Calvert County, Maryland

In 1608, Captain John Smith was the first European to sail past Calvert County while exploring the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. On his map, he accurately represented the Patuxent River as well as several Native-American villages. The area was described as wooded and had been occupied by the Patuxent people who were overall peaceful to the early Europeans. Their diet was composed of fish from the river and corn cultivated in man-made clearings with a supplement of game from the forests. These clearings were very desirable and conflict occurred when the settlers attempted to seize these areas from the Native Americans. Leonard Calvert, the first Governor of the Maryland, organized troops of armed men in 1639 to protect the settlers.[4]

The first written mention of European settlers on the northern shore of the Patuxent River is found in the records of the Maryland Assembly in 1642. A Henry Bishop "stood up in the Assembly and exhibited himself as a Burgess of St. Leonard's and pleaded that it be acknowledged as a Hundred" near St. Leonard's Creek. This shows that European settlement along the river and its tributaries had been taking place for several years already.[4]

By 1646, the colonists had spread all along the Patuxent River and up the Bay side of Calvert County. Most of the transportation of goods and people took place on the water as the land was occupied by dense forests. Large creeks were navigated by sailing boats and plantations used their wharves to ship good. Ferry services were setup across the river and the bay with rates fixed by law.[4]

The county was originally named Charles County (much larger and unrelated to the present-day Charles County)[5] in 1650 when Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore established it with Robert Brooke as its "Commander". It was named after Charles I of England. At the time, the new county included the current area of Calvert County as well as the southern and western shores of the Patuxent River up to its headwaters. The county seat was called Calverton (sometimes called Battle Town) and was located on the north shore at the mouth of Battle Creek until 1725.[6] In 1658, the county was renamed Calvert County.[7] It also included all of Prince George's County and parts of Montgomery County.[4]

Puritans coming from Virginia had settled in Anne Arundel County and overflowed into Calvert County. All new settlers in Maryland were required to take an oath of allegiance to Lord Baltimore per the "Conditions of Plantation". This was a major point of tension between the Puritan settlers and Lord Baltimore. The civil war was ongoing in Britain where the Puritans had gained control. Oliver Cromwell dismissed Parliament there and assumed the role of Lord Protector. In 1652, he sent a force of 750 men to subdue the plantations of the Chesapeake Bay under the new government. Virginia and Maryland surrendered to the Puritans and Robert Brooke cooperated with the Puritans.[4]

On July 3, 1654, Lord Baltimore abolished Charles County and removed all authority from Brooke. He re-established the county as Calvert County with the same territory. However, the Puritan Assembly was in power and changed the name to Patuxent County on October 20, 1654, after the Patuxent River and to remove any connection with the Calvert family. The county kept this name under the Puritan regime until 1658 when the name of Calvert County was restored.[4]

According to the local "Trail of Souls Project",[8] in 1860 there were 4,609 enslaved people, 1,841 free people of color for a total county population of 10,000 people.[9]

Once made up primarily of farms and tobacco fields, the county's agriculture transformed in the mid-1990s. The prices for tobacco were declining. The State of Maryland instituted the Tobacco Buyout program which offered farmers to transition to different crops and away from tobacco. 195 contracts were signed between Calvert county farmers and property owners and The Southern Maryland Agricultural Development Commission. The funds were used for infrastructure and equipment upgrades. Today the county produces fruits, vegetables, meat as well as other crops.[10]

The county has become a fast-growing exurban neighbor of Washington. Many home prices have nearly quadrupled in the past decade, with many four-bedroom homes in the northern half of the county averaging over $1,000,000. The popular weekend resort towns of Solomons, Chesapeake Beach, and North Beach are notable.

The county has numerous properties on the National Register of Historic Places.[11]

Calvert County is governed by a Board composed of five elected County Commissioners, the traditional form of county government in the State of Maryland. They meet in Prince Frederick, the county seat.[12]

Until 2018, Calvert County was the only county in Maryland that still had a 100% all-volunteer Fire, Rescue, and EMS service. However, on January 20, 2018, the Calvert County Board of County Commissioners approved a phased-in approach of hiring paramedics, starting in fiscal year 2019.[13]

In the early 19th Century, in the contests between the Hamiltonian Federalist and Jeffersonian Democratic-Republican parties of the First Party System, it backed the Federalists four out of seven times, only going for the Democratic-Republicans in their greatest landslides of 1804 and 1816 as well as the 1820 election in which President James Monroe ran effectively unopposed.[15]

In the 1824 election which began the second party system, the people of Calvert County voted for John Quincy Adams over Andrew Jackson, who would go on to help found the Democratic Party before the 1828 election. Up until the Civil War, Calvert County voted only for the candidates of the Whig Party, the Democrat's primary opposition. After that party's dissolution in the early 1850s, it supported the Nativist Know-Nothing party in 1856 and the largely Whiggish Constitutional Union party in 1860.

In the Civil War election of 1864, Calvert swung sharply along with the rest of southern Maryland to give over 90% of the vote to Democratic challenger George McClellan, and again to the Democratic standard-bearer Horatio Seymour four years later. The brief Democratic era was likely due to strong Confederate sympathy in Southern Maryland.[16]

In Presidential elections, Calvert County has historically and at present leaned strongly towards the Republican Party. It was won by that party in every election from 1884 to 1936 – with the sequence broken in 1940 due to local support for Franklin Delano Roosevelt's efforts at helping Britain in World War II[17] – and in modern times no Democratic presidential nominee has won Calvert County since Jimmy Carter did so in 1976.

