Excerpts from
IN CALVERT'S PARADISE
The Origins And Early Development Of BaltimoreTown
By Don Cardoza

Mayor Martin O'Malley
Lawyer Martin O'Malley, our 47th and youngest ever Mayor, also leads O'Malley's March, an Irish folk rock band which has played in town pubs for the last 12 years.

The Pride of Baltimore II****The USS Constellation
The Pride of Baltimore II is a Baltimore Clipper built in Baltimore and commissioned in 1988 as a goodwill ambassador for the city. It replaced the first Pride, commissioned May 1, 1977 and sunk May 14, 1986 in a squall, after sailing 150,000 miles in 9 years.
The US Constellation is a Navy Frigate commissioned in 1855. It fought against the slave trade in Africa and carried food to Ireland in 1880 for famine relief. Today it graces Baltimore's Inner Harbor as a tourist attraction.

The Beginning The town was built on the edge of an insect-infested marsh, with the Jones Falls wrapped around the eastern and northern boundaries of the sixty-acre town. The land was full of cliffs and gullies, formed from the four streams that crisscrossed the area, dumping their silt-laden waters into the shallow, mud-filled harbor to the south. In order for a town of any size to grow up there, substantial earthworks would be required to divert and cover over the streams, drain and fill in the marsh, and level cliffs. Even with massive earthworks, however, Baltimore's geography remained difficult; by the beginning of the twentieth century, Baltimore would be known as a 'city of bridges,' with more than two hundred bridges in the city. A difficult landscape wasn't the only problem facing the town; its northwestern boundary was the Great Eastern Road, the only road through Maryland connecting the northern English colonies with those to the south. In reality, this was an old Indian trail, over which hostile Indians sometimes traveled. Considering that many towns chartered by the Maryland Assembly never got off the drawing board, or, if they did, didn't survive for long, BaltimoreTown on the Patapsco could have easily disappeared without a trace. Amazingly enough, however, the Assembly actually chartered three towns named Baltimore in Maryland, and our Baltimore is the only one that survived.

Baltimore in Ireland The towns called Baltimore in Maryland were named after the Lords Baltimore, various members of the Calvert family of England, who were Proprietors of the New World colony of Maryland. George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, received his title when he was appointed to the Irish Barony of Baltimore by King Charles I of England in 1626. The Irish Barony was named for the old Irish town of Baltimore, the first town to bear the name.
The Irish town of Baltimore is located in County Cork, on the southernmost tip of Ireland, near the island called Oilean (Cape) Cleire (one of the Hundred Isles); here the River Ilen flows into the Bay of Baltimore. The town was founded about 2,000 years ago by a Celt named Lug 11th, and his descendents became the Clan O'Driscoll. The O'Driscoll's, known for their sea-faring and piracy, dominated Baltimore and the surrounding area from the earliest times until the English took over. The last great Celtic ruler and protector of Baltimore was Sir Fineen O'Driscoll, knighted in 1583. He died shortly after the Calverts took control of Baltimore.
The town was formed from three castles: the Castle Baltimore, the Castle of Gold and the Castle of Diamonds. Castle Baltimore was built on nearby Sherkin Island, and was also known as Dun Na Long Castle (Norse for 'Hill of the Longships'), after a Viking invasion in the 9th century. The Gaelic name Baltimore ( Beale-Ti-More) is usually thought to mean "Town of the Big House," but this was just a title of the town. The name really means "The Great Habitation of Bel." It was an early sanctuary of Bel-worshipping Celtic Druids, and the Druids called the hill there "Dun Na Sead," the Hill of Jewels. When the O'Driscoll's built a castle (they owned several) on the hill at Baltimore in 1215, they named it the Castle Dun Na Sead. This castle may have led to Baltimore being called the 'Town of the Big House.'

A Baltimore, Ireland village square,
with the O'Driscoll castle Dun na Sead in the background.

The faery names of the last two castles indicate the ancient association of the sites with the pre-Celtic inhabitants of Britain. The Celts who had settled the area 2,000 years ago found the remains of the Megalithic Culture, including standing stones on several of the nearby islands. A later native of Cape Cleire, the Celtic Christian Saint Cieran, is associated with a famous standing stone on the island, which stands next to a well.

