BGuthrie Photos: MD -- Bladensburg -- Waterfront Park

MD -- Bladensburg -- Waterfront Park:

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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1. BLADWP_121228_005.JPG: The Battle of Bladensburg (1814) The War of 1812 On August 24, 1814, British forces broke camp at Melwood Park and moved northwest to Bladensburg. The Baltimore militia, under the command of General Tobias Sansbury, was positioned west of the Anacostia River along the Bladensburg-Washington Road in the area of present day Cottage City, Colmar Manor, and Fort Lincoln Cemetery. Marching in the intense heat along the river road paralleling today's Kenilworth Avenue, the British arrived in Bladensburg about noon and attacked the American defenders shortly thereafter. When the British forces led by Major-General Robert Ross entered Bladensburg by marching down Lowndes Hill, American riflemen fired. However, Ross's infantry continued undaunted toward the bridge over the Anacostia, which the ill-prepared Americans had not yet destroyed. American General Winder's men had since moved behind Stansbury's as brigades from Annapolis arrived from the east. Seized by fear of exploding British Congreve rockets and uncertain of any rear-line support from Winder, the Americans rushed to the rear of the battle line. Here, Ross dealt a crushing blow by bringing up another regiment that forded the stream and confronted a Baltimore regiment. The rest of the American forces retreated to the rear, thus opening the turnpike leading to Washington for the British. The only resistance came when Commodore Barney and his 500 sailors engaged the British. Commodore Barney and his seamen made a heroic stand in Bladensburg against overwhelming odds. Even after several thousand supporting militiamen had fled in the face of British bayonets and fire, Barney's men stood their ground. Armed with hand pikes and cutlasses, they launched a successful counterattack against the British infantry with cries of "Board'em! Board'em!" Only when hopelessly surrounded did Barney, by then seriously wounded, order his officers to disarm their guns and retreat. At their commander's insistence, they reluctantly left him lying next to one of his cannons to await capture. After being captured by the British, Barney was congratulated for his bravery and released. With the American forces vanquished and in full retreat, the British marched into the nation's capital, Washington, D.C., and sacked and burned significant portions of the city, including the Capitol and the White House. A contemporary British illustration depicting the invasion and burning of Washington, D.C., in August of 1814. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. British Rear-Admiral Cockburn joined forces with Major-General Robert Ross for the Battle of Bladensburg. Courtesy of The National Maritime Museum, London.
2. BLADWP_121228_012.JPG: Historic Bladensburg Waterfront Park - Port Town History The Ports of Bladensburg and Beall Town In 1742, the town of Bladensburg was created on the banks of the Anacostia River (also known as the Eastern Branch of the Potomac river) through an act of the Maryland General Assembly for the purpose of promoting trade and commerce. The act stated that the new port town was to be located on "the Eastern Branch of the Potomack River in Prince George's County near a place called Garrison Landing." The legislation was in response to a petition from the inhabitants of Beall Town to have a new town laid out. The new town was just downstream from the confluence of the Northwest and Northeast Branches, not far from where Beall Town was located. Beall Town had been established in the 1720s and was officially recognized as a town by the Prince George's County Court in 1732. However, its viability as a port was extremely short lived. It fell victim to a problem that has plagued the area and its successor port town of Bladensburg up to the present day - namely, the filling in of the river channel with silt and fallen trees and trash. In 1738, just four years before petitioning for a new town, the residents of Beall Town complained that "freshets" [floodwaters] had "brought down trees and trash which...choak'd up the channel in the said branch so that boats and other craft cannot be brought up to lod or relod goods at the usual landing place." The new port town of Bladensburg, named after Maryland Governor Thomas Bladen, thrived and became an important commercial center with wharves, taverns, and stores. Only five years after it was established, Bladensburg was named one of the tobacco inspection stations, and by 1761 it had grown so much that it was designated a "hundred" [similar to an election district] of Prince George's County. Much of Bladensburg's growth and success can be attributed to the efforts and resourcefulness of one man - Christopher Lowndes. Lowndes was a merchant and a shipyard and ropewalk owner, as well as a commissioner of the town of Bladensburg from 1745 until his death 40 years later. Bladensburg began to decline in importance as a tobacco shipping port in the 19th century with the silting in of the Anacostia River. The main railroad line to Washington, D.C., when first constructed in 1835, passed directly through Bladensburg. However it was was soon altered to bypass the town, leaving Bladensburg serviced only by a spur or secondary line. This fact, coupled with the river siltation problem, sealed Bladensburg's demise as a tobacco shipping center; tobacco shipping ended in the port town before the middle of the 19th century. Today, Bladensburg is a small but busy urban community, with large-scale industrial activity. It is currently in the midst of major revitalization efforts spearheaded by the Bladensburg Local Development Corporation and several government agencies.
