SIGN: Site of "Old Baltimore"

We’re going way back in time this week, back to one of the earliest settlements in Harford County. A mere 51 years after Capt. John Smith explored the area, people began migrating here.

In 1659, Baltimore County was created. At the time, it included what would become Harford County as well as Cecil County. It wasn’t until 1674 that a formal county seat, with a courthouse and a jail, was established per an Act of the Provincial Assembly.* After some debate among the Upper House and the Lower House of Representatives, it was decided that Old Baltimore would be that site.

Old Baltimore was on the east side of Bush River, on the opposite side of the river from where the "Site of 'Old Baltimore'" sign stands. The town’s exact location is now on land owned by , near Chilbury Point, and is part of its testing range.

However, according to one historical account, Old Baltimore may have been functioning as the county seat even earlier than 1674. Even before it officially became a county seat, there is a record of court being held at the home of Capt. Thomas Howell in 1661.

“There was at that time, as appears by the Map of Maryland and Virginia, prepared by Augustine Herman in 1670 http://jlmeek.com/chap/images/herman_s.jpg, and by other early maps, a town on the east side of Bush River called Baltimore, and there is no reason to question the accuracy of the tradition that this town was then the county seat, and that this court house was the first established County Seat,” according to Judge Albert Ritchie, in the Maryland Historical Magazine, Vol. 1, 1906.

One of the first settlers at Old Baltimore was William Osborne, who “acquired the land in 1667 and built one of the first houses at Old Baltimore,” according to C. Milton Wright’s Our Harford Heritage.” Osborne was also the owner of a ferry that carried travelers between the eastern and western shores of Bush River. “Old House Point” was the name of this place.

Following the 1674 Act, a proper courthouse and jail were built and the land was to be appropriated from the Osborne family, using the English law of eminent domain. Although the construction took place about 1675, the Osbornes didn’t get around to signing over their land until they were summoned to do so in 1683.

An act in 1676 provided for the establishment of inns, or “ordinaries,” as they were called at the time. One was constructed at the courthouse, presumably for the sake of convenience. Ironically, one of the last cases heard at the courthouse in 1692 was that of innkeeper Thomas Heath. He was suing for the tobacco owed him for the 1687-89 expenses of the justices. 

The native Susquehannocks were still a part of life at this time. In 1679, it was decided that to warn of their approach, three shots were to be fired until everyone in the area had replied in a like fashion to the alert. 

In History of Harford County Maryland, Walter Preston recounted a colorful tale of a boy being abducted by the natives. As legend has it, William Osborne’s eldest son was “stolen by the Susquehannocks.” The colonists went in search of the boy, but he was never seen again. However, the story goes on to say that Osborne was told years later that his son was alive “and had become a chief among the red men.” 

By 1683, the courthouse needed repairs and, in addition, the carpenter was tasked with building pillories, stocks and a whipping post. Just because they were living in a nearly uncivilized, sparsely populated outpost was no reason not to have all the comforts of home.

Old Baltimore would be the county seat until 1691,* when it was moved to a fork of the Gunpowder River, called Sim’s Point. The county seat would be shuffled around four times over the course of 91 years before Bel Air would finally claim that title in 1782, about nine years after Harford County became its own entity.

As far as Old Baltimore being made a port of entry in 1683, the Bush River proved to be a poor one. Tobacco farming was the main industry of the area, with the intention of shipping it to England, according to George Mercer, chief of public affairs for APG. He explained that the Bush River silted in and the boats couldn’t get to the docks, thus the port was moved twice more for the same reason until it was located at Baltimore on the Patapsco. Eventually Baltimore Town would grow into the port of Baltimore it is today.

All that’s left of Old Baltimore are the buried foundations of a couple of buildings and a handful of graves. According to the Maryland Historical Trust, “her wharves rotted and her harbor filled up with mud. Old Baltimore has entirely disappeared.”

This sign is located on Rte. 40 at a small roadside park just outside of Aberdeen, near Otter Point. It was erected by the Maryland Historical Trust and the Maryland State Highway Administration.

*Please note: The dates on this sign are somewhat misleading.