Continuing with PaulLiebe’s 2004 Enterprise article on the origins of St. Mary’s town names (click here for previous post,) here are two more.
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| From St. Mary’s Genealgoy Website |
“Maryland’s first permanent settlement, St.Mary’s City, was established in 1634 by settlers arriving from England on the boats the Ark and the Dove. Under the guidance of Leonard Calvert these people had left their homeland in order to seek religious freedom in the new world. The land was purchased from local Indians who called the area Yaocomico. Calvert laid out the site of St. Mary’s City and later became Maryland’s first governor. The name the settlers chose for their community (and eventually for the county) was in honor of Mary the mother of Christ. The name Maryland however, was chosen to honor Queen Henrietta Marie wife of King Charles I of England. St.Mary’s City served as Maryland’s first capital until the government relocated to Annapolis.”
And moving just a little further up the road, Park Hall may well have been the first Redskins’ hangout: hogs/pork. (I know, it’s a stretch, but I just wanted to be one of the few left who will still use the word Redskins.)
Park Hall takes its name from a manor house owned by Thomas Gerrard that was called, in some old documents, “Porke Hall Freehold.” The difference between “Porke” and “Park”may simply be a matter of penmanship in the early historical documents. The land had been surveyed by Gerrard in 1640 making Park Hall the second oldest community in Maryland.