3. BLADWP_121228_023.JPG: War in the Chesapeake: During the War of 1812 the young United States was embroiled in conflict with Great Britain. From 1812 to 1815 Americans fought to protect their rights and economic independence. They faced superior enemy forces on the homefront and the high seas. The strategically important Chesapeake Bay region felt the brunt of the war, choked by shipping blockades and ravaged by enemy raids. The events in this region were crucial to the outcome of the war. Though there was no clear victor at the end of the war, the United States protected its democracy and emerged with heightened stature on the world stage.
4. BLADWP_121228_024.JPG: Clearing the Way to Washington The Battle of Bladensburg on August 24, 1814, ended in defeat for the United States and allowed the British to invade Washington, D.C. Once the Americans realized the British route of advance, there was little time to prepare. They hastily established lines of defense near the port town of Bladensburg, where the British would cross the Eastern Branch of the Potomac (known today as the Anacostia). The poorly trained and ill-equipped American militia, though superior in number, were no match for the seasoned British army. That night, as buildings in Washington burned and the victors ravaged the White House, news of the rout at Bladensburg spread throughout the countryside. "The enemy are in full march to Washington. Have the materials to destroy the bridges." -- Secretary of State James Monroe to President James Madison, August 23, 1814. Tour several War of 1812 sites in the Bladensburg area: Start at the visitor center at Bladensburg Waterfront Park for information on these and other attractions: * Bostwick House -- Home of a British prisoner-of-war agent * Upper Marlboro -- Several 1812 sites from time of British occupation * Dueling Grounds -- Site of significant battle engagements * Riversdale -- Historic house museum with exhibits and programs on plantation life during the war * George Washington House -- Cannon fire from the battle reputedly scarred this 1765-era structure Wounded in battle, American hero Joshua Barney was captured by the British, then pardoned for bravery.
5. BLADWP_121228_035.JPG: Dinosaur Alley Bladensburg lies in the geologic region known as "Dinosaur Alley." It is the area on the East Coast of the United States were the greatest number of dinosaur bones have been found. Dinosaur Alley runs along the Route 1 corridor between Baltimore and Washington. The layers of earth in this area are about 100 million years old and are made primarily of clay and sand, not rock. One hundred million years ago, during the middle Cretaceous period, the Baltimore-Washington area was a flat plain near the sea, just as it is today. The climate, however, was warmer. The forests of that time consisted of conifers (pine trees and their relatives), cycad-like plants (conifer relatives that look like palms), and tree ferns. There were no grasses, briers, or oaks; flowering plants had not even developed yet. This was the home of the dinosaur. During colonial times, iron-rich ore beds were dug by hand from surface pits. Occasionally dinosaur bones and other fossils were found, but the fossils' scientific importance was not understood at the time. The first dinosaur bones were said to have come from "iron mines in Bladensburg," but the actual site was nine miles north at Mulrkirk. These first discoveries (reported by Philip Thomas Tyson, state geologist in November 1858) were the bones and teeth of a large dinosaur named Astrodon johnstoni (Brachiosaur). Astrodon means star-tooth. It ws the first sauropod (a dinosaur with a long neck and a long tail) found in North America. In 1998, the Astrodon became Maryland's official state dinosaur. At present, about a dozen categories of dinosaurs are known to be from Dinosaur Alley. These finds represent almost all the categories of dinosaurs. Nonetheless, it is generally believed by paleontologists that the fossils that have been found represent fewer than half the dinosaur species that lived in the Bladensburg area. There are many more species and skeletons to be found.
6. BLADWP_121228_039.JPG: The Incidental Cause of the Star-Spangled Banner (1814) Following the Battle of Bladensburg and the sacking and burning of Washington, D.C., during the war of 1812, British troops reentered the town of Upper Marlboro on August 26, 1814. It was at this point that some stragglers were arrested and imprisoned by Dr. William Beanes and two other Upper Marlboro residents. This act angered British General Ross, and in retaliation he had Dr. Beanes and his accomplices taken captive as prisoners of war. By August 30, 1814, the British had retraced their invasion route to Benedict and were back on board their ships headed for Baltimore and the siege of Fort McHenry. Although his fellow prisoners were released, Dr. Beanes remained captive on board a British ship that proceeded to Baltimore Harbor. Francis Scott Key came aboard the same ship in an attempt to negotiate the release of Dr. Beanes, his family friend and physician. While witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry on September 13 and September 14, 1814, Key was inspired to write The Star Spangled Banner.
