The Brookeville Maryland Historic District

The historical development of Montgomery County followed the pattern of other central Maryland counties. Unlike those of the Eastern Shore and Southern Maryland, the agricultural communities here consisted of farms rather than large plantations. These farms were not as self-sufficient and, in response to their needs, many small towns sprang up. By 1879, there were nineteen villages and towns in the County; Brookeville was one of these.

The census of 1880 shows that Brookeville had the third largest population: 206 people, after Rockville's 688 and Poolesville's 287. By 1978, with all the suburban development spreading out from Washington, Brookeville retains its early flavor with many 19^th and some 18^th and 20^th century buildings and large trees enveloping the town like a canopy.

The town of Brookeville is laid out on part of a tract called Addition to Brooke Grove, one of the many parcels acquired by James Brooke the Elder, a Quaker, in April 1745. Tradition has set the founding of Brookeville in 1794 when there were a few houses, notably the Madison House, the Blue House, and the Valley House. It consisted of fifty-six lots, most of them of one-quarter acre each, ranged along two principal streets, Market and High Streets and four side streets North, South, Spring and Race Streets. The town grew and prospered as the nation grew, with demand from Europe for agricultural exports and other raw materials.

Brookeville is situated in the most fertile land in Maryland with many farms and plantations

There were blacksmiths who made agricultural implements, seed stores, carriage builder and wagon builders, a saddler and harness-maker, two doctors, a tailor, dressmakers, shoemakers, several stores, an undertaker, and a post office. Also, two excellent private boarding schools, the Brookeville Academy for boys and Mrs. Porter's cottage school for the Education of Young Ladies. A private circulating library and a debating society provided a bit of intellectual stimulus.

A Quaker village, the town was touched by war, when on the night of August 26, 1814, President Madison sought shelter for the night at the home of Caleb Bentley. Brookeville was full of refugees from the burning of Washington by the British.

United States Capital for a Day

In the 20^th century, individual artisans working in small shops gave way to large factories and well-developed transportation. Brookeville became a residential community. Even though the shops and grist mills are gone and some of the very old houses have disappeared, the town lives on with a population mixture of young and old, a viable community conscious of its heritage and anxious to preserve it. There are currently forty-five buildings in Brookeville, thirty- three of which are over fifty years old.

Chesapeake Bay and the Maryland Eastern Shore

history geology hydrology fishing and the environment

Chesapeake Bay is an estuary and the largest such body in the contiguous United States and is a very important feature for the ecology and economy of the Middle Atlantic Region. More than 150 major rivers and streams flow into the bay's 64,299-square-mile - 166,534 km² covering parts of six states.

History in 1524, Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano sailed past the Chesapeake, but did not enter the bay. Spanish explorers may have been the first Europeans to explore parts of the bay which they named Bay of the Mother of God. In the late 16^th century the British founded a colony and Captain John Smith explored and mapped it between 1607 and 1609. The first designated all-water National Historic Trail was created in 2006 following Smith's historic 17^th century voyage.

The US Northeast and the Mid-Atlantic States

The Eastern Shore is home to crabbers, oystermen, gentlemen-farmers and sharecroppers, boat builders and antiques dealers. Activities include fishing, crabbing, swimming, boating, kayaking and sailing. 

Geology and Hydrology the bay was formed starting about 10,000 years ago when rising sea levels at the end of the last ice age flooded the Susquehanna River valley.  Much of the bay is shallow; it is approximately 200 miles - 320 km - long and 2.8 miles  - 4.5 km - wide at its narrowest and 30 miles - 48 km - at its widest point. Average depth is 21 feet - 6.4 m. Because the bay is an estuary, it has fresh water, salt water and brackish water.

Fishing once employed up to nine thousand watermen and their skipjacks, the only remaining sailing workboats in US waters, engaged in the seafood production of blue crabs, clams and oysters. Now, runoffs from farms and urban areas, over-harvesting and foreign species invasions have made the bay less productive. Oyster farming helps maintain the estuary's productivity and is a natural effort for filtering impurities and reduce the amount of nitrogen compounds entering Chesapeake Bay.

Environment in the 1970s, Chesapeake Bay was discovered to contain marine dead zones - waters depleted of oxygen and unable to support life – that weaken the base of the estuary and its food source. The runoff and pollution have many components that help contribute to the algal bloom which is mainly fed by phosphorus and nitrogen. This algae prevents sunlight from reaching the bottom of the bay while alive and deoxygenates the bay's water when it dies and rots. Also, the overharvesting of oysters has made it difficult for them to reproduce, which requires close proximity to one another. The depletion of oysters has had a particularly harmful effect on the quality of the bay as they serve as natural water filters, and their decline has further reduced the water quality of the bay.