Jane's Dad, who turned ninety-one this year, moved to the Annapolis area from Calvert County, Maryland when he was a small child . I am always interested in family history and as I have talked with him over the years about their family's history, he has mentioned several things that have left me curious. One example occurred when Jane and I moved into the farmhouse on Riva Road, the house he grew up in and still owns today.
I found several small wooden barrels in the shed, about 2 gallons in size. He told me that they had nails in them originally. He related that his father was the proprietor of a store when they lived in Calvert County and that he had sold bulk items like nails, flour and other staples. I imagined a store in the town of Prince Frederick, but he said no, that it was on the farm. The family, which included five children, moved up to Annapolis in 1929 which would have been at the beginning of the depression.
This past Sunday, we asked him if he remembered where the old farm was located. He said yes, so we took a ride to Calvert County to check it out. He told me "you turn at the hospital in Prince Frederick". I'm thinking that the farm was similar to the Riva Road farm, in that it was located on the edge of town in 1929 but had been overtaken by the urban sprawl. So I expected him to show us a location that was now a shopping center or housing development or such.
When we arrived in Prince Frederick we came to the hospital which is located directly on MD 2, the main thoroughfare that goes through town. As promised, he said "make a right here". We made the turn but instead of leading to urban sprawl, the road quickly turned rural, with remnants of old tobacco barns and lovely fields of lush tall corn and soybeans just beginning to pop up over the stubble of winter wheat straw.
We traveled down the road and came upon a long hill that ran down to a small creek that passed under the roadway. He shared how some men he knew as a child were caught at this spot by revenuers, bringing moonshine back from Solomon's Island. He chuckled as he told the story. I was amazed at the detail he remembered since he was only five years old when they moved up to Annapolis.
We continued along and presently he recognized a road to the right and we made the turn. After a few miles he said that we might have taken the wrong road but we had just passed a sign that said "no outlet". I figured we would soon run out of road so we continued on. At the end of the hard road, we came upon a long dirt driveway and he recognized it as the lane leading to the farm.
Sure enough, we approached a grand two story farm house, and suddenly, he was back home.
"Lets get out, there's sure to be somebody around we can talk to" he said. I could see Jane in the rear view mirror rolling her eyes, thinking we might get shot. He was the first one out and I went up to the door and knocked. He took off toward the rear of the house. A young man in his latter twenties came out and I introduced myself and said that my Father in law grew up here as a child and asked if it would be ok to look around. He said sure and we talked a bit. His family moved there in the fifties. I asked if he ever got up Annapolis way and he said he did. I told him that Pop had a Southern States store there and he informed me that his father delivered mulch to the store. What a small world.
Well, needless to say, my assessment of the setting of the farm was entirely off course. The farm is located on a high bluff overlooking the Patuxent river. I would guess that it is about eighty feet above the river right behind the house. As the property continues to your right along the river, it slopes down to water level as it approaches a point of land that is the entrance to Hunting Creek which borders one side of the property.
Off of the right side of the house is where the store building was located, which has since been removed. Pop said that boats would come to the farm to pick up "Hogs Heads" or large barrels, containing tobacco that was grown by his Father and the other local farmers for shipment to Baltimore for auction.
The Patuxent River is quite wide at this point, I would say about a mile or so. The house sits on a great vista overlooking the river. He said that the steep bank has eroded significantly since he was a child. I would say it was about a hundred feet from the back of the house to the edge of the bluff.
There is a marshy point at the entrance to Hunting Creek and the shoreline continues along the property. He recalled that his mother would tie a rope around her waist and hitch it to their row boat. She would take a dip net and walk the shoreline catching crabs.
This google maps screen shot is the best I could come up with to show the location of the farm which is at the end of Mallard Point Road.
Hunting Creek is on the Patuxent River on the right side of this picture The farm property is the point of land that protrudes near the center-right of the picture. There is a power plant on the lower left of the picture directly across from the farm.
The house is in the trees at the end of Mallard Point Rd on the left. The drive continues down to an adjacent farm at the bottom of the picture. You can see the marshy point at the top of the picture. Pop said that their parcel was around fifty acres, probably most all of the land that is shown here.
The house is hidden by the trees in the center of the picture and the store building was about where the shed is at the end of the driveway.
Quite a stately home for it's day!
Pop said that the wrap around porch was not on the house back then.
The back of the house faces the river
As you can see, the Patuxent River is very wide at this point.
Reminiscing old times!
They moved to Annapolis in 1929. Pop Pop, as Jane and the other grandchildren called Pop's Father, bought a new Chevrolet flat bed truck from Roscoe Hall, a cousin who had the Chevy dealership in Harwood at the time. Pop Pop used that truck to move all of their belongings and farm equipment. I asked Janes' dad if they had a tractor and he said no, they used horses to till the fields. They did have a car, an Overland with flower pots on the door posts between the windows. Not sure what vintage that was, but he is sure it would be worth a bundle today! They had that car until 1938 when Pop Pop bought the black Chevrolet sedan that Pop still has. Pop Pop paid $715 for it. Roscoe Hall had stopped by the farm and said the price was going up on Monday so he went right down to Harwood and bought it.
The next stop on our venture was at the school house he attended for first grade. He, along with his siblings walked several miles to this school and Jane and I can vouch for the distance.
He said that they had to bring in wood before school started
Sometime along the way it was converted to a home that is still lived in. Doesn't appear to have had too many modifications since Pop's school days!
Our next stop was at the cemetery that Pop's mother and father are buried in. It is located at the former site of the the Asbury Methodist Church, on MD 231 just past the Barstow post office on the left heading south.
The cemetery has many Bowen's and Hall's buried there. Hall was Pop's Mother's maiden name.
This is the grave site of Pop's Mother, Eliza Delila, and his Father, Joseph Dell.
She was also the Mother of Uncle Vernon and Uncle Lester.
His first wife, Ada is buried here also. She was Uncle Mobray and Aunt Madeline's Mother
Pop's brother Vernon and wife Theresa are buried nearby.
Well that brought to a close a great day of reminiscing about Pop's boyhood.
If you want more information on the family line contact Carolyn Thurber, Uncle Mobray's daughter,
who has done extensive geneological study on our family cbthurber@verizon.net
Blessings till next post! Godspeed, Glenn and Jane
