Mount Calvert Historical and Archaeological Park

Mount Calvert Historical and Archaeological Park. . A Confluence of Three Cultures , Mount Calvert Historical and Archaeological Park overlooks the confluence of the Patuxent River and the Western Branch. A series of interpretive panels describes the archaeological and historical resources from the three cultures that lived here: American Indian, European-American, and African-American., Since 1996, archaeologists have recovered thousands of artifacts left by the inhabitants of Mount Calvert over the centuries. Archaeologists are piecing together glimpses of life at Mount Calvert that span 8,000 years., American Indians , Archaeological evidence shows that American Indians were present at Mount Calvert from the Archaic Period (7500-1000 BC) through the Woodland Period (1000 BC-1600 AD). Early Archaic hunters and gatherers visited the upper Patuxent to harvest the river's resources. Later, Woodland farmers lived in permanent villages along the river., Prince George's County's First Town , Beginning in the 1680s, the Maryland General Assembly created towns in the Chesapeake Bay region to encourage settlement. In 1684, Mount Calvert became a town site. When Prince George's County was established in 1696 Mount Calvert was re-named Charles Town and designated as the county seat. In 1721 the county seat was moved to Upper Marlboro., Plantation Era , Between the 1780s and 1860s, Mount Calvert was a tobacco plantation dependent upon slave labor. The brick plantation house was built in the 1780s. Over the years, it was owned by the John Brown, John Brookes and Samuel Berry families. By the mid-1800s, 51 enslaved African-Americans lived and worked at Mount Calvert plantation.