Since then, Calvert County has remained mostly aligned with the Republican Party. It briefly turned in favor of the Democrats in the dealigned 1960s and 70s, after which it became a Republican stronghold in the 1980s. In modern elections, it leans Republican though Democrats have gained votes. President Joe Biden came only 5% from winning the county in 2020,[18] the closest any Democrat has come since Jimmy Carter carried it in 1976.

It is part of the 5th Congressional District, along with much of Southern Maryland. The current representative is Democratic former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.

A geological formation spanning across Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware is named after the county: the Calvert Formation. It is visible within the Calvert Cliffs State Park where it is exposed in cliffs. Located on the western shore of the county, Calvert Cliffs are famous for their fossil deposits and are a popular collecting location of marine vertebrates, shark teeth, birds as well as fresh water and marine turtles and tortoises. Some crocodile teeth have also been found which indicates that they may have been nesting in the sands at the time the formation was created.[23]

The county landscape is composed of three platforms: the Talbot Terrace, the Wicomico Terrace, and the Sunderland Terrace (also known as the Ridge). These terraces correspond to three periods where the water level rose and later fell, leaving sand deposits. The oldest was created during the Miocene Age when the entire county peninsula found itself underwater. Marine deposits, clay, and mud containing sea shells and fossils were left behind leading to what we see at Calvert Cliffs today after the sea receded and the waves started erroring the deposit. These three terraces are visible in various parts of the county and are most obvious on the Bay side of the county where they rise to a height of 100 feet.[4]

Calvert County lies in the humid subtropical climate zone (Cfa) in the Köppen climate classification, with hot, humid summers and mild to chilly winters with plentiful precipitation year-round. In the Trewartha climate classification the county is classified as oceanic (Do) except in the extreme south which is Cf. Its proximity to the Chesapeake Bay has a moderating effect on temperatures compared with locales further inland. Average monthly temperatures in Prince Frederick range from 35.9 °F in January to 77.9 °F in July.[24]

• Anne Arundel County (north)
• Prince George's County (northwest)
• Charles County (west)
• Dorchester County (east)
• Talbot County (northeast)
• St. Mary's County (south)

As of the census[30] of 2000, there were 74,563 people, 25,447 households, and 20,154 families residing in the county. The population density was 346 people per square mile (134 people/km²). There were 27,576 housing units at an average density of 128 per square mile (49/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 83.93% White, 13.11% Black or African American, 0.30% Native American, 0.88% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.49% from other races, and 1.27% from two or more races. 1.52% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 15.5% were of Irish, 15.0% German, 12.0% English, 11.5% United States or American and 7.1% Italian ancestry.

There were 25,447 households, out of which 41.70% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64.80% were married couples living together, 9.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.80% were non-families. 16.30% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.70% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.91 and the average family size was 3.26.

In the county, the population was spread out, with 29.60% under the age of 18, 6.40% from 18 to 24, 31.70% from 25 to 44, 23.40% from 45 to 64, and 8.90% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 97.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.00 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $65,945, and the median income for a family was $71,545 (these figures had risen to $88,989 and $100,229 respectively as of a 2007 estimate[31]). Males had a median income of $48,664 versus $32,265 for females. The per capita income for the county was $25,410. About 3.10% of families and 4.40% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.10% of those under age 18 and 5.70% of those age 65 or over.

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 88,737 people, 30,873 households, and 23,732 families residing in the county.[32] The population density was 416.3 inhabitants per square mile (160.7/km²). There were 33,780 housing units at an average density of 158.5 per square mile (61.2/km²).[33] The racial makeup of the county was 81.4% white, 13.4% black or African American, 1.4% Asian, 0.4% American Indian, 0.7% from other races, and 2.7% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 2.7% of the population.[32] In terms of ancestry, 19.6% were German, 17.6% were Irish, 13.9% were English, 8.4% were Italian, and 7.4% were American.[34]

Of the 30,873 households, 40.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.6% were married couples living together, 11.3% had a female householder with no husband present, 23.1% were non-families, and 18.1% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.85 and the average family size was 3.23. The median age was 40.1 years.[32]

The median income for a household in the county was $90,838 and the median income for a family was $102,638. Males had a median income of $66,909 versus $49,337 for females. The per capita income for the county was $36,323. About 2.8% of families and 4.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.3% of those under age 18 and 5.3% of those age 65 or over.[35]

According to the 2010 Census the racial and ethnic make-up of the Calvert County Population was 79.65% Non-Hispanic whites, 13.44% blacks, 0.37% Native Americans, 1.42% Asians, 0.05% Pacific Islanders, 0.12% Non-Hispanics reporting some other race, 2.40% Non-Hispanics reporting multiple races and 2.75% Hispanic.

According to the county's 2019 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,[36] the top employers in the county are:

• Chesapeake Beach
• North Beach

The Census Bureau recognizes the following census-designated places in the county:

Dunkirk, Huntingtown, Lusby, Owings, Prince Frederick, St. Leonard and Solomons have all been designated by Calvert County government as being "town centers". The "town center" designation means while these communities may not have incorporated central governments, they do have specified boundaries surrounding the central business and residential areas for zoning purposes. The reason behind the "town center" designation is to cluster new development within established areas with existing infrastructure, thus discouraging urban sprawl. The implementation of the "town center" concept in Calvert County over the past two decades has for the most part been successful in preserving rural and agricultural areas outside the designated "town centers", and stands as a key example of the smart growth planning strategy.[37][38]