ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY
Transcribed by Denise Wells
Anne Arundel is the most northern of the counties comprising the section known as Southern Maryland. It embraces an area of 400 square miles, and has for its boundaries the Patapsco river on the north, separating it from Baltimore city and county, Chesapeake bay on the east, Calvert county on the south, and Prince George's and Howard counties on the west. According to the census of 1890, the population was 34,094, an increase of 5,568 or 19.52 per cent. since the census of 1880. There are 19,441 white persons in the county and 14,648 colored.
A portion of Anne Arundel county is immediately opposite the city of Baltimore, and is the garden spot of the metropolis of the State. The Annapolis Short Line Railroad runs through this fertile land, and the new Curtis Bay Electric road will make it easy of access to the city. Access is also afforded by the "Long Bridge" which stretches across the Patapsco from Baltimore to Brooklyn. The proximity of this section of Anne Arundel county to the city, and the light, fertile character of the soil, adapt it especially to the raising of garden produce for the city markets, which is caaried [sic] on successfully to a very large extent.
Some of the best arms in the State are to be found in this locality. One gentleman in this locality has 640 acres which is adapted to all crops. In the season of 1891, he had one hundred acres in peas, sixty acres in strawberries, sixty acres in wheat, forty acres in grass, and one hundred acres in corn. Besides, thirty acres are devoted to peaches and forty acres to pasture. 4,000 trees are in the peach orchard, but as last year was the first year of bearing, only about 2,500 bushels were gathered.
In the height of the season one hundred and twenty-five hands are employed as pickers, and in 1891, they gathered 6,000 bushels of peas, 107,000 quarts of strawberries and 23,000 quarts of cherries. Pickers are paid in accordance with amount of work done, and receive fifteen cents per bushel on peas, and one and a-half cents per quart on strawberries and cherries. 1,500 bushels of wheat was harvested and 1,100 barrels of corn, equal to 10,000 bushels on the ear, gathered, and ninety tons of hay raised for consumption on the farm. The wheat was sold on July 10th, at $1.05 per bushel, and the born brought $2.40 per barrel. Hay was worth $12.00 per on the farm.
Our farmer friends in the North and West who wish to benefit themselves and are seeking new locations, are invited to do a little figuring on the income of a farm of this character. Maryland has never known a failure in crops, and there are to-day as fine opportunities to secure good locations as there has ever been in the history of the State.
No portion of the State can raise watermelons, cantaloupes, cabbage, peas, string beans and tomatoes, superior to those grown in that section of Anne Arundel county between the Severn and Patapsco rivers. The peach orchards in this section are also extensive and productive. Strawberries and other small fruits grow abundantly and ripen easy. In the summer season the southern portion of this district is one vast and beautiful garden of fruits, berries and vegetables, ornamented with fine and handsome residences. Land in this neighborhood is worth from $50 to $500 an acre, and there is very little for sale. In this neighborhood are also numerous villages and settlements which are rapidly increasing in population and in importance as manufacturing centers. Brooklyn, Fairfield and South Baltimore or Curtis Bay, show wonderful progress in the past ten years.
The fourth district of the county begins near Millersville, and runs up to Annapolis Junction on the Washington branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. This road skirts the northern boundary, and the Baltimore and Potomoc Railroad runs through the southern section of this district. The Annapolis, Washington and Baltimore Railroad runs nearly through the centre and makes communication with Baltimore and Washington easy.
The land in the center of the fourth district is light and sandy; the other parts kind and fertile. This district is a flourishing section, including in its boundaries Jessup's, which is rapidly improving. Besides the common schools, it has an academy at Millersville and one at Jessup's. The churches are Catholic, Episcopal and Methodist. The springs of this district are noted for their purity and volume. The Maryland House of Correction is at Jessup's, in this district. Land at Jessup's is worth from fifty to two hundred dollars per acre. Other tracts can be bought in the district from ten to seventy-five dollars per acre.
There are no railroad facilities in the section south of Annapolis. All the produce is shipped by boat, and in some cases has to be hauled a distance of ten miles or more to the landing. This will be remedied when the Drum Point Railroad, now under construction, is finished. There are some good grass farms in the lower section, and in the whole county the soil is favorable to fruit-growing. There are many profitable peach orchards in the southern part of the county, and their number and acreage is rapidly increasing. Farmers along the line of the proposed Drum point Road say if railroad transportation is afforded them, it will not be long before lower Anne Arundel will also become a great trucking country. Tobacco of very fine quality is raised in all parts of the county, and corn grows luxuriantly. In the northern portion of the county, iron mines are worked successfully, and there are several iron furnaces profitably engaged in manufacturing pig iron.
The improvement in farming machinery is going on slowly but surely. Instead of the old cradle, the self-binder is now used. Live stock has also improved in quality and quantity. An excellent opportunity is afforded for industrious immigrants to locate in Anne Arundel, farm hands, mostly colored, being very scarce.
There are good openings for flour mills and canning factories in lower Anne Arundel, as well as in Annapolis; and at Horn Point, an adjunct to the city, which now boasts of a glass factory that gives employment to a number of people. There are about eight canning establishments in the county. Near Annapolis, on the Chesapeake bay, is the celebrated excursion summer resort, "Bay Ridge." It is estimated 50,000 people visit this delightful spot during the summer season.
SOURCE: Scharf, J. Thomas, "The natural & industrial resources and advantages of Maryland: being a complete description of all counties of the state and the city of Baltimore: together with an accurate statement of their soil, climate, antiquities, raw and manufactured products, agricultural and horticultural products, textile fabrics, alimentary products, manufacturing industries, minerals and ores, mines and mining, native woods, means of transportation, price of land, cheap living, ready markets, excellent homes, and the material and social advantages and unequaled opportunities Maryland possesses for those seeking homes, and for capitalists who wish to invest in industries that are sure to pay big dividends," C.H. Baughman & Co., Publisher; 1892, pps. 127-130.