7/13/2013
I can’t blame Patricia for
this really, but there’s always this one place super out of the way from
everywhere else, and I have to go there anyway even though there’s no easy way.
It’s not like I could just skip it, right? Right? I always try to hide this
from Laura until it’s too late, but she always finds out and yells at me. [Yeah, I just love his “Oh, it’s on the way” or “It’s a
little bit off the beaten path but not by much.” Lies. Lies. They are all lies.
He does this to me every time.]
Anyway, this time the
outlier was St. Mary’s – the site of Maryland’s first colonial settlement and 2
hours from anything else worth seeing before we die. It was a scenic drive
anyway, and on the way I got to read some good gas station graffiti. The sign
inside said, “Do not write on the walls”, so someone had politely written
below, “Ok. No problem.”
Time for a short history
lesson if you’re not up on Maryland’s unique colonial history: In the early
1600s, persecution of Catholics began in England in the wake of Henry VIII’s
split from the Catholic Church several years earlier. Eventually Catholics
weren’t allowed to hold any positions of real power. One of King Charles I’s
key advisors – George Calvert – was a Catholic who refused to give up his
religion. The king fired him, but granted his family land in the New World as a
sort of payment for his years of good service. (Not a bad severance package, if
you ask me.) The Calvert family founded Maryland as a safe haven for Catholics,
although non-Catholics were also invited. The Toleration Act of Maryland
protected religious liberty for all Christian settlers. (This was quite a few
years before the more well-known religious protections in Pennsylvania.)
Unfortunately, the Toleration Act didn’t last long. Religious conflict
continued in England, and the British colonies weren’t spared the effects. The
so-called Glorious Revolution secured Protestant William of Orange on the
British throne and all pretense of toleration for Catholicism was cast aside.
In Maryland, the Calverts were stripped of their power, and the Toleration Act
was abolished and replaced by a series of anti-Catholic laws. The capital was
moved to Annapolis, St. Mary’s was abandoned, and all signs of Maryland’s
Catholic beginnings were essentially erased.[Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz]
Still awake? [Nope.]Ok. We eventually reached “Historic” St.
Mary’s – a reconstruction of that abandoned colonial village with costumed
people doing colonial things. Well, we saw one guy. (The temperature was in the
mid-90s, so I don’t blame most of them from hiding.) For some reason she can’t
explain, Laura likes this kind of place, which is kind of weird because she
usually hates “fake” stuff. [I can explain it. I
still like playing ‘dress-up’.]
We rented a little wagon
for Philip and Kathleen to help us get around – not bad for $3.
Daniel navigated.
The costumed guy was
really nice. He worked the printing press and did a little presentation for the
kids.
The point of pride for
Historic St. Mary’s is the recreation of the Dove, one of the 2 ships (along with the Ark) that brought the first Maryland settlers in the 1600s. There
were two costumed guys here too, and they took us aboard.
The kids were allowed to
“sleep” in the sailor’s bunks.
We had a Laura-designed
picnic by the shore to finish out our experience. Very settlerish.
Maybe I’m biased, but it
did seem odd to me that the fact Maryland was founded as a Catholic colony was
distinctly deemphasized. In fact, the only reference I saw was in a sign
explaining that the number of Catholics in Maryland had always been fewer in
number than Protestants. This is factually true and no secret (Remember, non-Catholics
were encouraged to settle), but certainly Maryland’s intended purpose as a safe
harbor for Catholics deserves mention as a piece of colonial history. We went
to a Shaker town that doesn’t have any Shakers in it anymore. We heard about
Shakers. Not every settler to Massachusetts was a Pilgrim, but I’m sure they
get a mention in out there. Why is this different?
It was Saturday night, so
we had to get our Catholic on anyway. We went to Mass at the local St.
Cecilia’s. (St. Cecilia’s in St. Mary’s… kind of confusing.) It was the smallest
church I’ve ever been in, but the priests were awesome. There were three at the
service, and they were all clearly very passionate about their congregation,
regardless of the size. On the wall hung a faded tapestry depicting those first
American Catholics landing not far from this tiny church. History is a fickle
thing. [It was a small parish, so we were
approached by a nice Catholic family.
The mother asked us if we were new to the parish or just visiting. Turns out they were homeschoolers. We had a very nice chat.]
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