The annual Maryland Day celebration at St. Clement’s Island Museum was held Monday on the 379th birthday of the first landing in Maryland. That occurred on St. Clement’s Island, within view of the museum. The weather challenged event, normally held outside, forced attendees to cram inside the museum.

Master of Ceremonies St. Mary’s County Commissioner Francis “Jack” Russell noted the first settlers on the Ark and Dove encountered a thunderstorm but didn’t have to contend with the early spring snow blizzard going on aside.

Lt. Governor Anthony Brown attended a Maryland Day event in the state’s Mother County for the first time. Arriving a little late because of a meeting with the governor, Brown was greeted at the museum door by Dr. Thomas Gerard (in the person of reenactor Michael Barber). Brown said he was absolved of being late because Gerard said, “It was a muddy path I had to travel down here.”

Brown said of those first settlers, “They knew the journey would be rough but they wanted to build a better life for themselves and their children.” He added, “Progress is always possible if you look to the future.”’

Guest speaker St. Mary’s College Professor of Anthropology Dr. Julia King spoke on the subject: “Why Dr. Thomas Gerard Matters.” According to Dr. King, “Gerard, who came to Maryland 1638, became the manor lord of St. Clement’s Manor, rose rapidly in colonial government, and, when he died in 1673, was one of the largest landowners in the colony.”

Dr. King’s students were invited by the current owners of land that included St. Clement’s Manor to conduct an archeological project. The result was the uncovering of a large number of artifacts. “What was impressive was the high end nature of the materials coming out of the ground,” she said. The museum currently has an exhibit showing photographs of the project.

Dr. King says that Maryland State Archivist Ed Papenfuse calls Dr. Gerard “a very controversial figure frequently at odds with Lord Baltimore.” Gerard was suspended from the council and was the ringleader of a Protestant rebellion.

She noted that the struggles were indeed religious in nature, but they also involved the constitutional issue of the source of authority in government. She said, “The questions being raised, both in Maryland and elsewhere, boiled down to this: did English citizens have liberties as a natural right, or were these liberties subject to the approval of the King?”

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