Written from an article by Saki, abridged and published by the National Park Service.
Prime real estate for 13,000 years
Mount Calvert Historical and Archaeological Park sits on a hill where the Western Branch meets the Patuxent River in Maryland, at the end of a quiet rural road.
- First peoples: Algonquian-speaking Patuxent, Mattaponi and Piscataway people lived here; colonists, farmers and merchants followed.
- 1696: named Charles Town, the first seat of Prince George's County, with taverns, shops and a courthouse.
- Later: a large tobacco plantation worked by enslaved people, when "sotweed" was king. The brick house dates from about 1789.
- Today: kayakers, paddleboarders and canoeists launch from the soft launch and pier below the house. Commercial wealth has given way to another kind: natural beauty.
Why beginners like it
It's sheltered, full of things to see, and easy to get on the water.
| Launch | What's there |
|---|---|
| Mount Calvert | soft launch and pier; drop your boat at the beach, then park at the top of the hill and walk 800 feet back down the gravel road. No fishing, no trailered boats, no rentals, restrooms only when the building is open — so it's quieter |
| Jacksons Landing, Patuxent River Park, about a mile downstream | kayak and canoe rentals, parking for 30+ vehicles, restrooms, picnic tables, a visitor center and an observation tower |
A favorite trip from Jacksons Landing: up the Patuxent past Mount Calvert and up the Western Branch to the WSSC water filtration plant — about five miles round trip.
Downstream: the bridge pivot
The river's most unusual sight is an old bridge pivot, left from a swing-span bridge on the railroad that linked Washington, D.C., to Chesapeake Beach. In 1899 Mount Calvert was a stop on the line, which also ran through Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary on what is now the Railroad Bed Trail. Today the pivot is a small, overgrown island where waterfowl may nest.
Between Mount Calvert and Pig Point lie the north edge of Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary, Mondays Creek and Railroad Creek — all worth exploring.
Upstream: the Western Branch
- It's 1.6 miles from Mount Calvert to the filtration plant.
- On the east side you'll glimpse the Billingsley House Museum, built in the 1740s. Nearby, archaeologists have found thousands of American Indian artifacts and signs of a major settlement from 2,000 to 4,000 years ago.
- Just over a mile up, on the east, is Iron Pot Landing (site 44A), a paddle-in campsite with a portable toilet, picnic table, fire ring, pier and floating launch. Reservations are required to camp, but when empty it's a good rest stop.
Still treasured
Paddlers, naturalists, birders, archaeologists and historians still see this as prime real estate and work to keep it so: middle schoolers plant wild rice, Patuxent River Park runs cleanups, Jug Bay leads canoe trips, and Mount Calvert offers archaeology kayak trips. Today's Mount Calvert has little in common with 18th-century Charles Town — except that it is still valued.
Sources
Based on "Visiting the Mount Calvert Historical and Archaeological Park," an abridged article originally written by Saki, published by the National Park Service and in the public domain; rewritten in hubnx's own words. The author's photograph is not reproduced.
In these publicationsChesapeake Bay
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from www.nps.gov
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