7. BLADWP_121228_047.JPG: First Unmanned Balloon Ascension (1784) On June 17, 1784, the first documented balloon ascension in America took place in a field near the town of Bladensburg. The man responsible for this remarkable event was an enterprising Prince George's County innkeeper and lawyer named Peter Carnes. Carnes conducted the balloon ascension as a public exhibition. It was originally intended to be a tethered, manned ascent, but while the balloon was being brought closer to town for the exhibition, a gust of wind blew the passenger basket against a fence and damaged it severely. Because of this mishap, it was unsafe for anyone to go aloft with the balloon, so a tethered, unmanned balloon ascent took place instead. However, one week later Carnes conducted another public exhibition of his balloon. This time the location was Baltimore, and the tethered balloon was sent aloft with a 13 year-old boy as a passenger.
8. BLADWP_121228_068.JPG: Encampment of Coxey's Army (1894) In the wake of the economic "Panic of 1893", social reformer Jacob Coxey and his "Army of the Commonwealth," consisting of approximately 500 unemployed workers, marched from Ohio to Washington, D.C., to demonstrate at the Capitol for unemployment relief. Following their march on Washington, Coxey and his Army were invited to stay at the George Washington House Hotel in Bladensburg by its proprietor. On May 14, 1894, the group's rank-and-file members camped in the hotel's backyard while Jacob Coxey, his wife, his infant son Legal Tender Coxey, and his assistant Carl Browne were given free rooms. Floodwaters forced Coxey's Army to flee Bladensburg on May 20, 1894. Jacob Coxey (1854-1951) ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1894, 1916, and 1942 and for president in 1932 and 1936.
9. BLADWP_121228_072.JPG: Colonial Ropemaking One of the maritime industries that was present in the colonial port of Bladensburg was the making of rope and various other types of cordage. In colonial and nineteenth century America, this activity took place in a manufacturing facility known as a ropewalk. A ropewalk was an extremely long and narrow building, in which rope was made. Workers walked the length of the building in the course of laying down strands of rope. The following advertisement, promoting the ropewalk of prominent merchant and town founder Christopher Lowndes, appeared in the June 26, 1755, issue of the Maryland Gazette newspaper: "To Be Sold by the Subscriber, at his Rope-Walk in Bladensburg, All Sorts of Cables, standing and running Rigging of every Sort and Size; also Spun-Yarn, Marline, Housing, Amber-line, deep See-Lines, Log-Lines, Lead-Lines, and any Kind of Rope that can be made of Hemp; likewise Sail-Twine, Whipping Twine, Seine-Twine, Drum Lines, &c. Any person wanting a Quantity, not under Five Ton, shall have it delivered at their Landing on this Bay, at the same Price it sells for at the Walk; and all Orders shall be strictly observed, both as to Size and Length." -- Christopher Lowndes A portion of the Plymouth Cordage Company, a ropewalk similar to the one that existed in Bladensburg, in on exhibit at Mystic Seaport -- The Museum of America and the Sea -- in Mystic, Connecticut. The original building, which measured 1,050 feet in length, was built in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1824.
10. BLADWP_121228_077.JPG: The First Telegraph Line (1844) In 1844, the first magnetic telegraph line was being constructed between Washington and Baltimore by its inventor, Samuel F. B. Morse. The line followed the railroad tracks from Washington, through Bladensburg, and on to Baltimore. Congress had appropriated $30,000 in 1843 for the experimental telegraph line, and construction on it commenced in the spring of the following year. One of the first tests of the unfinished line occurred just north of Bladensburg near Riversdale, the estate of Charles B. Calvert. National Intelligencer, Washington, Wednesday, April 10, 1844. The Magnetic Telegraph. Considerable progress has been made in the construction of the Magnetic Telegraph, the invention of Professor S. F. B. Morse, upon which a test experiment is being made under the authority of an act of Congress. The line of conductors is constructed as far on from Washington to a point on the line of the railroad opposite to the residence of C. B. Calvert, Esq., (six miles,) and the work is making progress at the rate of about a mile a day. A trial of it was made yesterday, as the cars passed Mr. Calvert's by communicating the fact of their passage to the point at which the line begin in Washington, and an answer, acknowledging the receipt of the intelligence, was received back in two or three seconds.