St. Cieran's Stone As with many other sites of ancient religious power in the British Isles, a Catholic institution of some kind was built nearby; in this case, a Franciscan Friary was built overlooking the harbor on nearby Sherkin Island in 1460. Baltimore was known throughout Catholic Ireland as the 'parish closest to America.' Many considered Baltimore a prize to be possessed (or, at least, pillaged). Although it was only a small fishing port, Baltimore boasted a shipbuilding industry, and exported copper, tin, slate and textiles. The town suffered many assaults and seizures by the Spaniards and Turks. A sacking by Algerian pirates in 1631 would later inspire Irish nationalist and ballad writer, Thomas Davis, to pen his ballad, "The Sacking of Baltimore." England decided too late that Baltimore was vulnerable to foreign invasions and needed to be protected; when it did so, an Irish Barony was seated there. England, however, did not keep the Barony supplied with enough gunpowder to ward off attacks, and Baltimore continued to be periodically assaulted by pirates from other lands. The O'Driscolls had their lands and castles restored in 1660 by King Charles II. Today, Baltimore in Ireland has a population of about 200, including the Chief of the O'Driscoll Clan.

Lord Baltimore and the Maryland Colony For many years, George Calvert, Knight and Privy Secretary to King James I of England, had harassed Irish Catholics for the King, an Anglican who held Calvert in high regard. However, Calvert himself converted to Catholicism in 1625, the year King James I died. James's son, King Charles I, also esteemed George Calvert and named him to the newly created Barony of Baltimore in Ireland.
Irish Catholics continued to be repressed by England and subject to depredations by pirates, so Calvert sought to help them find a safe haven. George Calvert had been a friend of the adventurer and pirate Sir Walter Raleigh and a longtime member of the London Company (also called the Virginia Company). This was a group of entrepreneurs who believed they could make money from exploring and colonizing the Americas. When Queen Elizabeth I had granted the Virginia Territory to the explorer Walter Raleigh in 1584, Virginia was a vast territory encompassing all of the land north of Spanish Florida. It was not surprising, therefore, that the Baron of Baltimore turned to the New World in his search for a safe haven for Catholics.
In 1627, Calvert and his family sailed to a colony he owned in Newfoundland, called Avalon. Although it was named for the Celtic paradise over the western sea, Avalon did not live up to its name. Once he arrived, Calvert discovered that Avalon's cold climate, short crop-growing season and attacks from French colonists in the area made the colony unsuitable as a haven. When he decided he had to find a more suitable location for his paradise, the Baron of Baltimore sailed south to Jamestown, Virginia using maps he had inherited from his old friend, Sir Walter Raleigh.
The Catholic Calvert received a rude reception in Anglican Jamestown, so he set off to explore on his own and he quickly decided he had found his paradise on the Chesapeake Bay. He had to twist King Charles's Anglican arm to get a charter to start a colony that would openly welcome Catholics, but at length, "Charles, by the Grace of God, of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, King" granted Calvert a charter for about ten million acres on the upper Chesapeake Bay, where Calvert could "build and fortify castles, forts and other places of strength." Unfortunately, by the time the King signed the charter for the colony of Maryland (named for the King's French-born wife, Henrietta Maria), George Calvert had died and his oldest son, Cecelius, inherited Maryland and the title Lord Baltimore.
Cecelius sent his brother, Leonard, to start a colony in Maryland and serve as its first Governor. In November of 1633, Leonard left Gravesend, England with his ships, the Ark and the Dove. The Ark carried more than two hundred colonists, including two Jesuit priests, and the Dove carried supplies. In March of 1634, he arrived at an island in the Chesapeake Bay, and he named it St. Clement's Island. Native Americans (Indians) had inhabited the area for at least twelve thousand years. The colonists bought a deserted village called Towaccomoco from the Indians, on the west bank of the Chesapeake. The village was purchased for some axes, hoes and broadcloth, and the colonists called their settlement there St. Mary's. Here was kept the Great Seal of the Maryland Proprietorship bearing the black and gold of the Calvert family arms, which would later become the flag of BaltimoreTown on the Patapsco. The General Assembly set up to rule the colony with the Governor was made up of Catholics, Anglicans, Protestants, and even a Jew. Unlike the other American colonies, which were mostly Protestant or Puritan, broad religious toleration was openly practiced in Maryland. Although Cecelius tried to rule Maryland from England, local circumstances more often dictated the course of events in the colony.
