Archaeologists in Maryland have discovered the remains of St. Mary’s Fort, a structure built in 1634 by the first English colonists to reach the western side of the Chesapeake Bay. As the Maryland State Archives note, the defensive garrison served as an outpost for St. Mary’s, the first permanent European settlement in Maryland and the fourth in British North America.
Travis Parno, director of research and collections at preservation organization and living history museum Historic St. Mary’s City (HSMC), announced the find on Monday, bringing the search for the palisaded fort to a close after 90 years, reports Michael E. Ruane for the Washington Post. Though researchers confirmed the discovery in late 2019, they only revealed the news now due to delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The newly identified site, located about half a mile away from St. Mary’s River, is roughly the size of a football field. Though researchers have conducted approximately 200 excavations in the area over the past 30 years, none of these digs yielded conclusive evidence of the fort’s presence, writes Nathan Falde for Ancient Origins.
I see we’re slumming into archaeology today.
“The first English settlers to colonize the west side of the Chesapeake.”
Honestly, just say “those dirty Catholics” and be done with it. You’re not fooling anyone tip toeing around the historically inconvenient.
The resulting civil wah left Maryland with….MOAR Catholics.
And the first American instance of those fleeing oppression and seeking tolerance….acting intolerantly and oppressing those fleeing oppression and intolerance…
Archaeology? Isn’t this about Biden?
A 386-yeat old fort…. oops, my bad. I thot it said sumthin else!
“Our story actually begins in 1607 …”
izlamo delenda est …
Oppressors!
A little known fact of history is that this fort was established by White supremacists as a military base to conduct operations to exterminate the Waikikiu Indians.
It should be bulldozed to keep it from honoring our racist history.
“Though researchers confirmed the discovery in late 2019, they only revealed the news now due to delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.”
No, it was caused by lazy, inept academics and bureaucrats who never lost their jobs or paychecks, who “worked” from home for no good reason, and who couldn’t even manage to phone it in. Probably sat on it because they found no evidence of slavery. Or maybe the FBI had the research. COVID, my ass.
Thirdtwin….so right. Never forget 99+% survival rate.
Tim,
I thought it all started in 1619.
Sheriff’s cars in St. Mary’s county have the words “Established 1637” on them.
The department that is. Not the cars. Just to be clear.
When I was in Maryland, renowned for Chesapeake crabs, someone told me the best place to find them was called “Aunt Crabbie’s Crab Nest”.
TimBuktu: Rube’s Crab Shack in Emittsburg used to be good back in the 90’s. Went there when I was at the Fire Academy.