Meandering Through
A
“Strong Deeds, Gentle Words
rtifacts dating from more than 10,000 years ago have been found in the region now Maryland, once the homeland of Paleo-Indians. The land was later inhabited by Native American tribes such as the Lenape, Nanticoke and Powhatan. In 1608 the first documented European explorer, John Smith, sailed to the area on an expeditionary voyage. Twenty-four years later the 2nd Baron Baltimore was granted a charter for a colony in Maryland. It was named for King Charles’ wife, Queen Henrietta Maria. The first 234 colonists arrived in 1634. They found the land filled with dunes, pine groves, rivers, the Atlantic Ocean, freshwater and marine Harriet Beecher Stowe pubfish, 400 bird types and 93 lished a book in 1852 that mammal species. #VisitMaryallegedly caused Lincoln to land say of her that she was “the little woman who wrote the Maryland has 24 counties, book that started this great the largest of which is Montwar”. Uncle Tom’s Cabin gomery County. It was created blends narratives of several at the Constitutional Convenenslaved individuals with the tion of 1776 from a portion of most prominent being Josiah Frederick County. It takes its Henson as the titular Uncle name from Revolutionary War Tom. The term, “Uncle Tom,” General Richard Montgomery is generally taken to depict a who died in 1775 attacking subservient person who curries Quebec. @Thinkmoco.com favor in all circumstances and -78- | ExtendedWeekendGetaways ~ February, 2024
at every opportunity. Josiah Henson withstood the harshest conditions and endured to become a self-emancipated Methodist minister, abolitionist and Underground Railroad conductor. In 2021 the Josiah Henson Museum and Park opened with a mission to paint an accurate portrait of Henson, his life and ante-bellum plantation life for the owners and the enslaved. Tours and educational programs advance the goals.