The next twenty-five years were tumultuous ones; several times the Calverts' authority was overthrown, only to have the Calverts regain control. Early on, the settlers in Maryland found it necessary to deal with attacks by Indians and pirates. In 1637, the Assembly sentenced to death one Thomas Smith on a charge of piracy. Repeated acts of violence against the colonists by the Susquehannock Indians from northern Maryland resulted in several punitive expeditions against the Indians.
Puritans who were repressed in Virginia took advantage of the religious freedom in Maryland to come here in 1643. The Puritans took over St. Mary's in 1645, but Calvert regained control the following year. In 1649, the Puritans in Maryland forced passage of an "Act Concerning Religion," which allowed them to put to death anyone who blasphemed God, Jesus, or the Trinity. Although the Act protected the rights of the Catholics, the religious tolerance practiced by the Calverts ended. When the English Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell ordered the enslavement of all Irish Catholics in 1654, the Puritans in Maryland took over the colony again. This time they abolished the "Act Concerning Religion" so they could persecute the Catholics. Things didn't settle down in the colony until Cromwell ordered Maryland returned to the Calverts in 1657, after it was agreed that laws restricting the rights of Catholics would remain in place.
When King Charles II became King of England in 1660, his followers, called Cavaliers, came to the American colonies seeking positions of power. The pickings were slim in Maryland, however, where life remained relatively primitive. Part of the reason for the slow development of Maryland at the time was that Maryland was largely a farming settlement, without many shops or industries to support it. The rich soil in many parts of Maryland was ideal for growing crops, and visitors from England who took the trouble to travel through the countryside at this time found a ready welcome from settlers who daily ate like royalty. Food of all kinds was freely and readily available within walking distance of the homestead. Many of the plantations were almost towns themselves; courts and councils were held there, and most of our early officials and merchants were plantation owners. They pretty much ran things and wanted it to stay that way; consequently, they strongly resisted change.
Passage over land was difficult because there were virtually no roads, except for bridal paths; most travel was still by water. Myrtle grew abundantly along the Bay, and because of its use to make candles, it came to be called bayberry. Hominy, made from mashed Indian corn (and containing generous portions of poultry and meat), was widely eaten, and often washed down by punch or persimmon beer. Although silverware, along with finger rings, pins and buckles, was popular, the fork was not often used; napkins, understandably, were very popular. The planters favored heavy mahogany furniture and usually painted or whitewashed the interior walls of their houses. There were no newspapers or mail deliveries, and education was so scarce that many wealthy landowners could not write their own names. Money was in short supply, so barter (trading for goods or services) was widely used. What money there was consisted of English and Spanish currency and some locally issued substitutes. Tobacco was most frequently used to make payments, and since the plantation owners could grow their own 'money,' it was not surprising that the colony continued to be dominated by the slow pace of plantation life for many years.

BaltimoreTown on the Bush River The name Baltimore first appeared as a town in Maryland in 1659, when the Maryland General Assembly chartered Baltimore County and named BaltimoreTown on the Bush River as the County Seat. Three buildings were erected at BaltimoreTown on the Bush: a courthouse, an inn and a jail. Rows of cedar trees along the road were properly notched to show the presence of a courthouse and a ferry. It was hoped that the town, being a stop on the Great Eastern Road connecting the northern colonies with the southern colonies (and both Baltimores), would draw commerce and settlers to the area.
An attempt to have BaltimoreTown on the Bush declared a port of entry in 1663 did not pass in the Assembly. Instead, the Assembly exempted Baltimore County from a law requiring a pillory, stocks and ducking stool in every county, because Baltimore County was so sparsely populated. BaltimoreTown on the Bush remained the County Seat of the largest county in Maryland for fifty-three years, and became a more important port of entry than even St. Mary's or Providence. Nevertheless, the presence of the fierce Susquehannock Indians in the area discouraged settlement, and BaltimoreTown on the Bush River never grew beyond its original three buildings.

