As faithful readers of the Caroline Review will attest, I, since at least 2021, have noted on these hallowed pages and elsewhere that Caroline County should celebrate its founding throughout 2023 and 2024. The time has come, and with the help of many volunteers in the community, the 250th anniversary of the creation of the Green Garden County will be celebrated in myriad ways, starting with an event at the Museum of Rural Life in Denton on March 15th. This date is of crucial importance because the first meeting of the county commissioners, call it a court session as well if you must, occurred on that exact day in 1774. Serendipity, folks.

If the fates did not allow you to attend the commemoration in person, that is okay. Instead of my usual creative non-fiction column this month, I am proudly sharing my opening remarks from that night as well as the wording of the official 250th anniversary proclamation offered by the Caroline County Commissioners:

Good evening. My name is Charles Dean the Third. This is going to sound corny, but I have been preparing for this event for almost forty years. Growing up, I spent a fair amount of time at my grandparents’ house. My grandfather Charles Dean Sr. was county commissioner at the time, but was also a charter member of the Caroline County Historical Society and served several years as the president of that prestigious organization. His dedication to Caroline and its history is undisputed, so it stands to reason that his coffee table book selection included the locally published commemorative booklets that celebrated the 200th anniversary of the county and the nation, the 350th anniversary of the founding of the Maryland colony, and other vintage literary collectibles that tell the story of the Green Garden County.

I read all of them so many times — which undoubtedly helped to inspire my choice of college majors at the undergraduate, graduate, and PhD level; my vocation as a Social Studies educator, membership in literally every history-based organization in this area, the Caroline Past and Present side hustle, and has led me to generally pursue history as not just a hobby or job but a lifestyle. Even my wife, historical fiction author Rebekah Colburn, was lured into the gravitational pull of that mindset.
So it is indeed an honor to provide the historical context tonight prior to the proclamation offered by the Caroline County Commissioners as well as the archaeology presentation by the esteemed Washington College professor, Dr. Julie Markin. That’s my alma mater! You’re going to love both her findings in Oil City and her Alabama twang, by the way.

Anyhow, while it is true that Mid-Shore residents had for decades prior intermittently discussed, albeit perhaps theoretically, carving another county from the Choptank-Tuckahoe corridor, with local lore even going so far as to suggest a “King William County” was proposed to exist here starting in the 1740s, such an administrative unit did not materialize until years later. The time was indeed right by the 1770s. Caroline County was created on paper in 1773 not by overwhelming popular demand or acute necessity since our population was so small, spread out, and isolated, however, but ostensibly as the legislative equivalent of a ledger to ledger transaction. When Harford County was organized earlier that same year, an Eastern Shore counterpart was deemed necessary to geographically balance the number of Maryland counties as part of a roughly applied and informal tradition first observed by the colonial legislature in 1674.

Regardless, while the esteemed William Richardson is revered in especially the southern half of this county, where the schools that bear his name are located, for not just serving with distinction in the Revolutionary War but also introducing the bill that eventually put us on the literal map, in reality Caroline exists thanks to the OCD cartographical whims of the Maryland General Assembly. We’re going to overlook that little asterisk and instead thank the good colonel for the legislation he proposed on November 5th, 1773. Annapolis found his proposal to be palatable, and voted to pass the bill on December 15th, 1773, with Dorchester County and Queen Anne’s County compensated one hundred thousand pounds of tobacco (legal tender in that era) for the roughly 320 square miles they relinquished to form the new county Richardson envisioned.

Caroline County, named to honor the wife of Robert Eden, the last royal governor of Maryland, was gaveled into existence exactly 250 years ago today, on March 15th, 1774. This caused the hearts of the ever-virtuous yeoman farmer on the banks of the Choptank or Tuckahoe or Marshyhope to dance with the rhythm of those waters, heretofore wearied from traveling long distances to conduct official business at a remote county seat, be it Queenstown or Cambridge at the time. Our commissioners [Charles Dickinson, Benson Stainton, Thomas White, William Haskins, Richard Mason, Joshua Clark, and Nathaniel Potter], there were seven at the time, [don’t get any ideas, local bureaucrats, and no, neither Jack LeGates or Larry Porter was one of them], first met at Melvill’s Warehouse where Smith Landing Road now is between Denton and Greensboro. It took a couple decades and some squabbling between those two towns, but by 1797 the first courthouse across the street was built and our local government has enjoyed stability and respectability ever since.

On that note, I am proud to be from this little county that could. I am humbled and honored to be chosen to speak here tonight, and, speaking of stability and respectability, it is my pleasure to now introduce county commissioners Travis Breeding, Frank Bartz, and Larry Porter, who will offer a proclamation to commemorate the momentous occasion of the 250th anniversary of the founding of Caroline County:

Caroline County, Maryland
Proclamation – Caroline County 250th Anniversary

WHEREAS, in pragmatic acknowledgement of a desire for late colonial dwellers and planters near and along the banks of the Choptank River, Tuckahoe Creek, and Marshyhope Creek to duly enjoy more convenient access to the services of a county seat, and

WHEREAS, in enthusiastic gratitude of the Honorable William Richardson of Gilpin Point, who as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates introduced legislation in the General Assembly of the colony on November 5th, 1773, to create Caroline County from portions of Dorchester and Queen Anne’s County, and

WHEREAS, in joyful appreciation of the colonial legislature for enacting the Caroline County bill on December 15th, 1773, allowing the instruments of local government to be coordinated with all due haste, and

WHEREAS, in dignified commemoration of the gaveling of Caroline County into existence with the first commissioner meeting and court session on March 15th, 1774, at Melvill’s Warehouse, and

WHEREAS, in solemn tribute to those locals who have since accepted the responsibility of developing and defending the rural traditions of Caroline in all of its splendor via agricultural and commercial pursuits large or small, through diverse faith traditions, as selfless military personnel, as educators and public servants of all kinds, as doctors and other health professionals, as nationally recognized activists, authors, artists, entertainers, and athletes, in addition to myriad other inspired callings and vocations.

NOW, THEREFORE, it is hereby resolved that we, the Commissioners of Caroline County, proclaim March 15th, 2024, to be the official commencement of the celebration of the 250th anniversary of this venerated place and encourage all loyal friends of the Green Garden County to reflect on, participate in, and support the many planned events and activities of our jubilee year.

In recognition and support of the many local volunteers who have worked tirelessly in the past and present to provide historical interpretation and enjoyment for all —

THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF CAROLINE COUNTY:
J. Travis Breeding, President
Larry C. Porter, Vice President
N. Franklin Bartz III, Commissioner