Water Pitcher, St. Mary’s County

The first tax on Maryland’s tobacco was implemented in 1671. To accommodate the tax, “rowling houses” were built to store the tobacco near the edges of the water for ease of shipment. Dried tobacco leaves were compressed into a hogshead barrel, which usually weighed between 800-1000 pounds. These barrels would then be rolled down a road from the farm to the water along what became known as “Rolling Roads.” This scene depicts enslaved individuals rolling a hogshead to the rowling house, which can be seen in the background.

Peregrine Williamson, a jeweler from Baltimore, wanted to have a more durable writing instrument than the typical quill pen. He started testing designs in 1806 and by 1808 felt so confident in his pen he sent some as a gift to President Thomas Jefferson. In 1809, he was granted the first patent for a metallic pen and, in 1835, he was granted a second patent for an improved metallic pen. While Williamson’s original patent was lost in a fire, this depiction is based on one of his early pens held in the collection of the Maryland Center for History and Culture.

The first steel pen is also depicted on pieces from Charles, Somerset, and Wicomico counties.

After twelve years of design and development, the first telegraph message in the United States was transmitted on above ground poles between Washington D.C. and Baltimore on May 23, 1844. Samuel F.B. Morse sent the message "What hath God wrought” to his partner Alfred Vail.

The original transmitting and receiving sets are now at the Smithsonian Institute and are also depicted on the pieces from Baltimore City and Baltimore, Calvert, Charles, Somerset, and Wicomico counties.

As a colony, Maryland was the first to pass laws on religious tolerance by specifying and protecting the rights of its citizens. “An Act for Church Liberties” in 1638 secured freedom of worship. In 1649, “An Act Concerning Religion'' stated that regardless of Christian denomination, “no person or persons whatsoever within this province… shall from henceforth be in any ways troubled, molested, or discountenanced for or in respect of his or her religion, nor in the free exercise thereof…" These laws did not directly protect the rights of other religious groups. It would not be until 1826 that members of the Jewish faith could hold office in Maryland’s government.

A figure representing St. George slaying a dragon, likely meant to represent Christianity triumphing over persecution, is located on the lip and is symbolic of religious tolerance in Maryland.

Long before the first European settlers arrived in what is now Maryland, the land had been inhabited for thousands of years by various Native American groups, including the Yaocomaco. They spoke a dialect of the Eastern Algonquian language and interacted with other larger tribal groups, such as the Piscataway and Powhatan.

After the landing of Leonard Calvert and about 140 English colonists, the settlement of St. Mary’s became the first seat of government in the Province of Maryland. St. Mary's, except for two brief intervals, was the capital of Maryland for nearly 60 years.

On November 22, 1633, English settlers led by Leonard Calvert set sail on two vessels, the “Ark” and the smaller “Dove” to establish a settlement under a charter from King Charles I. The “Ark” held about 140 colonists and their equipment and supplies while the “Dove” was sent to enable the colonists to have their own ship once “Ark” returned for England. On March 25, 1634 they celebrated their safe arrival at St. Clement’s Island.

The ships then went 27 miles northward on the Potomac and encountered a small village inhabited by the Yaocomaco people. After negotiating a treaty of peaceful coexistence with the Yaocomaco, the colonists named their town St. Mary’s City.

From the colony’s founding in 1634 until the state abolished slavery in 1864, enslaved Africans and African Americans were important in shaping Maryland’s history. The commodities they produced provided the foundation for Maryland’s economy and formed its society.

The first reference to slavery in 1639 was, "An Act for the Liberties of the People," which stated, "that all the inhabitants of this province being christians (slaves excepted) shall have and enjoy all such rights, liberties, immunities, privileges and free customs, within this province, as any natural born subject of England…” In 1664, a law passed by the colonial legislature made slavery into a race-based system in which Africans or people of African descent were enslaved for life and also bound the lives of their children. Additional laws passed in the following decades further dehumanized the enslaved population.

The fortunes amassed from the labor of enslaved workers allowed Maryland’s gentry to dominate colonial politics and propelled some to national prominence.The structures depicted on this portion of the pitcher are those built for the enslaved to live in, based on the quarters located on the Brome estate in Historic St. Mary's City.

After twelve years of design and development, the first telegraph message in the United States was transmitted on above ground poles between Washington D.C. and Baltimore on May 23, 1844. Samuel F.B. Morse sent the message "What hath God wrought” to his partner Alfred Vail.

The original transmitting and receiving sets are now at the Smithsonian Institute and are also depicted on the pieces from Baltimore City and Baltimore, Calvert, Charles, Somerset, and Wicomico counties.

The Cokesbury Bell came from Cokesbury College, the first Methodist college on the American continent. In 1789, when George Washington was heading to New York for his inauguration, the bell was rung in his honor as he passed by. In 1795, the tower that housed the bell was deliberately set on fire and everything was lost, except for the bell which was completely unharmed.

In 1888, the historic Cokesbury Bell was transferred to Goucher College, then in Baltimore City, and it remained with Goucher College until 1959 when it was presented to the Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. The bell is also depicted on the pieces from Somerset, Wicomico, and Charles counties.

Erected in 1890, this 36 foot high granite monument honors the first governor of Maryland, Leonard Calvert. Its placement marks the traditional site, under a large mulberry tree, of the meeting where the first Maryland colonists purchased land from the Yaocomaco for the establishment of a settlement. Today it can be found in the cemetery of Trinity Church at St. Mary's City.