Historic St. Mary's City Blog #2: Location, Colony Origins, Founder

Tom and Rob at St. Mary's City

In this second blog about our trip to Maryland's historic first capital city "St. Mary's City" you'll learn about the location, the colony origins and the founder! 

LOCATION: It is an unincorporated community under state law, and is located in southern St. Mary's County, Maryland, which in turn is the southernmost tip of the state of Maryland on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay.

RIVER SIDE VIEW:  St. Mary's City is bordered by the St. Mary's River, a short, brackish water tidal tributary of the Potomac River, near where it empties into the Chesapeake.

A look at St. Mary's River!

HOW DID THE COLONY COME TO BE?

In 1630 George Calvert, a British Lord, was Catholic in England at a time of religious persecution of Catholics. He wanted to be free of persecution and wanted to profit from owning a colony in the New World, so he imagined a new colony where people of all faiths could live in freedom, tolerance and safety.  So, in 1631, the grant to the colony was given to George Calvert who became known as the 1st Baron Baltimore (1579-1632), the first Lord Baltimore, by his patron and grateful friend King Charles I. George died before it happened, so the grant passed to George's son Cecil Calvert who got caught up in England's politics, so it fell on his younger brother Leonard.

The handsome Leonard Calvert

Marker for a first colonist 

THE ACTUAL FOUNDER - In 1633, Leonard Calvert sailed 2 ships, the Ark and the Dove, to what is now Maryland with the first colony, making him the actual founder of St. Mary's City.  He spent the rest of his life there, leading the settlers through many trials and tribulations, as well as to great successes in the farming and selling of tobacco back to Britain. Leonard, more than anyone else in his family, became the actual founder of colonial Maryland.

NEXT: How did the city get it's name and who were the first settlers