Historical Markers and War Memorials in Fort Washington, Maryland
Upper Marlboro is the county seat for Prince George's County
Fort Washington is in Prince George's County
Prince George's County(644) ► ADJACENT TO PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY Anne Arundel County(468) ► Calvert County(153) ► Charles County(150) ► Howard County(143) ► Montgomery County(748) ► Washington, D.C.(2607) ► Alexandria, Virginia(378) ► Fairfax County, Virginia(709) ►
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On Fort Washington Road, 0.8 miles west of Old Fort Road, in the median.
Home of the Digges Family
(descendants of Edward Digges,
governor of Virginia, 1652–1668)
The most intimate friend of
George and Martha Washington
in Prince George’s County,
where they visited many times. . . . — — Map (db m3663) HM
Near Fort Foote Road at Jessica Drive, on the right when traveling south. Reported permanently removed.
Among the largest cannon used in the Civil War Monumental in size, these two immense guns remain as sentinels ready to repel an attack on the Nation's capital. With their extended range and commanding location above the river, they were the key . . . — — Map (db m7636) HM
Near Fort Foote Road at Jessica Drive, on the right when traveling south. Reported permanently removed.
Monumental in size, these two immense guns stood as sentinels ready to repel an attack on the nation's capital. With their extended range and commanding location above the river, they were the key defensive feature of the fort. Because of their . . . — — Map (db m187214) HM
Here is the final resting place of 40 members of the Col. John Addison family, some of Maryland's earliest colonial settlers. Their story began when Col. John Addison, the Emigrant (1634 – 1706) arrived on Maryland shores from England (1667). . . . — — Map (db m144137) HM
St. Elizabeths Hospital should be “the grandest institution of its kind in the world." -- Charles H. Nichols first Medical superintendent of St. Elizabeths
For nearly 70 years, the land around you was a hospital . . . — — Map (db m100626) HM
On Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge (Interstate 95) west of National Harbor Boulevard, on the right when traveling west.
Following the Revolutionary War, the task of locating the capital of the new nation fell to George Washington. He traveled widely investigating other options, such as Philadelphia and Trenton, but ultimately returned to familiar ground, a site on . . . — — Map (db m171514) HM
Near Bald Eagle Road, 0.2 miles Oxon Hill Road (Maryland Route 414), on the left when traveling north.
Standing here and looking out toward the river or through the woods, what you see would depend on when you looked. The Chesapeake watershed began to take its present form some 15,000 years ago as glaciers that covered much of North America slowly . . . — — Map (db m147020) HM
Near Bald Eagle Road, 0.3 miles west of Oxon Hill Road (Maryland Route 414), on the left when traveling north.
From the late 1600s to the early 1800s, tobacco, wheat and other crops helped bring prosperity to slaveholders on this farm—at the price of bondage, hard labor, and broken families for enslaved African Americans.
No information about the . . . — — Map (db m147021) HM
Fort Foote became a military testing site after the Civil War. Army engineers developed the square King's Depression Carriage Mount in front of you. Using the mount, soldiers could load the gun from the safety of the parapet and raise it to firing . . . — — Map (db m187210) HM
Near Fort Washington Road, on the right when traveling south.
American coastal defenses were modernized from the 1890s to 1910 with the development of the Endicott System. Emphasis in military tactics shifted the masonry fortifications to more effective weapons based on rifled steel guns, improved . . . — — Map (db m7955) HM
Near Fort Washington Road, on the right when traveling south.
Building the Second Fort On September 8, 1814, only 12 days after the destruction of Fort Warburton, Pierre L'Enfant was commissioned by the Government to reestablish a fortification here. Work began that October but increasing friction between . . . — — Map (db m7963) HM
Near Fort Washington Road, on the right when traveling south.
Troubles with Britain caused Congress in 1807 to authorize an improved system of forts along the Atlantic Coast to guard harbors, rivers, and seaports. The first fort, Fort Warburton, was completed in 1809. Located near the river in front of the . . . — — Map (db m7980) HM
On Fort Washington Road, on the right when traveling south.
