Moving to Port Tobacco, Maryland
In 1727, an Act of the Maryland Assembly directed that a new courthouse be erected on the “East side of the Head of Port Tobacco Creek, at a place called ‘Chandler Town’ allowing 3 acres for a courthouse and a jail.” An additional 60 acres were to be divided into 100 lots to form the village. The courthouse was completed by 1729 and is assumed to have been of brick because its cost was recorded as 12,000 pounds of tobacco. No drawings have been found.
The Assembly officially named the village “Charles Town,” but that name failed to stick. The area had always been popularly known as Port Tobacco, and that is the name that endured. It could have been a corruption of the Indian name Potopaco, which through the years had been pronounced Portafacco, Potobac, Potobag, and Porttobattoo.
In 1808, a severe windstorm leveled both the courthouse and the Episcopal Church next to it. The church was quickly rebuilt, and a second courthouse was built on the site of the old one in 1819. That courthouse lasted until August 3, 1892, when the main section burned to the ground. Arson was suspected because the court records had been moved outside before the fire started.
At the time of the fire, Port Tobacco boasted about twenty shops, two newspapers (The Maryland Independent and The Port Tobacco Times), three hotels (St. Charles, Centennial, and The Smoot House), and sixty to seventy homes fanning out from the courthouse.
Until the end of the Revolutionary War, Port Tobacco had been the second largest river port in Maryland—St. Mary’s City was the largest. Ships from Europe brought prized goods to the Port of Entry Warehouse and sailed back laden with hogsheads of tobacco. But the harbor gradually silted up as the result of excessive tree cutting and planting of crops, particularly tobacco. The river trade became restricted to small boats. The final blow to Port Tobacco came with the burning of the courthouse in 1892. That event precipitated renewed debate about whether it was the best location for the County Seat. In 1895, the results of a special election dictated that the county seat be moved to La Plata, about 2½ miles away. A new courthouse was built there before the year was out.
In 1904, Christ Church of Port Tobacco Parish, which had stood alongside the old courthouse since both had been rebuilt at the beginning of the 19th century, was dissassembled stone by stone and timber by timber. The material was numbered, carted to La Plata, and reassembled next to the new courthouse. Such was the definitive event that symbolized the end of Port Tobacco’s long-held dominance as a center of commerce and governance.
By the end of the 20th century, though, Port Tobacco was once again familiar with prosperity. Around the core village, extensive residential development had occurred, reflecting the general prosperity of the times. The attractive homes on large lots proclaimed the renaissance of the Port Tobacco area as a highly regarded place to live. Augmenting the new allure of this historic area, the Society for the Restoration of Port Tobacco, Inc., continues its long-term efforts in reconstruction and restoration of historic buildings within the old village.