The Patapsco River The first European to set eyes on the Patapsco River is uncertain. An Italian navigator and former pirate named Giovanni da Verrazano, sailing under the French flag, landed in Maryland in 1524, and the Spanish were avid explorers of the area in the 1500's. The local Indians were in the habit of killing all of the Spaniards they encountered, but one Vasquez D'Avyllon, sailing out of Jamaica, mapped part of the Chesapeake and got away to tell about it. Perhaps he was wise enough not to set foot on land. The first European we know for certain to have explored the Patapsco was Captain John Smith. John Smith, sailor, soldier, adventurer, explorer, cartographer and writer, had arrived with the first settlers of Jamestown in Sir Walter Raleigh's Virginia Territory in May of 1607. By December, Smith had been captured by Indians while exploring, and was saved from execution by the intervention of the local Indian chief's thirteen-year-old daughter, Matoaka (nicknamed Pocahontas, 'little plaything,' because of her "wantonness"). Captain Smith made several exploratory journeys up the Chesapeake (an Indian name meaning 'mother of waters') "to an unknown part of Virginia," and made a fairly accurate map of the Bay and its tributaries.
Smith discovered a number of tribes inhabiting more than thirty Indian villages ringing the Chesapeake. The Indians had roads for hunting, war, portage and trade, and they traveled to trade with other tribes as far away as Canada and Mexico. Most of the area around the Bay was inhabited by Algonkian speaking Indians, such as the Nanticokes and the Piscattaways. The upper Bay area, however, was ruled by Iroquois speaking Indians, such as the Susquehannocks, Senecas and Massawomecks. The Massawomecks had come from the Great Lakes area and massacred so many Indians in Maryland (including the Mattawas of the Patapsco) that John Smith found the Patapsco River to be uninhabited. When he came to the Patapsco, Smith named it the Bolus River because the red clay he saw along its banks reminded him of a red resin called bole armoniack. This red clay came from a bed of iron ore and would later lead mineral prospectors up the river, despite the shallow water there. Fifty years later, the name of the Bolus River would revert to its Indian name, "Patapsco," which means "tidal water running out at the rocky point"; this refers to the white cliffs at the mouth of the Patapsco. John Smith's description of the Chesapeake in his published writings as a paradise where fish filled the water, and more thunder and lightning than he had seen anywhere in Europe regularly cleansed the air, undoubtedly contributed to the later settlement of the area by Europeans.

Settlement on the Patapsco In 1661, settlement finally began at the site of present day Baltimore. Charles Gorsuch, a Quaker trying to escape Indian attacks on his family near BaltimoreTown on the Bush River, patented 50 acres on the cape of land separating the northwest and middle branches of the Patapsco River. This was the best location in the area; the Quaker seeking peace had chosen the future site of Ft. McHenry. Also that year, David Jones settled 358 acres on the northwest branch of the Patapsco, north of Jones Falls, and built the first house in what is now Baltimore City. A kind of squatters camp grew up along the riverfront south of the Jones Falls, a combination of fur traders and mineral prospectors who were too poor to have the three servants required by law in order to claim land. On September 4, 1668, Thomas Cole patented 300 acres on the northwest branch of the Patapsco River; despite being patented later by others, the area continued to be known as Cole's Harbor for many years. The future site of BaltimoreTown on the Patapsco remained largely unsettled, except for the settlement of David Jones. Most of the land in the area was held by Charles Carroll and a host of other plantation owners, to be given to their redemptioners in fifty-acre lots when they worked off their debts. Redemptioners were colonists who worked off the cost of their passage to the New World when they got here and then were given a piece of land. As these land patents proliferated, many colorful names appeared in the area, including Hap Hazard, Welsh Adventure, Gay's Neglect and Salisbury Plains. Most of the land, however, was not put to any use.
By 1723, only five ships picked up cargo at the nearby deep water landing of Humphrey's Creek the whole year, while that many had loaded cargo at one time only the year before. Part of the problem was that there hadn't been enough settlers in the Province to stimulate the growth of towns in a plantation-based economy. However, new settlers arriving in Maryland helped to bring new towns into existence, and it would only be a matter of time before the 'town culture' grew to rival the 'plantation culture'.

