Port Tobacco Village, Maryland

Infobox Settlement
official_name = Port Tobacco Village, Maryland
settlement_type = Town
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subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = United States
subdivision_type1 = State
subdivision_name1 = Maryland
subdivision_type2 = County
subdivision_name2 = Charles
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unit_pref = Imperial
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area_magnitude =
area_total_km2 = 0.4
area_land_km2 = 0.4
area_water_km2 = 0.0
area_total_sq_mi = 0.2
area_land_sq_mi = 0.2
area_water_sq_mi = 0.0

population_as_of = 2000
population_footnotes =
population_total = 15
population_density_km2 = 36.3
population_density_sq_mi = 94.0

timezone = Eastern (EST)
utc_offset = -5
timezone_DST = EDT
utc_offset_DST = -4
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latd = 38 |latm = 30 |lats = 41 |latNS = N
longd = 77 |longm = 1 |longs = 12 |longEW = W

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blank_name = FIPS code
blank_info = 24-63225
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Port Tobacco, officially Port Tobacco Village, is a town in Charles County, Maryland, United States. The population was 15 at the 2000 census, making Port Tobacco the smallest incorporated town in Maryland. [ [http://www.charlescounty.org/PGM/planning/publications/demotrends/vol5_2.pdf Census 2000.] (2001, April). "Charles County Demographic" 5(2), p. 1. Retrieved July 21, 2007 (Adobe Acrobat Reader required for viewing).]

Established in 1727, the town has become almost a ghost town since the County court house was moved to La Plata, MD in 1895. The former court house has been rebuilt, however, as a tiny historical museum. A few miles south, colonial-era St. Ignatius Church and cemetery are notable for their scenic view of the River below. John Hanson, President of the U.S. Continental Congress, was born nearby. [cite web
url=http://mdmunicipal.org/cities/index.cfm?townname=PortTobacco&page=home
title=Port Tobacco
publisher=Maryland Municipal League
accessdate=2007-10-04]

History

In colonial and early American times Port Tobacco was once the second largest town in Maryland. It declined as silt and tidal action changed the Port Tobacco River and coastline ships became larger, cutting it off from the sea. When it was bypassed by the railroads in the nineteenth century, the decline continued. (See article on La Plata, MD).

Port Tobacco was one of the oldest communities on the East Coast of the United States. It first existed as the Native American settlement of Potopaco. It was colonized by the English 1634, and became a major port. Its remains today are identified as Port Tobacco Village.

During the late 1600s, Tobacco became the second largest river port in Maryland and was the original county seat of Charles County from 1658. In addition to being a hot spot for Port Tobacco Courthouse confederate conspiracy and a part of John Wilkes Booth’s escape route, Port Tobacco suffered from local conflict as well. Within a generation of the landing of the first Maryland settlers at St. Clement's Island, the frontiers of the colony were pushed north and west toward the Potomac and Port Tobacco Rivers. A small village developed on the east side of this Port Tobacco tributary, forming a nucleus for trade and government, which in 1658 became the county seat of the new County of Charles.

The early inhabitants of Port Tobacco were products of the religious turmoil in England, and their deeply felt convictions were to be a powerful determinant in the course of Maryland's history. Freed from restraints by the Toleration Act of 1649 and feeling a need for spiritual guidance, these settlers gathered their first simple Anglican church in a log building at the head of the Port Tobacco Creek. The year was 1683, nine years before the Establishment Act. [cite web |url=http://www.christchurchlaplata.com/history.html |title=A History of Christ Church, Port Tobacco Parish, Established 1692 |accessdate=2007-11-22 ]

Supported by the tobacco poll tax of 40 pounds per head 1692-1776, Christ Church prospered. Faced with the loss of this colonial financial support after the American Revolution, parishioners rallied and Christ Church survived. During this era a second building was constructed in 1709; It served the Parish for nearly a century before it was destroyed by a tornado in 1808. Replaced by a brick structure, financed by lotteries, it was first occupied in 1827. Falling into disrepair after 60 years of use, it was demolished and replaced with a stone edifice in 1884.

