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Please enjoy our brief history of Bladensburg, MD.

A Brief History of Bladensburg, Maryland

An immigrant who earned his passage to the Colonies as an indentured servant in the middle 1600's at one time owned the land which became Garrison's Landing, now the Town of Bladensburg.

Ninian Beall gained his freedom in 1677 and was given a parcel of land in what was known as Terrapin Thicket (now New Carrollton) because of the many turtles which roamed its marshy terrain. By the time of his death in 1717, at the age of 92, he had increased his small holdings to thousands of acres extending from Upper Marlboro to Georgetown, which at the time was still part of Prince George's County.

Beall acquired the land which would become Bladensburg in 1696, and reportedly presented it to his daughter, Rebecca, as a wedding present when she married Charles Calvert. The land later came into the possession of Elizabeth Calvert, and the tract was renamed Garrison. The river landing which served the tract became known as Garrison('s) Landing.

In 1718, a Presbyterian church was erected on land just south of Garrison's Landing. The land had been set aside for just such a purpose by Ninian Beall, himself a staunch Presbyterian.

A tavern was built on what is now Baltimore Boulevard in 1732, although what it was called then is somewhat confusing. Some accounts indicate that it was called Indian Maid, possibly a reference to Indians who had roamed its boundaries prior to 1608, when Captain John Smith had sailed up the eastern branch of the Anacostia River and had seen native warriors and their families along the river's swampy banks. Other accounts say it was called Indian Queen Tavern, which is now known as the George Washington House. This latter account is the generally accepted one.

Whether one is talking about the same tavern or about two different buildings which were on the same site, there is no disagreement about the development of the Indian Queen Tavern/George Washington House. By 1760, Jacob Wirt had completed a complex at the tavern site which included a brick store, billiard hall, tavern, counting house, blacksmith shop and other buildings.

George Washington reportedly stayed there on his way to the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia in 1774 and again in 1790. The tavern, which changed hands a number of times, counted as its guests over the years such other notables as John C. Calhoun, Daniel Webster, Henry Clay and Commodore Stephen Decatur. It is also said that men who traveled from Virginia and Washington in the early 1800's sometimes spent the night there in order to arrive at the nearby Bladensburg Dueling Ground (located in what is now Colmar Manor) at the break of dawn to settle affairs of honor. One such duel in 1820 was between Decatur and James Barron, and resulted in Decatur's death. Dueling was outlawed by Congress in 1839, although duels continued to be fought in the "Bladensburg" Dueling Grounds until after the Civil War.

Cannon balls from the Battle of Bladensburg in 1814 are said to be embedded in the walls of the George Washington House, which still stands today.

The Palo Alto House/Tavern was erected in 1734 across the street from and one block north of the Indian Queen Tavern. Cock fights were held in the cocking main near the Palo Alto, and many attendees at the fights and at a nearby race track, including President Andrew Jackson in the 1800's, would stop in for refreshments before and afterward. The term "cocktail" reportedly originated there.

At the time of its founding, Bladensburg was a thriving port with a depth of 40 feet of water in the river. It was easily accessible by oceangoing ships and shipped large quantities of tobacco abroad, second only to Yorktown, Virginia, in the amount of tonnage shipped from its wharves.