THEODORE R. MCKELDIN, GOVERNOR 281

ful Patuxent River. The sessions of both 1654 and 1657
were held in the "great room" of this lovely place, which is
part of Preston at Patuxent. They were the 14th and 15th
sessions of the General Assembly of Maryland. This "great
room" was also the meeting place of the Maryland Courts
for several terms.

The Government House was built in 1650 by Richard
Preston, who had come to Maryland from Virginia in 1649
as a leader of the thousand or more Puritans then being
persecuted in Virginia. They were invited to Maryland by
Cecil Calvert, some settling in Calvert County and the
majority establishing the town of Providence, now Annap-
olis, in Anne Arundel County. Richard Preston was elected
Speaker of the House at the session held in 1654. He con-
tinued as a member of the General Assembly during the
1660's and in 1669 attended as a member from the newly
established County of Dorchester.

The broad acres of the famous Preston Plantation over-
looking miles of the blue Patuxent River, now stand in their
full production glory showing the loving care and fine hus-
bandry which have been showered upon them by their
present owners, Mr. and Mrs. A. Claude Turner, and their
family for many generations.

This lovely old place where the General Assembly met in
1654, now owned by Captain and Mrs. Don Smith, is the
second oldest of all existing houses in Maryland. That it
should be located in Calvert County is uniquely appropriate,
for both the old house and the good citizens of the County
have ever been close to the land, the sun and the water, as
symbols of the true and lasting values of life.

The members of the Calvert County Delegation in the
General Assembly of Maryland and the present owners and
occupants of the famous meeting place of the General As-
sembly in 1654 and 1657, Captain and Mrs. Don Smith, have
graciously invited the members of the General Assembly
to attend at the former seat of government on a date to be
set in the early autumn of 1954, there to participate in a
fitting recognition of the historic traditions of this shrine,
and to rededicate themselves to the spirit of democratic
living and republican government which for three full cen-
turies has held the people of Calvert County close to the
best traditions of popular government. The members of
the General Assembly in 1954, themselves the stewards of
a long and honorable tradition of self-government, acknowl-
edge with grateful pride the Three Hundredth Anniversary
of the establishment of Calvert County, Now, Therefore,
be it