BaltimoreTown on the Patapsco In July of 1729, a Mr. Matthews and a Mr. Scott petitioned the Assembly to charter a town named BaltimoreTown on the northern branch of the Patapsco River for a group of tobacco growers. On August 8, the Governor signed an Act providing for 60 acres of land to be laid out in one-acre lots. The commissioners failed to acquire the few desirable locations in the area, so in 1730, they settled on the southern, marshy part of Cole's Harbor. This land was still claimed by the Carroll family, and understandably, they were anxious to sell. The commissioners acquired the land for a price of forty shillings per acre (about $600.00 total.) Since those who had the town chartered preferred to live on their plantations instead of in the town, the town lots were taken up slowly. While David Jones's settlement became known as 'Old Town' to differentiate it from BaltimoreTown on the Patapsco, town officials of BaltimoreTown on the Patapsco sometimes used the spelling 'Baltemore' in official records to distinguish their town from BaltimoreTown on the Bush River. There wasn't much more to the place than a handful of settlers on the edge of a marshy grove, but the tobacco growers had their town.
Tobacco was grown in the hills to the northwest of town, and had to be transported by way of "rolling roads," a name they earned because the barrels of tobacco were rolled along the roads to port. In 1732, the settlement of David Jones was chartered as "Jonas Town," later to be called "Jones Town." In BaltimoreTown, which was connected to 'Jones Town' by Finn's Bridge over the Jones Falls, it continued to be called simply 'Old Town.' Shipbuilding became established on the Nanticoke and Choptank Rivers in the 1730's, and in 1733 Capt. Darby Lux sailed his sloop, the Baltimore, to London from BaltimoreTown on the Patapsco; the sloop carried twenty guns and a crew of forty. Although the tobacco trade was subject to many ups and downs, the town continued to grow.

BaltimoreTown on the Indian River In June of 1744, the General Assembly chartered the third town in Maryland named Baltimore. Forty acres were to be purchased from two plantations located on the Indian River in Worcester County (now Sussex County in Delaware). However, a even though the town received a second charter in September of 1745, there is no evidence that the last BaltimoreTown chartered by the Assembly was ever actually built.

