The Washington herald., 1922-10-08

house. 1855 Wyoming avenue. also.
where they frequently and charm
ipgly entertain in the winter
months.
The Grain Highway will be a
great thing for that part of Mary
land. and 1t was greatly due ito Mr..
Grain that the building operations
are actually a fact. The beginning
of the construction work was
marked with a real celebration in
Upper Marlboro, parades and bands.
and even the unveiling of a monu-
ment-Mrs. Grain did the unveiling
erected in recognition OF the
value OF this road to trade there
abouts. The people of that COM
munity erected 1t.
Speaking of old communities, did
you ever notice a tiny little village.
hardly worthy of that title, called
Dumfries, on the Richmond road
near Quantico. There is one large
and unmistakably aged but sub
stantial red brick house there right
on the highway and few shanties.
and that is about all. But Tro told
that at one time it was the largest
seaport for this country; that was
In p -e-Pevolutionary days. II is at
the head of a creek or the re uoains
of a once was" large creak or
stream which has dried up now.
Well, in the county records is a let
ter written by -Revoluti pnary
citizen of the then f1ouriShinC- port
of Dumfries to a friend in New
Amsterdam in which he says he
has heard that some one had ex-
pressed the opinion that New Am
sterdam might some day be as; i'm
portant a port as Dumfries: that
he, the writer. could hardly be-
lieve it. but would. his friend. ex-
press his opinion on the subject.
And now all of Dumfries could be
lost in one of New York's smaller
buildings.
IT BRINGS to my mind the DOWN
Of Port Tobacco. in Charles
County, Md. near Chapel Point
That was once the largest port for
shipping tobacco in the country and
was also the county seat. 1t was
at the head OF Port Tobacco Greek,
which has also ceased to exist; long
ago dried up. Now il is a deserted
village: really an interesting, a most
ghostly sight to see. 1t shows more
signs of past prosperity than Ium-
fries; there are fully a dozen cIir-
sized houses about any many OF
brick brought from England, and
the old, partly burned red brick
court house still stands. But the
last time l saw Port Tobacco there
was not a sign of life there; a really
deserted village. II looked as
though the Germans had been there.
Some time after the town ceased
to be port. La Plata, a neigh bor-
ing village. became jealous of the
fact that the has been" village
was the county seat and wis he'd
that honor. After years of wrang-
ling over it, a group OF La Plata
townspeople went to Port Totac-
co one night. burned the COURT
house-incidentslly many old rec
ords of the community-and took
unto itself the county seats hip,
which it has retained to this day.
That Is old country down there, !pou
know. and full of history and m2ny
interesting legends. Chapel Podnt
near by. is beautiful spot, where
some of the first venturespme
spirits landed, and the old chapel,
still standing on the heights ov er-
looking the sweeping river. was
built in sixteen hundred and some
thing by. | think. some Jesuit
priests. So much Of the lovely
country bordering on the lower PD-
tomac-particularly on the Mary
land side-is owned by the Catho Tic
church.