The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1884-10-17
miscellaneous.
~ Y. Erening Post.
NORTHERN MARYLAND
The Famous Old County of Hartford.
NOW AND IN COLONIAL TIMES.
A DELIGHTFUL COUNTRY.
THE BOOTH FARM.

In the northern part OF Maryland, extend
ing from Pooles Island, in the Chesapeake,
northward to the Pennsylvania line, is IA
nous old county, Hartford, organized from
the northeastern part of Baltimore county in
1878, but long before that time having with
in its borders the quondam metropolis of
Maryland, "Joppa," now wheat-field. The
width of the county is from the Little Gun
powder River on the west to the broad Sus-
quehanna on the east and northeast Its
shores on the Chesapeake are a succession of
bold bluffs, deep inlets and gentle slopes,
where the manors of early settlers were plac-
ed. Col Richard Uty's famous island fort
and manor of Spesutia is part of the coun-
ty. From Swans Neck or Gunpowder Neck
one looks across the Chesapeake to the low
shores of Kent, to Oak Manor, and Warton's
Point. From Bellevue, on the cliffs above
Spesutia, one sees the mouth of Sassafras
River and the rocky point of Cecil county
that Capt. John Smith in 1908 named
Bourne" now known as turkey Point"
Its county seat is Bel Air, near which Edwin
Booth was born. Hartford county is full of
interest to the visitor. Indian chiefs, border
ruffians, bay pirates, sturdy pioneers who
more than held their own; Quakers, Method
lists, German refugees from the fire-wasted
cities along the Neckar and Rhine, yeomen
and gentlemen from England, all had a share
III Inc edTlltT tVcuIS VI tulS iCItiic TtSlOu.
1t is mostly land of rolling fields and
forests of peculiar beauty, even now. There
are hills, sea.rounded peaks and high bluffs
in places, but nothing that can truly be
termed mountains. 1t is the champaign
country everywhere its wildness lends itself
to human uses. Even the Deer Creek
Rocks" where Tic "King's Scat" and the
Queens Seat" used by Indian rulers, as
| tradition reports, stand on frowning pro.
montory, are chiefly remarkable because of
| their unusual arrangement. The Businesses
of the Blue Ridge have many grander places;
| but, as soon as one leaves the shores OF the
Chesapeake, the mingling of pasture and
| forest, offields and wales, and flowing streams
| Is so charming that the lack of grander fea-
lures is not felt. This comes partly from the
union of botanical zones in this region, SO
| that the variety of trees and shrubs is greater
than usual. Beautiful woods they are in
these early September days, and artists from
Baltimore love to paint them, with the leaves
rpening toward the colds and scarlets and
puppies of few weeks hence. The farms
are large and the villages far apart Social
| life is genial and hospitable to the last de.
gree, and presents many quaint survivals OF
the past. Two railroads cross the county
and another is in process of construction,
and yet few miles journey from any of their
stations is apt to give one better idea of
"Old Maryland life" than could possibly be
obtained from the reading of many books.
This is because Hartford county was neglect
ed for many years, and wealth and popula.
ton sought central and western Maryland
To-day 1t shows all the signs of steady
growth and prosperity.
The first European who set foot within the
present limits of Hartford county was Captain
John Smith In his General History of Vir.
,.,,sa 1,faA hoe rot fol Ia
age begun July "a, 1908, to complete the ex
ploration OF the chesapeake Bay" Smith
and his twelve men, with their two-tor
barge, coasted the west shore, and "sixty oil
those gyant-like people the Sasquisahanocks'
greeted them with gifts and told the worthy
captain of "a great water beyond the noun
tains," and of the warlike Iroquois. The ex
plorers entered the superb inlet of Bush
River Hartford county, and named it Will
lowbye River in honor of Smiths native towr
and of "that honorable house, the Lord Viii
lowby" Far northward, in Cecil county
Smith saw a mountain and named 1t Pere
CRIME, whose location antiquarians still dis
cuss; he sailed about the head of the bay
tracing the shores of Hartford, Cecil anC
Kent, for his "mapp," landing to deal will
the savages, and entering the larger rivers
Hungry and rebellious his men were, but thu
stout soldier of fortune persisted in his work
1t would seem, indeed, from Barcia's 'Annall
of Florida published in Madrid in 1928, tina
the Spanish knew the Chesapeake under tn,
name of "St Maria" as early as 1856, bu
there is no reason to suppose that they ex
plored its upper portion. This adventurous
boat voyage of Smiths is historically tn
starting point.
But for many years the local history o
MARYLAND clusters about st. Mary's ancien
town, St. Georges Hundred, the rebelliou
islanders of Kent, the doings of Capt. Fleet
Father White, turbulent Claiborne, Richar,
Ingle, the Calverts and their friends, thu
early disputes with Virginia, and that "firs
naval battle in America" on Pocomok
, River, April 23, 1886, between the pinnace
of Calvert and Claiborne. Baltimore count,
was unsettled, and Hartford was the wilder
ness beyond, occupied by the villages, corn
fields, and hunting grounds of the Susque
hanna Indians, whom smallpox and the Sen
ecas slaughtered In 1864, and the Virginia mi
ltia, at first under Col. John Washington
afterward under Nathaniel Bacon, drove fror
their refuge in the Potomac region abou
1875. Then the few survivors hid in th
Hartford hills and the borders of Lancaste
till a mob in the latter county destroyed a
the members of the tribe except Logan !
176S. Alsop, In his character of the PROV
ince of Maryland" 1866) describes the SUI
quehanna Indians and their customs, trad
tons, arts, and government. The centr'
parts of Hartford county have been very ric
: in Indian relics and implements.
The Lord Proprietary proceeded to exten
his colony, using his feudal powers, as extel
siye as those of the Palntinate of Durham
upon which they were modelled, and grantin
= manors with immortal rights east and we
along the Chesapeake shores. Some of u
best of England's young blood was learnr