The Loss of A Charlotte Hall Landmark

CHARLOTTE HALL, Md. – I like to define placekeeping as not only maintaining and caring for a physical space but also maintaining a place’s cultural and historical significance. Those who live in the Southern Maryland area are likely aware of the recent decision to destroy the Southern Maryland Farmers Market located in Charlotte Hall. Located on Three Notch Road and nestled between the Hooks and Hangers thrift store and the new veteran’s clinic, the Southern Maryland Farmers Market has been a local landmark in the community for decades. The iconic farmers market used to be the site of auctions, but in recent years it has bloomed into a lively yet slightly dusty local staple of the community, home to many different vendors, including local farmers, many of them members of the Latinx and Amish communities, business owners, antique collectors, artisans, and many others. In recent months, we have also seen McKay’s make way for Shoppers, only to be met with little business amid its high prices.

I remember when I was a child, I would accompany my whole family to the Southern Maryland farmers market during the late spring and throughout the summer to get our favorites, sweet corn, squash, and tomatoes. We would also stop by the Amish vendors for their local honey and cinnamon buns.

The pattern we see here in Charlotte Hall is representative of a larger, more harmful system and pattern at play. Pushing out local farmers and vendors to make way for large corporations is not only capitalism at its finest, but it also creates a culture of reliance. Relying on yet another multi-million-dollar and sometimes multi-billion-dollar corporation to provide us with products and necessities we previously got from local business owners. In times like these, it’s important to go the extra mile, literally and figuratively, to support our local businesses and local agriculture. It is better for the planet, and it puts money back into the pockets of those who actually care about the community, not the corporations that don’t.

It is time we put a stop to destroying local businesses just to make room for another unnecessary corporation like Chick-fil-A or Aldi. Charlotte Hall already hosts several fast-food chains, including a newly built Chipotle, two grocery stores, and several gas stations, with much more on the way. Locals apart of the St. Mary’s County Times Newspaper Facebook group have been voicing their opinions about the leveling of the beloved farmers market. For instance, Priscilla A L Walker says, “St. Mary’s will never be the same…” Mark Boswell states, “The farmers market is a Southern Maryland institution, tradition… it’s one of the things that makes St. Mary’s County unique.” Lastly, Brandi Cooper aptly sums up the loss of the Southern Maryland Farmers Market by saying, “We need to stop tearing everything down that has history and meaning to St. Mary’s or we are going to forget where we came from…”

When will the excessive development end? When Charlotte Hall looks exactly like Lexington Park or Waldorf? When will we start saying no? When will we start holding our county commissioners and economic development departments accountable for erasing the culture of Charlotte Hall? Let’s recognize this decision for what it is, another fracture in the beautiful history and community of Charlotte Hall, Maryland.

Placekeeping doesn’t have to mean resisting change to a physical space close to our hearts, it can also mean adapting to change. Vendors such as Southern Maryland Produce have already set up shop directly across the street from the farmer’s market. This gives me hope that other vendors will find another place close by to continue selling their goods to the local community, as they have for decades in the past.