BaltimoreTown In 1745, an Act of Assembly combined BaltimoreTown on the Patapsco and Jones Town into one town called BaltimoreTown. Seven commissioners were appointed to run the town, and the bridge over Jones Falls was taken over by the government. The name of the main street in town, Long St., was changed to Baltimore St. The town officers included: Inspector of Flour, Corder of Wood, Weigher of Hay, Clerk of the Market, Measurer of Grain, Culler of Staves, Garbler of Shingles, and Guager of Liquors. William Lux, a son of Capt. Darby Lux, became town clerk in 1746. Lux kept a record of all official proceedings in the town and collected taxes. In Annapolis, Jonas Green began regular publication of the Maryland Gazette; together with the Philadelphia newspapers, this was the only printed news available to Baltimoreans. By 1752, BaltimoreTown had about 200 inhabitants (including slaves) and contained twenty-five houses, one church and two taverns. Only four houses were of brick. The first agricultural fair was held in town that year, at the residence of John E. Howard, of Greene Street. Mr. Howard also conducted horse racing on his property, and promoted fox hunts. A market was built on the southeastern corner of Baltimore and Gay Sts., and for the next hundred years, many town residents would refer to Baltimore St. as Market St. Plays were performed at the market and citizens were entertained by a large number of porpoises swimming in the Jones Falls.
On May 17, 1756, war was declared between Great Britain and France; Maryland's Governor Sharpe sent 200 men from the BaltimoreTown militia to bolster the garrison at Ft. Frederick, and a tax was levied on all thirteen bachelors in town to help defray any expenses incurred due to the war. Meanwhile, BaltimoreTown's population continued to swell with the influx of settlers seeking refuge from the French in the west, and the rate of building construction increased. When more British troops poured into the colonies following the British conquest of India, they captured Ft. DuQuesne in Pennsylvania and ended the danger to BaltimoreTown from the French.
As the American colonists became increasingly dissatisfied with British rule, areas became known as havens for dissenters. An area in BaltimoreTown on the east end of Baltimore St. near Gay St. had long been a hangout for sailors and others who were less than fervent concerning the "law." Most taverns and inns catered to travelers, and were either built near the water for sailors or along roads used by farmers and merchants; Baltimore St., the main road used by the farmers and merchants, with its markets and inns, and proximity to the harbor (only two blocks away at the time), was an ideal location for both. In 1761, Amos Fogg opened his Indian Queen Inn at Baltimore and Hanover Sts. and the area from the Indian Queen to Gay St. became known as the "Liberties," where British rule wasn't much cared for or adhered to by the unofficial rebels who frequented the area.
In 1764, BaltimoreTown contained about fifty houses. The market at Gay and Baltimore Sts. was used as the town hall, and in July Mr. William Johnson gave two lectures on that "branch of natural philosophy called 'electricity'." Nicholas Hasselbach opened the first printing company and started making paper and printing school books for children in BaltimoreTown. When the British Parliament passed the Stamp Tax Act, which required taxes to be paid on all printed materials in the colonies, a dissenting member of Parliament named Col. Barre referred to the American colonists as "those sons of liberty." In BaltimoreTown, Col. Barre was honored by having a street named for him.
In 1768, the Assembly moved the Baltimore County Seat from Joppa to BaltimoreTown. On June 30, the town commissioners met to plan the building of a new courthouse and prison to make the change official. Until the new courthouse was completed, court sessions were held at the market at Baltimore and Gay Sts. (in the 'Liberties'.) At a meeting in Annapolis in 1769 BaltimoreTown agreed to participate in a non-importation pact with the other towns, on those items being taxed by the British. There were about 6,000 people living in town, and BaltimoreTown on the Patapsco River finally began to come of age.
In many ways, BaltimoreTown was greatly in need of improvement: its roads were in poor condition, unpaved, and there weren't enough of them; streets had no name signs and houses weren't numbered. The harbor was still very shallow and while the town wharf was 400 feet long, ocean-going ships still couldn't use it. Although parties and dress balls were popular, advertisements and invitations for them were often written on the backs of playing cards because blank paper was in such short supply. The town, however, had been through a lot and had survived, just like the first Baltimore (in Ireland), celebrated in the last two lines of Thomas Davis's ballad, "The Sacking of Baltimore":
"And, when to die a death by fire, that noble maid they bore,
She only smiled - O'Driscoll's child - she thought of Baltimore." The first Baltimore had endured many assaults and survived, and our Baltimore had inherited its spirit from the same source.
Despite its shortcomings, BaltimoreTown was on the verge of taking its place among the other major towns of the American colonies. During the next ten years, BaltimoreTown saw many improvements, including its first public circulating library, its first newspaper, its first post office, its first official police force, its first Revolutionary militia (under Capt. Mordecai Gist), its first theater, at King George's (now Lombard) and Albemarle Sts., and its first street light, an oil lamp strung across the intersection at Baltimore and Howard Sts. The town also purchased, outfitted and launched the first two regular cruisers of the American Navy, the Hornet and the Wasp. The Hornet flew one of the first American flags, which had been forwarded from Philadelphia. The town originally purchased for $600.00 now generated over four million dollars in taxes annually, and during the time of the American Revolution, BaltimoreTown finally left its youth behind and began a transformation that would lead it to be called Baltimore, City of Promise.
Baltimore's Inner Harbor At Night