The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1922-10-20
Prosperity and Activity Of Early
Days fastened Decay OF
Once Noted Ports.
NOW ARE DESERTED VILLAGES
Erosion Of Land, Due TO Cultivation,
Fills Once NavIsabIe Streams and
Despolls Soil Of lts
Fertility.

times, was utterly destroyed after the
Punic wars waged by the Romans. Vir-
glnIa City, New, was deserted because
the mining industry which made 1t
a substantial municipality lapsed upon
the exhaustion of the lode. But here
in the East is a group of cities which
have fallen from their previous impor-
lance by the operation of the forces
Of nature.
The great mass of the people Of the
United States, being distributed so
widely over the expanse of the new
territory Of the West, lacks the envir-
Onment to create realization Of the
antiquity Of the Eastern section. 1t Is
difficult for the man in Chicago to
realize that the eastern Americans
have lived on this soil for as long
period under the British flag as under
the Amerlcan-that the period extend
ing from the first settlement of the
eastern seabOard up to the American
Revolution was as long as that from
the Revolution to the present day.
Prosperity Saps Lire.
More than three centuries of human
occupation bring about curious
changes in the habitatiOns Of men.
When the country was first settled the
soil was virgin and for the most part
covered with dense forests. The pio-
neers built their primitive houses on
90 cfrn
streams were their easiest roadWays
They felled the trees and planted their
corn and tobacco and, in the course OF
years, ports sprang up by the water
side and became thriving cities The
farms reached farther and farther
back into the wilderness, large areas
being cleared Of timber
Southern Maryland furnishes an ex-
cellent example of such development
Its soil is loamy~and was extremely
fertile. AS, year after year, the gently
rolling hillsides were plowed, the soil
was loosened and the rain of each
year washed it down into the streams.
Three centuries of this erosion gradC-
ally have filed up the streams. The
riverside and bayside cities which once
throve on the shipping Of the products
of the farm did not keep up with the
erosion of the land. The result was
that the streams filled year by year
until the channels were clogged and
what once were noble waterways now
are narrow creeks.
Soil and Streams Ruined.
This erosion, which was despoiling
the rivers, the highways Of commerce,
also was washing off the rich, fertile
top soil. Therefore the land which
produced the crops, the object OF COM
merce, disappeared in company with
the streams. 1t was inevitable that
the cities should decline with both
their means of commerce and the com
modities of commerce taken away by
this operation Of natural forces set in
motion by the pillow.
When the Romans took Carthage
they tore down the buildings, sOwed
salt upon the site and plowed it under.
The lost cities of southern Maryland
no less have been plowed under. There
are three excellent examples Of these
places, Bladensburg, Port Tobacco and
PiScataway.
Bladensburg was a port to the
wharVes of which came great mer-
chant ships from England that sailed
ND the Potomac and followed its east
ern branch to the port which was
city long before Washington was even
planned. Today no craft larger than
a small motorboat can get up as far as
Bladensburg and, after q dry spell,
even such O small boat 10 likely to
ground.
Thriving Port Near Extinction.
BladensburS was thriving port OF
entry, great tobacco shipping point.
1t boosted hotels and warehouses and
numerous beautiful colonial mansions,
several of which still stand. Today it
is village Of small population and
probably would have disappeared al
together were 1t not for the fact that
It is near Washington.
Probably the most interesting OF the
lost cities is Port Tobacco. Old maps
of Maryland show this place marked
with the large star or circle as indi-
eating an important center. Mary
landers lean strongly on tradition and
even today the maps show Port To
bacco as a second-class city. Not more
than three families live there. q
Port Tobacco, obviously, was one of
the busiest Of the tobacco exporting
points. 1t stood on an estuary Of the
Potomac. From it radiated the roads
peculiar to southern Maryland, roads
ever which the planters rolled their
huge hoSsheads Of tobacco Its court
house was the pride Of that section.
Its hotel was the social center Of the
country. In its public square was
marble fountain and its warehouses
occupied wide spaces. 1t was an inn
portant colonial port. Today it is not
q port at all. There is no water at
Port Tobacco. The stream has been
oiled IL by erosion to such an extent