Providence - 1649

Providence - 1649. The Foundation for a Capital City. , In 1649, a group of "non-conformist" Puritans landed on the shores of Whitehall Bay, fleeing religious persecution in Virginia and seeking new opportunities in Lord Baltimore's colony of Maryland. These devout Protestants took up land that had been home to Native Americans for thousands of years. Just 46 years later, Annapolis emerged from the settlement as the colonial capital of Maryland., Eighty-seven free adult men arrived in the first few years. At a time when most colonists were young, single, and poor, fifty settlers brought their families, including 75 children. Anne Arundel County's earliest settlers also included over 200 indentured servants., Freedmen paid for the transport of young English men and women in exchange for a set term of indentured servitude, usually seven years. If they survived their term, they would be free to pursue all that this new land could offer. By the end of the 17th century, indentured servants were largely replaced by enslaved persons., Along the Severn and Magothy rivers and on the shores of Whitehall Bay, they built simple wooden homes, farmed tobacco, and developed local cottage industries. The settlement stretched across the Broadneck peninsula and along the banks of the Severn River, physically connected not by overland roads, but by local creeks and rivers., New arrivals from England fueled expansion inland and tobacco production thrived. The first generations of Providence settlers also wielded increasing political influence both in the colonies and even back in England., The capital of Maryland officially moved from St. Mary's City when the colonial legislature met in what was then known as the "Towne and Porte of Ann Arundel." The new colonial capital city of Annapolis emerged on 100 acres of land that was still owned by the descendants of Providence's founding families - the Dorseys, Todds, and Beards., Rediscovering the Past Through Archaeology , Over the past three decades, archaeologists have found hundreds of thousands of artifacts at nearly a dozen archaeological sites dating to the late 17th century, leading to new insights into the lives of these early settlers of Providence., Archaeological remains of 17th-century houses are almost always "earthfast" (wooden buildings built upon posts and sills placed directly into the ground). Brick was simply too expensive and hard to get. Most houses were crudely built and small by modern standards, averaging just 400 square feet., Wealthier residents like Robert Burle, the first land surveyor in Providence, built larger and better appointed dwellings. His 65-foot-long house (digital reconstruction shown here) had expensive pantile roofing, fancy green and yellow glazed floor tiles, glass casement windows, and Delft tiles surrounding multiple fireplaces. , Image of Robert Burle's long house courtesy of the Last Towns Project.