Piscataway, Maryland

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Piscataway in Maryland, USA is one of the oldest European colonized towns in Maryland. The Piscataway Creek provided sea transportation for export of tobacco.

The town was created in 1706 when the colonial Maryland Legislature authorized surveying and laying out the towns of Queen Anne Town, Nottingham, Mill Town, Piscataway, Aire (also known as Broad Creek) and Upper Marlboro (then known as Marlborough Town).^[1]^[2]^[3]

In 1747, the legislature tried to improve the quality and the method of marketing tobacco, then the major crop of the area, and established a formal system of tobacco inspection and quality control. The town was home to one of seven state tobacco warehouses built in Prince George's County.^[3] During Prohibition, the areas was known for moonshine.

The creek is now silted in and no longer navigable. A number of historic houses still survive in the middle of the little town, including a former hotel/tavern, although the last business (a small store) closed in the 1970s. The St. Mary's Catholic church, school, and cemetery are a prominent feature of the town, and include the small 1904 church and a larger 1988 sanctuary. Its parish boundaries cover the largest territory of any Catholic parish in the entire Washington Archdiocese, including portions of five separate postal towns/communities. A large development called "The Preserve" is partially opened and is eventually planned to have 1,100 single-family homes. A short bypass road recently opened around the community.

The poem "The Sot-Weed Factor," by Ebenezer Cook, mentions details of life in Piscataway during ancient times. The same subject was also written about in modern times under the same title by John Barth.^[4]

A "Committee of Correspondence" plotted the American Revolution in Piscataway.

[edit] References

^ Baltz, Shirley Vlasak (1984). A Chronicle of Belair. Bowie, Maryland: Bowie Heritage Committee, pages 4-7.
^ African-American Sites Along the Patuxent River: Queen Anne Town. Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Retrieved on 05/04/2007.
^ ^a ^b Virta, Alan (1984). Prince George's County: A Pictorial History. Norfolk, Virginia: The Donning Company, -40.
^ *"The Sot-Weed Factor," Renaissance Edition