Antique Maps and Prints of Historic Maryland.

This short REFERENCE PAGE is designed to provide no more than a 'glimpse' of the history of the State,
with a couple of examples of antiquarian maps and engravings and some interesting Links.

This Page is provided as a REFERENCE RESOURCE - it is NOT an Inventory.
Genuine original antiquarian maps and authentic historical engravings, printed at the dates stated.
We do NOT deal in modern reproductions.

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STATE OF MARYLAND

The article below was written in 1885 and makes interesting reading.

Topography: Maryland has an extreme length east an west of 196 miles; its breadth varies from less than ten miles in the west to about 120 miles in the eastern peninsula, while the area, nor including Chesapeake Bay, which comprises of 12,210 square miles, or 7,814,400 acres.

Chesapeake Bay extends almost through the entire breadth of the State. Maryland has over 500 miles of frontage on tide-water and several navigable rivers, of which the chief are the Potomac, Patuxent, Patapsco and Susquehanna, all of which empty into Chesapeake Bay.

The extreme western part of the State is drained by the Youghiogeny, a tributary of the Monongahela. Chesapeake Bay contains numerous small islands, and its shores are indented by many bays and inlets.

The peninsular section is low and sandy, and the western division, lying between Chesapeake Bay and the estuary of the Potomac, is of the same general character; but in the northwest the Blue Ridge and Alleghany mountains attain a moderate elevation, and the country is rugged and broken.

Climate: The climate is mild and salubrious, being modified by the vicinity of the ocean, and the State generally is healthy, although malarial diseases are not unknown in the lowlands along the bay.

The mean annual temperature in the northwest is about 50º Fahrenheit, in the central division about 56º, and at Baltimore about 54º. The rainfall averages from forty-five to fifty inches per annum.

History: Maryland, one of the thirteen original States of the American Union, was settled in 1631 by Capt. William Claybourne and a party of men from Virginia, who established themselves on Kent Island, in Chesapeake Bay. On June 20, 1632, King Charles I. granted to Cecil Calvert, second Lord Baltimore, a charter for a colony styled Terra Mariœ or "Mary's Land." Leonard Calvert, brother of the proprietor, led the first colony, which consisted of about 200 persons.

They landed in March, 1634, near the entrance of the Potomac into Chesapeake Bay, and founded a town which they called St. Mary's. The occupants of Kent Island were sriven out, but in 1642 a number of Nonconformists, expelled from Virginia, settled at Annapolis, then called Providence, and soon after, co-operating with Claybourne, took the government into their own hands. But in 1646 the proprietors regained possession.

After the establishment of the commonwealth the Puritan element again got the upper hand, defeated the troops raised by its opponents and remained in power three years, when the Calverts regained control. King William III. assumed the government of the colony after the revolution of 1688. Baltimore was laid out in 1730, Frederick City in 1745, and Georgetown in 1751.

In December, 1774, a popular convention superseded the proprietary government, and in November, 1776, a bill of rights and a constitution for the State were adopted.

Throughout the Revolution the Maryland troops fought gallantly in the Continental armies, and in 1783 Congress met at Annapolis, where also General Washington resigned his commission of commander-in-chief.

The State convention ratified the Federal constitution on April 28, 1788. Prominent events of the war of 1812 were the burning of Havre de Grace, Frenchtown, Fredericktown and Georgetown, and the battles of Bladensburg amd North Point and the bombardment of Fort McHenry.

The first blood of the Civil war was shed in Baltimore April 19, 1861. The State legislature met at Frederick April 26 and passed resolutions favourable to the Confederacy and opposing the war, but refused to adopt an ordinance of secession.

Maryland furnished 46,638 men to the Union armies. The principal battle fought in the State was that of Antietam, which took place Sept. 16, 17, 1812. June, 1863, Lee again invaded the State in his advance into Pennsylvania, and it was again invaded by early, July, 1864.

The constitution of 1776 was amended in 1802 and 1810, and considerably altered in 1836. More amendments were adopted in 1845-6, and in 1851 a new organic law was ratified by the people.

This was supplanted in 1864 by a constitution which abolished slavery, and disfranchised all who had participated in the Rebellion, and in 1867 the present constitution was adopted.

Population: Census of 1880: Males, 462,187; Females, 472,756; Native, 852,137; Foreign, 82,806; White, 724,693; Colored, 210,250, including 5 Chinese and 15 Indians.

VIEW OF BALTIMORE

Published by BRYANT - 1872/4

ANTIQUARIAN MAP OF MARYLAND

Published by Armstrong - 1891

INTERESTING LINKS

OTHER POSTAPRINT US STATES FEATURE PAGES

Maryland State Archives

Maryland History

Maryland Communities

Contributions and suggestions for additional links would be most welcome.

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