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“Bite-Size Bits of Local, National, and Global History”
Takoma Park in Montgomery County, Maryland — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
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Living in Takoma Park

 
 
Living in Takoma Park Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Allen C. Browne, August 12, 2012
1. Living in Takoma Park Marker
Inscription.
Humans first crossed the Bering Strait from Asia between 25,000-14,000 years ago. People may have started living in the Maryland area very soon after the crossing. This was during the Pleistocene Epoch when giant mammals such as saber-toothed cats, mammoths and mastodons also shared the land.

Around 11,000 years ago the earth experienced a massive climate change. As the earth warmed, most of the giant mammals became extinct but people survived by adapting in may ways, resulting in the development of villages and a less nomadic lifestyle.

A thousand years ago, there were many America Indian tribes in Maryland. They grew beans, hunted and fished, and traded extensively with each other. The Piscataway are the tribes that are the most likely to have been living here and on the land that is now Takoma Park when Europeans started settling the New World.

Not much is known about American Indians in Maryland. Starting in the 1600's, many Piscataway and other local tribes left their land and moved along the Potomac River because of disease outbreaks or their land being stolen or 'bought' by Europeans. In the 1700's the Maryland Assembly set up reservations on less desirable land like Zekiah Swamp and, by later that century almost all American Indians had left Maryland, most likely to New York and eventually Canada.

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Some of their decendents live here today.

Starting in the 1800's, Benjamin Gilbert, a Washington DC real estate developer, bought 90 acres of land around a small train station located on the B&O Railroad's Metropolitan Branch. Gilbert developed Takoma Park and marketed it to city officeworkers as country living, a 6-mile commute from the city, with clean water and fresh air.
 
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Native AmericansRailroads & StreetcarsSettlements & Settlers.
 
Location. This marker has been replaced by another marker nearby. It was located near 38° 58.969′ N, 77° 1.285′ W. Marker was in Takoma Park, Maryland, in Montgomery County. Marker could be reached from Fenton Street, on the right when traveling south. The marker lay along the Metropolitan Branch Trail near the corner of Fenton Street and Takoma Avenue. Touch for map. Marker was in this post office area: Takoma Park MD 20912, United States of America. Touch for directions.
 
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this location. A different marker also named Living in Takoma Park (a few steps from this marker); The Metropolitan Branch & Takoma Park (within shouting distance of this marker); Belle Ziegler Park (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); Walt Penney Field

Living in Takoma Park Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Allen C. Browne, July 2, 2011
2. Living in Takoma Park Marker
(about 600 feet away); Jesup Blair House (approx. ¼ mile away); Silver Spring Experienced by a Mother and Child, 1861-1865 (approx. ¼ mile away); The Blair Family and their Silver Spring Homes (approx. ¼ mile away); The Blair Family and the Civil War (approx. ¼ mile away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Takoma Park.
 
Related marker. Click here for another marker that is related to this marker. This marker has been replaced with the linked marker which has different content.
 
Detail of Benjamin Gilbert from the Living in Takoma Park Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Allen C. Browne, August 12, 2012
3. Detail of Benjamin Gilbert from the Living in Takoma Park Marker
Living in Takoma Park Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Allen C. Browne, August 12, 2012
4. Living in Takoma Park Marker
Engraving of American Indian Town 1588 image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Allen C. Browne, August 12, 2012
5. Engraving of American Indian Town 1588
Close-up of image on marker
Takoma Station and Cedar Street Underpass 1918 image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Allen C. Browne, August 12, 2012
6. Takoma Station and Cedar Street Underpass 1918
Close-up of photo on marker
 
 
Credits. This page was last revised on May 29, 2021. It was originally submitted on August 13, 2012, by Allen C. Browne of Silver Spring, Maryland. This page has been viewed 641 times since then and 3 times this year. Photos:   1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on August 13, 2012, by Allen C. Browne of Silver Spring, Maryland.   5, 6. submitted on August 24, 2014, by Allen C. Browne of Silver Spring, Maryland. • Bill Pfingsten was the editor who published this page.

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Mar. 19, 2024