The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1880-10-29
miscellaneous.
From The Baltimore San.
The Antecedents of Baltimore.

Very little is known of Baltimore prior to
1870. Indeen it has been said "That no liv-
ing man can tell with certainty where the
county-seat of Baltimore county was first
situated" This "first county seat" or "Old
Baltimore" deserves attention, especially in
this, the year ofthe celebration of the one
hundred and fiftieth anniversary ofthe Balti-
more of to-day, because this is, in point of
fact, the great-grand child of"Old Baltimore"
An investigation ofrecords and old maps, and
visit to the supposed site has led to the iden.
LITIGATION of "Old Baltimore" Its locality is
about seven miles south of Perrymansville,
two miles southeast of the railroad bridge
over Bush river, and four miles above the
Chesapeake bay 1t is on an ishmus
about one-fourth of mile wide, between
Bush river on the south and Rumncy creek
on the north The town was Immediately
upon Bush river, commanding a noble view
up to the railroad bridge and down to the
Chesapeake bay, an eXpanse OF miles far
superior to our present land-locked basin.
All the natural objects near this spot point
| Enthusiastically to lite former Importance and
sustain the evidence afforded by old maps and
| records that here was situated "Old Balti-
| more" Long rows of cedar trees strike the
visitor with their venerable appearance and
| apparent isolation, no other similar trees be-
| ing in the ncighborhood. 1t is remarkable,
too, that while the land between "Old Bal
| timore" and Perrymansville is very barren,
| that in the vicinity of the former is reckoned
about the most productive in Hartford county
Beside part occupied by a clover field, the
| old site itself is covered with alder bushes
| and refuses cultivation, and upon this wild
| place probably stood the first courthouse of
| Baltimore county. This county was estab-
| lished in 1859, and included not only Har-
ford and Cecil counties but all the western
shore north and northwest of Anne Arundel
county. Baltimore county was divided into
Hundreds" The site of our present city
was "Deptford Hundred" then came Pataps-
co Hundred, "Gunpowder," middle river
and that part on Bush Neck up to the Sus-
quehanna river was known as the "Balti-
more Hundred"
"Old Baltimore" was, in 1859, Anew Balti.
more" and derived its name from another
"Old' Baltimore in Ireland. 1t became "Old
Baltimore" when its courthouse was re-
moved to Forster's Neck, on Gunpowder river
in 100. "a pile without inhabitant to ruin
runs" besides this, neighbors do not hest
tate to remove for their own use bricks,
stone, and other available material. For
these causes no one would expect to find,
after more than hundred and eighty years,
may traces of our venerable ancestor. Yet
there is enough to identify the locality. A
rude fence incloses the whole site, and on
entering the gate you see two log houses,
such as are used by servants on aplantation.
These seem very old. But what's more val
liable, near by is the well, with its bucket
raised by horizontal pole, at which the
"Old Baltimore servants probably gathered
to draw their supplies. The wharf at "Old
House Point" has long since decayed, but the
large stones which formed the abutments
still are plainly seen at low tide. In the
eastern part ofthe field there are the remains
or ruins of burial ground in grove OF
large walnut trees. Here rest the bones OF
VIM. Osborne, who built the first house in
the present Hartford county, at "Old Balti.
more" on "Old House Point" At this point
there was ferry over Bush river, and the
road crossing the head of Rumney creek to
"Old Baltimore was the grand travel line
between the Northern and Southern States
Three miles from "Old Baltimore" as
stated as by Freeborn Garretson, is the place
of the first church building of any kind in
Baltimore county. Here at Gravelly are the
almost obliterated remains of thu" log church,
and it was to this place that, about 10 years
after the decadence of "Old Baltimore" the
remains of the dead with their tombstones
were probably removed from the buria
ground now to be seen at sold Baltimore
This log church was the parent of st
Georges parish, now known rs Spesutif
church and the records of this church contain
the names ofthe descendants of the old Balti
moreans. So much for the testimony of {
visit Besides "Bacon's Laws" and othel
fragmentary data, four old maps prove tina
this locality on the Bush river was the site o
"Old Baltimore" These maps are, first
One in the libary Of the City Hall, (presentet
by Dr. J. w. Anderson, of Richmond, Va,
, which is entitled "Map of Virginia and 0
Maryland, prepared on the grand Englisl
map of Messrs. Joshua Fry and Peter Jeffer
son, by the Senior Robert de Vaugondy
authorized geographer of the King" TIL
y date OF this is 1855. Baltimore" Is foun,