For two centuries of its life, Christ Church had surveyed activities in the square of a busy trading town and county seat. It saw its parishioners go to fight for independence in the American Revolution and the War of 1812; it saw its patriots, John Hanson, President of the United States in Congress Assembled, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, a signer of the Constitution of the United States, and Thomas Stone, one of the four signers of the Declaration of Independence for Maryland, help form a strong confederation; it saw the occupation of its town by Union troops, the intrigue perpetuated by the Lincoln assassination, and it was there when a strong Union was established after the Civil War. It witnessed the political battles to move the County Seat. Next door, it saw the Court House burn and Port Tobacco begin to die when a railroad came to La Plata. A vote was taken to move the county seat to La Plata where the railroad industry was becoming more resourceful than the seaport of Port Tobacco, but the vote did not pass. Then in 1892, the center part of the courthouse was burned in a mysterious fire and the county seat was moved to La Plata in 1895.

Sites to visit include the reconstructed Port Tobacco Courthouse that is furnished as a 19th Century courtroom and has exhibits on tobacco and archaeological finds located upstairs; Catslide House, one of the four surviving 18th Century homes in the area; the restored one-room Schoolhouse that is the original structure built in 1876 and used until 1953; and Thomas Stone National Historic Site, the plantation home of one of the four signers of the Declaration of Independence.

Port Tobacco Folklore

Legend of the Blue Dog

Halloween always reminds local residents of Charles County's "Blue Dog" legend, which has been spun in the county for more than 100 years and is taught in local schools. By most accounts and local lore, the spirit of a large blue dog protects his murdered master's treasure, buried somewhere on Rose Hill Road outside Port Tobacco. According to Rose Hill Road resident Charles Stuart, whose property contains the fabled rock that Blue Dog and his master were killed on, the first written account of the Blue Dog legend dates back to 1897, when his home's former owner, Olivia Floyd who was a former agent for the Confederacy during the Civil War, told the Port Tobacco Times she had seen the ghost of the Blue Dog. [cite web
url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/elections/bal-halloween-ghost8,0,1078963,full.story?coll=bal-home-headlines
title=Washington stayed here, as does loyal dog's ghost
author=Faith Hayden
publisher=Baltimore Sun
date=September 29, 2002
accessdate=2007-10-04]

Although he hasn't seen the ghost of Blue Dog on February 8 in the 20 years he has lived on Rose Hill Road, Stuart, "doesn't doubt" the accounts of that date following the Revolutionary War, when Charles Thomas Sims, a soldier, and his dog were killed on Rose Hill Road while returning from a Port Tobacco Tavern. [cite web
url=http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22maryland+independent%22+%22port+tobacco+times%22&btnG=Search
title=Port Tobacco Historic District
publisher=Charles County Economic Development/Tourism Office
accessdate=2007-10-04]

Stuart said that Henry Hanos of Port Tobacco killed Sims and his dog for his gold and a deed to an estate. Hanos then buried the gold and deed under a holly tree along Rose Hill Road. When Hanos returned to recover the treasure, he was scared away by the ghost of Blue Dog and then fell ill, before suddenly dying. To this day, Blue Dog continues to watch over his slain master's treasure.

Demographics

As of the censusGR|2 of 2000, there were 15 people, 5 households, and 5 families residing in the town. The population density was 94.0 people per square mile (36.2/km²). There were 6 housing units at an average density of 37.6/sq mi (14.5/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 60.00% White, 26.67% Black or African American, 6.67% Asian, and 6.67% from two or more races.

There were 5 households out of which 40.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.0% were married couples living together, 60.0% have a female householder with no husband present. The average household size was 3.00 and the average family size was 2.80.

In the town the population was spread out with 20.0% under the age of 18, 13.3% from 18 to 24, 26.7% from 25 to 44, 20.0% from 45 to 64, and 20.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 87.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 71.4 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $100,992, and the median income for a family was $102,264. The per capita income for the town was $43,017. There are no families below the poverty line.

References

External links

* [http://www.mdmunicipal.org/cities/index.cfm?townname=PortTobacco&page=home Web page of Port Tobacco Village, Maryland]
* [http://porttobacco.blogspot.com/ Web page and blog regarding the Port Tobacco Archaeological Project]
* [http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=963 Port Tobacco] at Historical Marker Database
* [http://city.statelawyers.com/City_Detail.cfm/StateID:20/CityID:7614 Contact Information for Port Tobacco Village, Maryland]