Coastal fortifications moved into the 20th century with the development of the Endicott System. At Fort Washington, eight reinforced concrete batteries were constructed near the old fort to mount modern artillery. Many support buildings were . . . — — Map (db m46176) HM
Fort Foote held a commanding view from Rozier's Bluff with Washington, DC on the horizon and the Potomac River below. An armed sentry at the fort kept a watchful eye on the heavy traffic of ships passing by. Crews shouted as they loaded supplies . . . — — Map (db m187218) HM
Near Fort Washington Road, on the right when traveling south.
During the 1840s improvements were made to this wall, defensively the weakest part of the fort. The parapet was raised and an outer work, called a caponiere, was added. The protected passageway on your left will lead you to the outerwork that . . . — — Map (db m8075) HM
Near Fort Washington Road, on the right when traveling south.
Along the outer wall of the ditch you see the counterscarp battery, named for its location on the "counterscarp," or outer wall, of the dry ditch. This structure sheltered troops who could direct musketry toward the river or into the ditch itself. . . . — — Map (db m8068) HM
On Interstate 95, on the left when traveling west.
In this age of technological innovation, the act of crossing a river may be taken for granted. And yet, there is always a magic to bridges: How is the river parted to lay the foundation? What stops the bridge from washing downstream? How are so many . . . — — Map (db m61975) HM
On Brinkley Road just east of St. Ignatius Drive, on the right when traveling east.
Dedicated to the memory of those unknown who were enslaved and buried in the Archdiocese of Washington
The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them.
Wisdom 3:1 — — Map (db m154458) HM
The crumbling concrete before you is all that remains of the magazine. It's one of the few left of its kind from the Civil War. Inside the magazine's storage rooms, barrels held 40-pound (18-kg) linen bags of black powder. Soldiers carefully carried . . . — — Map (db m194179) HM
Near Fort Washington Road, on the right when traveling south.
(Left Panel): Three pair of these large 10-inch caliber disappearing guns were the key feature of the 1890s river defense system. Each weapon could direct its 650-pound projectile at enemy ships within a seven-mile range. Battery Humphries is . . . — — Map (db m8083) HM
Near Fort Foote Road. Reported permanently removed.
High on a bluff, a hundred feet above the Potomac River, twelve heavy guns commanded the approach to the city. Smaller cannon were placed to protect Fort Foote from landward attack. Numerous buildings were constructed to house and support the large . . . — — Map (db m187119) HM
Near Fort Foote Road at Jessica Drive, on the right when traveling south. Reported permanently removed.
Follow this path to the earthworks of Forte Foote.
Fort Foot was named after Flag Officer Andrew Hull Foote, a Union naval hero mortally wounded at Fort Donelson, Tennessee, on February 14, 1862. — — Map (db m194178) HM
On Fort Washington Road, on the right when traveling west.
Fort Washington Park is the site of the first permanent fort constructed between 1814-1824 to guard the Potomac River approach to our Nation's Capital. Today the park offers many recreational opportunities and programs. Explore the historic sites . . . — — Map (db m4554) HM
In 1844, a young officer, Thomas Jackson Rodman, transformed the design of iron guns. He created a cannon barrel that cooled from the inside, so the gun could shoot farther without exploding. This state-of-the-art Rodman Gun could hurl a 450-pound . . . — — Map (db m187165) HM
Near Fort Foote Road. Reported permanently removed.
Capt. Rufus King, Jr. devised a counterweight system and front-pintle mount that would allow the 49,000 pdr. Rodman Gun to depress during loading. Except for the brief periods of exposure to enemy fire during the aiming and firing of the gun, the . . . — — Map (db m187211) HM
Loading the 15-inch (38-cm) Rodman Gun required a team of over a dozen men working in sync on separate tasks. From start to finish, each shot took five minutes. A crew in the front rammed the powder charge down the barrel, followed by the 450-pound . . . — — Map (db m187167) HM
Near Fort Washington Road, on the right when traveling south.
Two sets of gates protected the main entrance, or sally port. During the improvements made in the 1840s the drawbridge was added to make the approach to the gates more difficult. The drawbridge, operated by a unique system of iron counterweights . . . — — Map (db m7982) HM
Near Fort Washington Road, on the right when traveling south.
