Happy Birthday Maryland. Three-hundred seventy seven to be precise. Maryland Day is the day set aside to commemorate the founding of Maryland on March 25, 1634 when settlers in the ships the Ark and the Dove landed at St. Clements Island in the Potomac River. An annual event was held on that date at the St. Clements Island/Potomac River Museum in Colton’s Point overlooking the island. Then a more formal ceremony was held Saturday at St. Mary’s City, the place where those colonists finally settled and created Maryland’s first “city” and capital.
This year’s Maryland Day ceremony at St. Mary’s City was held under a heated tent close by the brick chapel, which was open for inspection. The chapel is a reconstruction of the first monumental Catholic church in British North America. The exterior has been completed but the finishing of the interior awaits more funding.
The event, however, did mark the ribbon cutting of a wood-framed Chapel Pavilion near the chapel. Visitors will be able to get out of the weather and view some panels that explain the chapel project. A bench near the pavilion was also dedicated in memory of docent Joe Poe.
The weather was on the mind of several speakers during the ceremony under the tent. U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-5th) noted that the cool, but otherwise sunny day, brought everyone under a nicely heated tent. He contrasted that to “those brave souls who left Cowes, England in 1633” to cross the Atlantic in the dead of winter.
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