11. BLADWP_121228_081.JPG: Bladensburg Floods (1742-1954) Floods were practically a way of life in Bladensburg until the late 1950s, when an intensive flood control project was completed. Noted attorney and author William Wirt, who was born in Bladensburg in 1772, makes mention of the floods at Bladensburg in his unfinished autobiography. Wirt wrote: The house nearest the Eastern Branch [Anacostia River] was occupied by old Mr. Martin - I know not why. The Eastern Branch is subject to heavy freshets [floodwaters], which have flowed up to Mr. Martin's house and sometimes overflowed the whole village. One of the surprising spectacles to me in those days was this old man wading up to his waist, during a freshet, and harpooning a sturgeon. In the twentieth century, some of the more memorable floods occurred in 1933, 1942, and 1954, when the roads in Bladensburg were covered by as much as eight feet of water. Relief came in 1954 with the start of the Anacostia River Flood Control and Navigation Project. This ambitious $11.4 million public works project involved the combined efforts of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission, The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, the Prince George's County Government, and the Maryland State Roads Commission. The Anacostia River Flood Control and Navigation Project included straightening sections of the river and dredging its channel to a depth of six feet at mean low tide, as well as constructing levees on both sides of the river, ranging from 3-18 feet in height and up to 188 feet in width. Drainage channels and pumping stations were also built, and the new bridges and highways were constructed. The successful completion of the project was heralded by the dedication and opening in 1959 of the new "Prince George's Marina," more commonly called the Bladensburg Marina.
12. BLADWP_121228_094.JPG: Railroad History in Bladensburg In its infancy in America, the railroad came to Bladensburg. In 1833, construction began in Baltimore on the 32-mile-long Washington line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. It originally passed directly through Bladensburg, however, the main line was later altered to bypass the town, leaving it serviced only by a secondary line. The first train on the new Washington line ran on August 25, 1835. Eight hundred passengers, including numerous dignitaries, boarded 18 cars pulled by four new locomotives. They rode to Bladensburg where they were met by a trainful of Washington city officials, who then accompanied them to the terminal in Washington, D.C. On April 29, 1851, Bladensburg once again witnessed railroad history. On that day, a railroad car powered by electricity from batteries (in a sense, a locomotive) traveled from Washington to Bladensburg and back again. This first electric railroad car was the invention of Dr. Charles Grafton Page, senior examiner for the U.S. Patent Office, professor of chemistry and pharmacy, and public treasurer.
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Directly Related Pages: Other pages with content (MD -- Bladensburg -- Waterfront Park) directly related to this one: [Display ALL photos on one page]:
- 2017_MD_Bladensburg_WPark: MD -- Bladensburg -- Waterfront Park (142 photos from 2017)
- 2011_MD_Bladensburg_WPark: MD -- Bladensburg -- Waterfront Park (53 photos from 2011)
Sort of Related Pages: Still more pages here that have content somewhat related to this one :
- 2017_MD_Bladensburg_WParkVC: MD -- Bladensburg -- Waterfront Park -- War of 1812 Visitor Center (125 photos from 2017)
- 2014_MD_Bladensburg_WParkVC: MD -- Bladensburg -- Waterfront Park -- War of 1812 Visitor Center (126 photos from 2014)
- 2012_MD_Bladensburg_WParkVC: MD -- Bladensburg -- Waterfront Park -- War of 1812 Visitor Center (42 photos from 2012)
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2012 photos: Equipment this year: My mainstays were the Fuji S100fs, Nikon D7000, and the new Fuji X-S1. I also used an underwater Fuji XP50 and a Nikon D600. The first three cameras all broke this year and had to be repaired. Trips this year: three Civil War Trust conferences (Shepherdstown, WV, Richmond, VA, and Williamsburg, VA), a week-long family reunion cruise of the Caribbean, another week-long family reunion in the Wisconsin Dells (with lots of in-transit time in Ohio and Indiana), and my 7th consecutive San Diego Comic-Con trip (including side trips to Zion, Bryce, the Grand Canyon, etc). Ego strokes: I had a picture of Miss DC, Ashley Boalch, published in the Washington Post. I had a photograph of the George Segal San Francisco Holocaust memorial used as the cover of Quebec Francais (issue 165). Not being able to read French, I'm not entirely sure what the article is about but, hey! And I guess what could be considered to be a positive thing, my site is now established enough that spammers have noticed it and I had to block 17,000 file description postings for Viagra and whatever else.. Number of photos taken this year: just below 410,000.
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