Minefields were an important part of the Endicott System of defense at the turn of the century. You are standing on the site that controlled the minefield operation. Groups of underwater mines anchored in the river downstream from the fort could be . . . — — Map (db m8065) HM
Near Fort Foote Road at Jessica Drive, on the right when traveling south.
As the Civil War loomed, Union forces battened down the hatches of Washington, DC. In 1861, the Union capital city was an easy target if Confederate ships sailed up the Potomac River. In just two years, a protective ring of over 60 forts sprouted . . . — — Map (db m187121) HM
Near Fort Washington Road, on the right when traveling south.
Remnants of former gun emplacements are the reminders of the three generations of armaments that occupied this V-shaped Water Battery. Each generation reflects the latest technologies and precision in the manufacture of armaments. 1830 - The first . . . — — Map (db m8080) HM
Near Fort Foote Road, on the right when traveling west. Reported permanently removed.
Protecting the fort against land attack Armed with smaller field and siege guns, the landward bastions could deliver a sustained cannonade of 12- and 30-pounder shells. The long central traverse provided protection and contained magazines and . . . — — Map (db m187213) HM
On Oxon Hill Bike Trail, 0.1 miles north of Oxon Hill Road (State Route 414).
Welcome to Oxon Cove Park. Around here a walk in the park is a walk back in time. Exhibits along the way will help you find the layers of time. The Mount Welby historic house also has exhibits.
Today Oxon Hill Farm is the main feature of Oxon . . . — — Map (db m49522) HM
On Oxon Hill Hiker Trail west of Bald Eagle Road, on the left when traveling north.
The history of Oxon Cove Park is a small part of the larger story of the Potomac River, which is one chapter in the long tale of the Chesapeake Bay. But the three stories overlap in many details and eras.
For thousands of years, the abundance of . . . — — Map (db m49288) HM
On Broad Creek Church Road, 0.1 miles south of Oxon Hill Road, on the right when traveling south.
(King George's Parish Established 1692)
Credible evidence and honest
tradition record that
Washington
attended services here on
numerous occasions. — — Map (db m3662) HM
Near Fort Foote Road at Jessica Drive, on the right when traveling south.
Just ahead of you, notice how the sloped hills create an entryway. Soldiers cleared the land and piled up soil to make the earthworks. The walls were about 20 feet (6 m) thick! This secure, guarded entry, also known as a sally port, bustled with . . . — — Map (db m187118) HM
On Oxon Hill Road west of Bald Eagle Road, on the left when traveling west.
"We found three rockets on our hill evidently pointed at our house but fortunately did not reach it”
Mary DeButts, writing to her sister Millicent on March 18, 1815
Samuel and Mary DeButts were lucky not to be home . . . — — Map (db m48954) HM
Explosions at Fort Washington August 27, 1814, surprised British and Americans alike. A British squadron slowly making its way up the Potomac expected resistance from the well-positioned fort. Alexandrians, fearing they were next after Washington’s . . . — — Map (db m96373) WM
Near Fort Washington Road, on the right when traveling south.
Fort Washington's solid masonry walls offered good protection against shot from smoothbore cannon of the early 19th century. When rifled artillery was introduced in the late 1850s and used during the Civil War, effectiveness of masonry structures . . . — — Map (db m8063) HM
On Fort Washington Road at Warburton Road, on the right when traveling east on Fort Washington Road.
In 1902 children from nearby farms traveled by horse and buggy to the Silesia School, a one room school house. The school's contribution of education for this area continued until 1925. In 1959 the school and part of this land was sold to the . . . — — Map (db m7639) HM
On Brinkley Road, 0.1 miles east of Rosecroft Drive, on the right when traveling east.
Founded in 1849 as a mission church under pastor Fr. Joseph M. Finotti, S.J. it remained a mission church until 1948, when Archbishop Patrick O'Boyle declared it a parish with Fr. Patrick J. Begley as the first resident pastor.
In the late . . . — — Map (db m4167) HM
On Brinkley Road just east of St. Ignatius Drive, on the right when traveling east.
Established in 1849 along the old Alexandria Ferry Road. Rev. Joseph M. Finotti, S.J., First Pastor. Rev. Patrick J. Begley First Resident Pastor 1948.
May this marker serve as a tribute of gratitude to the faithful members of this . . . — — Map (db m154456) HM
On Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge (Interstate 95) west of National Harbor Boulevard, on the right when traveling west.
