Southern Maryland: religious freedom, rebellion, tobacco -- and zinnias!

Over the years, Donna and I have explored most of Maryland’s regions: The mountainous west and north, the beaches to the east, and the areas around the dominant Chesapeake Bay, which cleaves the state in the middle.

But we had never ventured to southern Maryland, so we recently took a day trip to St. Mary’s County, at the southern tip of the state's western shore, to visit Goldpetal Farms there and experience this rural area rich in Maryland’s history. 

The farm is in the village of Chaptico, at the mouth of Chaptico Bay, near the confluence of the Wicomico and Potomac rivers. It’s about a 90-minute drive from our house in Columbia without traffic. After navigating frenetic I-95 and I-495 and passing Joint Base Andrews, we exited onto Maryland Rte. 5, AKA Branch Avenue.

As we headed south, we encountered towns and roads we had only heard about on our local news radio’s traffic reports: Camp Springs, Clinton, Brandywine. Just before Waldorf, Branch Avenue becomes Rte. 301, or Crain Highway, and, briefly, Mattawoman -Beantown Road (honest!), then Leonardtown Rd., and finally Point Lookout Rd. We got off at Chaptico Rd., and found the farm off Hurry Rd. 

We had anticipated a leisurely, relaxed country drive, but the spread of suburban development rendered a mostly disappointing drive heavy with traffic, traffic tie-ups, and traffic lights down to almost the final 10 miles. 

Those last miles were beautiful and bucolic, however, adorned with cornfields, old farmhouses, and ancient tobacco barns where farmers would cure the big tobacco leaves they harvested. Today, corn and soybeans have supplanted tobacco, which is mostly farmed only by a few Amish farmers.

Goldpetal Farms charges an admission fee, which gets you access to acres of tall sunflowers and zinnias of every color imaginable (well, maybe not blue). Friendly staff provide you with clippers and pails for you to cut and store flowers you want to bring home, at 50 cents each. There is also a sunflower maze, like the cornstalk mazes you see in the fall, as well as food trucks and games to keep the kids entertained.

Donna was giddy as she went from row to row, snipping so many flowers I had to go back to get another pail. It was worth the trip just to see her in her element. 

In all, it was a well-spent day. I’ll say we should have done a little more research before our trek, and more exploring while we were there (although we ended up not having much extra time). 

Some things we didn't see: St. Mary’s City, about 40 miles from Chaptico, which was Maryland’s first European settlement and capital. It's now a large, state-run historic area, and includes a reconstruction of the original colonial settlement, a living history area and museum complex, and the campus of St. Mary’s College of Maryland. There are also self-guided driving tours of the region, Point Lookout State Park at the very southern tip of the state, and other historic sites.

Postscript

On our return, I did some reading and learned that, in addition to a beautiful sunflower and zinnia farm, southern Maryland has a fraught history of religious freedom, rebellion, and slavery. Here are some tidbits of southern Maryland history …

Religious tolerance

Captain John Smith reportedly explored the area in 1608-1609. In 1632, King Charles I of England granted a charter to George Calvert for the land east of the Potomac River. But before settlement began, Calvert died and was succeeded by his son Cecilius, who sought to establish Maryland as a haven for Roman Catholics, who were under persecution in England. See this article at Destinations Southern Maryland.

Settlement by non-indigenous people commenced in 1634, with the arrival at what is now St. Clements Island in St. Mary’s County of two English ships, the Ark and the Dove. (We saw a replica of the Dove under construction in St. Michaels a couple years ago that is now on display in St. Mary’s City; here's a link to my blog about it).

The settlers consisted of both Catholics and Protestants. The first Roman Catholic Mass in the colonies was celebrated on the island, and Maryland’s 1649 Act Concerning Religion (later known as the Toleration Act) was the first codification of religious freedom in the western world.

Protestant rebellion

While Maryland had enacted its groundbreaking religious freedom legislation, Catholics came to control the colonial government and exclude Protestants from power. In 1689, a year after Protestant Queen Mary assumed the crown from Roman Catholic King James II in England, Protestant colonist John Coode led a rebellion and successfully overthrew Maryland's proprietary, pro-Catholic government. See Archives of Maryland biography of John Coode.

Tobacco and slavery

Tobacco quickly became the colony’s dominant crop, and main export. Large tobacco plantations, such as Mattawoman Plantation and Sotterley Plantation, were reliant first on indentured servants, and later, after 1700, on slave labor. So Maryland was at the advent of embracing freedom of religion while simultaneously denying all rights to those it enslaved to support its economy. Centuries later, we are all still paying the price of that sin, but hopefully future generations will succeed in eradicating the hate and bias that continues to thrive today.