthquakes
have rent but which betray no signs Of
il in their glowing beauty, may some
times look down through the clear waves
and see there below him, at the bottom
of the diaphanous depths, the roofs and
spires Of sunken city, forty fathoms
under the wave. Such is Savannah Ia
Mar, which, with IFS ten thousand peo-
pie all at their occupations and pleas
ures and devotions, went to the bottom
one quiet summers day, and has rested
there ever since, the sea core mantling
its palaces. and urchins and polyps the
citizens ofits Voiceless streets.
There are dead cities, however, which
have not only been abandoned, but
themselves have disappeared as COM
pietely as Babylon-vanIslled like the
baseless fabric OF a vision that leaves
not wreck behind-and Maryland her.
self has furnished the site Of more than
one ofthese phantom boroughs. Ofwhich
scarcely even tombstone remains to
mark the spot where their former in
habitants were buried.
For instance, there is the venerable
city Of Saint Mary's, the capital of the
Province Of Maryland, where all the old
time dignitaries used to gather during
the sessions of court and Assembly and
hold high revels in their velvets and
laces. Is il not an odd trick Of fortune
that both jamestown and Saint Mary's,
the original capitals of Virginia and
| MARYLAND, should have vanished 50 ut
terly from the face Of the earth that the
distinctest traces we now have Of them
is the mellower filth aud the darker coll
or OF the waving grain oter the places
that once we're populousl Saint Mary 4
was a city OF great expectations. Ba-
ron CaeciIus had such hopes Of it that
he esteemed town lot within its limits
the best present which he could make
to his friends and favorites. Who
would own o town lot in Saint Mary's
nows The Protestant element was too
strong for il; the planting interest pre-
ferred the stronger lands OF the Patux-
ent; the centre Of population moved rap
idlv up the bay, and an irreverent As
sembly suddenly decided that the capt.
tai should be removed to "Anne Arun-
del town upon the Severn" The poor
people of st. Mary's sent up a quaint
and pathetic petition 10 the Assembly
not to destroy them. They offered to
make roads; TO establish ferry at Drum
Point; TO run a stage line from the Pa
tuxent. They got down on their knees
to the Assembly almost, but without
avail. The fat had gone forth; the cap
ital was transferred, and Saint Mary s,
with It's State House and all, crumbled
into undlstinguishable rum.
| Another city that was expected to be-
: come the Eastern Shore rival OF Saint
Mary's and later of Annapolis, and
4 which, it was thought, could not fail tc
become a great commercial emporium,
so eIigibly was il situated, was the town
on Tredavon creek called WIiliamstadt
and known as Oxford has never grown
to be a city and probably will not, N
our day. II had much commerce .: one
time, and many servants were landed
there and sold, and thousands Of hogs.
heads of tobacco were put on board ship
there. But after awhile the factors
who had warehouses there removed tr
other ports, some to Annapolis, some e
Chestertown, some TO Elkrdge Land
ing, some TO Joppa, and Oxiord-wt
will not say died, but went TO sleep
like the beauty Of town that it IS.
| And EIkridge Landing, too. Do the
young men who 60 to catch gudgeoni
at the Relay ever think that ships USED
TO sail up that stream from foreign port.
and that the post town across the way
was once a commercial emporium, ths
: rival OF Annapolis and Joppa, and the
superior Of Baltimore! At one time
more tobacco was shipped from Elk
ridge than from any other port IN The
State. II was the port Of half OF Anne
Arundel and Baltimore counties, and
trolling roads" led to Il in every diIec'
lion. II had furnaces and iron mills
and stores and waFehouses--but Dotever
q pungy goes up to Elkridge now. The
trade ebbed away from il, the rivel
filed with silt-Elkridge was a city ne
more.
About 1850, the story goes, Euro
pean capitalist came 10 Maryland Will
money TO invest in town lots. III
locked around him carefully; examines
the harbors and inquired into the pros
pecls Of ell our towns. Annapolis, Elk
ridge, Baltimore, Sc, and, alter hesita
!, ting a good while between JoPpa an'
Chestertown, put his money TO rest u
CharIestown, for that, he va sure, wa
. 10 be the coming great city, 10 th'
reader tell us where ChaFlestown was
He will not End il on the maps; yet :
was laid out for very great city u
1742, sat place called Long Point. o.
. the west side Of North East river, u
4 ~ al. ..s.r..fa az Il,