Public warehouses for the receiving and inspection of tobacco were built in 1730 near the foot of present day Oronoco Street, and became the core around which grew the port of Alexandria. The city was founded in 1749 and flourished along with its . . . — — Map (db m202755) HM
On Oxon Hill Farm Trail west of Bald Eagle Road, on the right when traveling west.
“It was indeed a day and night of horrors, the fleet … lay directly before our house.”
Mary DeButts, writing to her sister Millicent on March 18, 1815.
From this farm, Mary DeButts saw a small fleet on the Potomac . . . — — Map (db m48959) HM
Near Fort Washington Road, on the right when traveling south.
A reliable supply of drinking water for the garrison was a priority at Fort Washington. Three wells dug early in the fort's construction proved inadequate. By 1823, four cisterns were installed to store rainwater. Located underground at each end of . . . — — Map (db m8071) HM
Near Fort Foote Road, on the right when traveling west. Reported permanently removed.
At the start of the Civil War, Washington was protected by only one fort, Fort Washington guarding the Potomac River approach. The capital city was uncomfortably close to Confederate forces operating in Northern Virginia. by 1864, a system of . . . — — Map (db m7635) HM
Near Fort Washington Road, on the right when traveling south.
Named Battery Meigs, these two pits contained eight large 12-inch mortars. Each huge mortar was capable of hurling a 700-pound projectile in a high arc. The simultaneous firing of all eight would insure a clustered group of shells falling on the . . . — — Map (db m8086) HM
Near Fort Washington Road, on the right when traveling south.
The demi-bastion is a section of the fort that projects beyond the main wall and provides concentrated defensive fire. The bastion design includes two levels of artillery. Guns were to be mounted on the parapet above and in the casemates you see . . . — — Map (db m7998) HM
Two hundred and fifty years ago, the Potomac River was a highway. Roads were bumpy, narrow, winding routes, littered with stumps and fallen trees. They led from tobacco barns and small villages down to the real thoroughfare – the Potomac. When . . . — — Map (db m48956) HM
Near Fort Washington Road, on the right when traveling south.
Strategically placed, this permanent section of the fort was the lowest level of the three tiers of guns. The Water Battery was designed to deliver "water-skipping" cannonade directed at the hulls of enemy ships. The simple V-shaped design has . . . — — Map (db m8078) HM
Perched above the Potomac River, Mount Welby was nearly surrounded by the war in August 1814. Mary Welby DeButts describes hearing “every fire” from the Battle of Bladensburg and how the house was illuminated by fires in Washington. She writes of . . . — — Map (db m80061) HM
Near Fort Washington Road, on the right when traveling south.
Construction of this inverted V-shaped outerwork began in 1814. Traces of its shape are visible today. Surrounded by a dry ditch, the Water Battery mounted 24-pounder guns that provided an additional level of firepower to the fort. The Water . . . — — Map (db m8061) HM
Near Fort Foote Road at Jessica Drive, on the right when traveling south.
In 1863, the President Abraham Lincoln toured Fort Foote to survey this cutting-edge military technology. Would you feel safe behind 1,416 feet (432 m) of earthen walls? How about with two 25-ton (23-tonne) Rodman Guns by your side? On Fort Foote's . . . — — Map (db m187101) HM
Living where the land meets the water gives us everything we need: shelter in the woods, food to eat, and clean water to drink. Our climate promises a good life for the 15 million people and the more than 3,000 types of plants and animals that live . . . — — Map (db m96376)
Near the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Trail (U.S. I-95) 0.8 miles west of Oxon Hill Road (State Route 414).
[Center Panel]
This bridge is named in honor of Woodrow Wilson.
An early automobile enthusiast, he reportedly spent an average of two hours per day riding in his automobile to relax and “loosen his mind from the problems before him.” In . . . — — Map (db m19756) HM
On MGM National Avenue just west of Oxon Hill Road, on the right when traveling east.
Bird's Eye View of Alexandria, 1863
Ships that docked at Alexandria's bustling wharves carried tobacco all over the world and brought fine goods from Europe for wealthy Maryland planters.
