Eminent Domain

Eminent Domain. Walking the Kent Island Railroad. You're standing on land that the government took from the Tolson family in 1901 to build the railroad. This is called eminent domain, where the government can take private property for public use. The railroad followed what is now Piney Creek Road, next to the Cross Island Trail. To the right of the road is what is left of The Wells E. Tolson Farm. There used to be a historic farmhouse here, but it was torn down in October 2022 to make room for the Kent Island Crossing development.

Wells E. Tolson, born in 1850, became a well-known Kent Island Prohibitionist (someone who supported the idea of making alcohol illegal). He ran a grocery store in the present-day Amalfi Coast building in downtown Stevensville, built around 1900. Tolson died on July 23, 1896, not knowing that the Queen Anne's Railroad would pass through his farm.

The property also holds the lost Tolson family burial site, mentioned in official documents. In 1992, archaeologists from the Maryland Historic Trust found a small cemetery from the 1800s near an old house site. In May 2000, before the Four Seasons at Kent Island Development Project, they discovered 2,035 historic artifacts. They built a fence around the cemetery to keep it safe during construction.

However, like many other graveyards on Kent Island, the headstones and remains of the sacred ground mysteriously disappeared. In 2001, a young islander found stones in a hedgerow on this property, one dated 1829. But they have also vanished.

Just like the Native Americans lost their land, the Tolsons lost their land in the name of "progress." Today, Kent Island continues to lose its history, replaced by new buildings and modern conveniences. Alas, the story remains the same.

(Captions):

Railroad Right of Way Plat and Court Ruling
Plat tilted to show north (1901)

Wells E. Tolson
Died from typhoid fever in 1896

Tolson Family burial ground
Headstones (2001)