Addison Family at National Harbor . . . — — Map (db m144024) HM
Near Capital Beltway (Interstate 95) west of National Harbor Boulevard, on the right when traveling east.
Since World War II, Andrews Air Force Base in Camp Springs, Maryland has been known for its special mission — the air transport of senior U.S. government officials, foreign heads of state and other visiting dignitaries. During John F. Kennedy's . . . — — Map (db m127715) HM
Near Capital Beltway (Interstate 95) west of National Harbor Boulevard, on the right when traveling east.
During the War of 1812, the British threatened the city of Washington. American troops attempted to defend the Nation's Capital at the Battle of Bladensburg in Prince George's County. Unfortunately, the effort failed and British troops marched . . . — — Map (db m127707) HM
Near Capital Beltway (Interstate 95) west of National Harbor Boulevard, on the right when traveling east.
After assassinating Abraham Lincoln, John Wilkes Booth fled on horseback to Prince George's County. He was aided by Mary Surratt and stopped at her tavern in Surrattsville (now known as Clinton). Though many today believe she was innocent, Mary . . . — — Map (db m127709) HM
Near Capital Beltway Outer Loop (Interstate 95) west of National Harbor Boulevard.
The College Park Airport — the world's oldest continuously operating airport — was founded by the Wright Brothers in 1909 as the first flying school for military aviators. In accordance with their Army contract, Wilbur trained the first military . . . — — Map (db m127792) HM
On National Harbor Boulevard at Capital Beltway (Interstate 95), on the right when traveling south on National Harbor Boulevard.
1. Oxon Cove Farm & Oxon Hill Farm
Explore farm life and how it's changed over time by visiting the outbuildings and animal pens of a working farm, taking a wagon ride, and by participating in hands-on activities and living history . . . — — Map (db m202578) HM
Near Oxon Hill Road (Maryland Route 414) south of Tanger Boulevard.
A Need For Change
After acquiring the Salubria land and building his manor house here in 1830, Dr. John H. Bayne quickly realized that devoting the entire property to the cultivation of tobacco was not going to produce the income he needed. . . . — — Map (db m75404) HM
Near Oxon Hill Road (Maryland Route 414) 0.3 miles south of Harborview Avenue, on the left when traveling south.
On November 1, 1864, new provisions of the Maryland State Constitution brought freedom to the enslaved people of Maryland after 200 years of bondage. Article 24 stated,
“That hereafter, in this State, there shall be neither slavery nor . . . — — Map (db m75415) HM
On MGM National Avenue just west of Oxon Hill Road, on the right when traveling east.
Free Blacks Owned Parts of Oxon Hill Manor By the end of the 1700s, there were a number of free African American families living in the Oxon Hill area. Several of these free blacks were manumitted by members of the Addison family, including . . . — — Map (db m149917) HM
Near Capital Beltway (Interstate 95) west of National Harbor Boulevard, on the right when traveling east.
In the mid-19th century, C.C. Hyatt established a store and post office at the intersection of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and U.S. Route One. In the 1870s, Hyatt subdivided the surrounding farmland into housing lots, creating the nucleus of . . . — — Map (db m127716) HM
On MGM National Avenue just west of Oxon Hill Road, on the right when traveling east.
Articles of Confederation
To all to who these Presents shall come, we the undersigned Delegates of the States affixed to our Names send greeting. Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union between the states of New Hampshire, . . . — — Map (db m144023) HM
Near Oxon Hill Road (Maryland Route 414) south of Harborview Avenue, on the right when traveling north.
Resistance to slavery took many forms – some more extreme and more cruel than others. In November 1834, house slave Judah, a 14 year-old, girl confessed to fatally poisoning three of Dr. Bayne’s children and attempting to set fire to Salubria, his . . . — — Map (db m117030) HM
Near Capital Beltway (Interstate 95) west of National Harbor Boulevard, on the right when traveling east.
Laurel was unique in old Prince George's because the town's wealth came from cotton mills, iron foundries, and small industries, rather than tobacco. The Laurel Cotton Mill, the principal industry in Laurel during the early 1900s, employed 400 . . . — — Map (db m127713) HM
Near Capital Beltway (Interstate 95) west of National Harbor Boulevard.
In 1790, Prince George's County, along with the Commonwealth of Virginia, relinquished most of the land for the ten-mile square that would become Washington, D.C., the new Nation's Capital. George Washington chose a site on the Potomac and . . . — — Map (db m202683) HM
Near Capital Beltway (Interstate 95) west of National Harbor Boulevard, on the right when traveling east.
At the time of the first European contact, the indigenous people of Southern Maryland were united in a loose group of villages known to the English as the Piscataway Confederation. Their paramount chief, or Tayac, lived in a village called Moyaone, . . . — — Map (db m127706) HM
Near Capital Beltway (Interstate 95) west of National Harbor Boulevard, on the right when traveling east.
"[Fish were] lying so thicke with their heads above water, (that) for want of nets, we attempted to catch them with a frying pan"
-Captain John Smith, 1608
The Potomac River has long been a fine place to "go . . . — — Map (db m127728) HM
Near Capital Beltway (Interstate 95) west of National Harbor Boulevard, on the right when traveling east.
Two amusement parks developed on the Maryland side of the Potomac in the 1890s: one for blacks, and one for whites. Notley Hall was owned and operated by African-Americans. Black residents from Washington, D.C., visited the park called by one . . . — — Map (db m127705) HM
Near Oxon Hill Road (Maryland Route 414) south of Tanger Blvd., on the right when traveling north.
The nature of agriculture along the Potomac changed thanks to the techniques Dr. John H. Bayne used to produce fresh fruit and vegetables for the nation’s capital. Bayne ceased fighting for Maryland slaveholders to be compensated for emancipation, . . . — — Map (db m75448) HM
On the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Trail (U.S. I-95) 0.3 miles west of Harborview Avenue.
You’re now standing in the cove protected by Rosalie Island, the point of first landfall for the Woodrow Wilson Bridge in Maryland. Rosalie Island is actually not an island at all–it is a peninsula. Indeed it is not even a natural landform. The . . . — — Map (db m19859) HM
Near Capital Beltway (Interstate 95) west of National Harbor Boulevard, on the right when traveling east.
"From this we went to Piscataway, where all flew to arms. About five hundred men, equipped with bows, stood on the shore with their chieftain. Signs of peace given them, the chief, laying aside his apprehensions, came on board the . . . — — Map (db m202692) HM
Near Capital Beltway (Interstate 95) west of National Harbor Boulevard, on the right when traveling east.
By the mid-1700s, Prince George's County had the largest population of slaves in the state — nearly half of its residents were enslaved Africans, most working on local tobacco plantations. The Civil War drastically changed this equation. During . . . — — Map (db m202697) HM
Near Capital Beltway (Interstate 95) west of National Harbor Boulevard, on the right when traveling east.
The Potomac River was a current that ran through George Washington's life and through the early history of this country. Born downstream at Pope's Creek Plantation, Washington lived most of his life along the Potomac's banks. As a young man, he . . . — — Map (db m127727) HM
Near Capital Beltway (Interstate 95) west of National Harbor Boulevard, on the right when traveling east.
At first, Maryland's early settlers had little to trade with England in return for tools, clothing, coffee, tea, sugar, rum, and other necessities and luxuries of life. Tobacco, which was in great demand in Europe, proved to be the key to . . . — — Map (db m202693) HM
Near Capital Beltway (Route 95) west of National Harbor Boulevard, on the right when traveling east.
Well after the Civil War and the abolition of slavery, tobacco remained Prince George's County's most important crop. Upper Marlboro, formed in 1706, and established as county seat in 1721, continued to be an important center for tobacco cultivation . . . — — Map (db m187406) HM
Near Capital Beltway (Interstate 95) west of National Harbor Boulevard, on the right when traveling east.
In the mid-1960s, the water quality of the Potomac River was unhealthy. In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson called the river a "national disgrace." Development and public neglect had allowed the river to become polluted with sediment, sewage, and . . . — — Map (db m127729) HM
On Livingston Road, 0 miles north of Fort Washington Road, on the left when traveling north.
The Broad Creek Historic District was established by the Prince George's County Council on July 30, 1985. The area surrounding Broad Creek, an estuary of the Potomac River, is considered a special place because of its historical significance, its . . . — — Map (db m4617) HM
