History
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Maryland Milestones celebrates the history within the Anacostia Trails Heritage Area. The Heritage Area contains intact and relatively unspoiled historic resources that tell a multitude of stories about the most significant aspects of American history and the advances that transformed the American landscape. Since settlement of this area at the end of the 17th century, each successive century has seen the changes that have affected not only the local landscape but the national character as well.
- Ercoupe (Courtesy National Museum of Air and Space)
This is particularly true in the field of aviation as the entire span of aviation and aerospace history is represented within the Heritage Area. In 1784, the first documented balloon ascension in America took place in Bladensburg when a local attorney and inventor sent aloft an unmanned aerostatic globe. The Wright brothers perfected their Wright B flyer at the first United States Army Signal Corps airport in the nation at College Park, which is now the oldest continuously operated airport in the world. And the hub of journeys into space to the moon and beyond is located here at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
Nationally significant transportation and communication developments in the Heritage Area also include the operation of the Baltimore to Georgetown Road, over what is basically present-day US 1, which in 1783 became one of the first stagecoach lines in the country. This roadway also became part of the first federally funded mail route in the nation in 1785 and, in 1812, one of the first turnpikes in the country. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, which was one of the first railroad lines in the country and the first in Maryland, constructed its Washington Branch through the Heritage Area in 1835, thus immediately fostering the development of new communities and trading centers. In 1844, Samuel Morse sent the first experimental telegraph test message into Washington from a point along the railroad line near the Riversdale plantation and hence began the means for nationwide conversation.
The span of agriculture, from early tobacco life to modern green, sustainable methods, is represented as part of the heritage area. From historic homes such as Riversdale, Montpelier and Bostwick which showcase the life of the middle and upper class plantation culture, to the lives of African Americans in Rossville, the heritage area encompasses varied cultural life. Adelphi Mill in the western part of the heritage area as well as Laurel Mill in the northern part both highlight the use of industry in agriculture. In the 1920s, the US Department of Agriculture set up the Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, the largest research focused center for agriculture in the United States. BARC has led the way in the development of many of our modern foods and systems – including the “Beltsville White” which would become our modern Thanksgiving turkey. The National Agricultural Library, located across the street from the BARC headquarters, is the largest agricultural library in the world and holds letters from Jefferson, watercolors from around the world, and the span of the history of agriculture in print. Just on the edge of BARC is the Patuxent Wildlife Research Refuge and National Wildlife Visitors Center. These two institutions were originally seeking to explore the intersection between agriculture and wildlife, but Patuxent is now the center for the study of wildlife and wildlife management. The National Wildlife Visitors Center is a great way to get up close and personal with nature. Finally, the region is becoming a hub for green technologies and sustainable living. From solar panels on municipal buildings, to green streets, to sustainable methods of transportation, to farmers markets and living healthy, this region is leading the way to protect and preserve the cultural resources in the heritage area.
- Route 1 in the 1920s (Courtesy Library of Congress)
The region also contains sites that document the nature of settlement patterns around Washington, D.C., and the rise of the African-American middle class. These include plantation and tobacco culture sites, Native American lifeways, a nationally known Depression-era planned “greentown,” streetcar suburb sites, and several examples of pattern book architecture from the 19th and 20th centuries. In addition, the area has one-of-a-kind educational and scientific study centers and diverse cultural resources. As a site of war and battles, the heritage area has multiple sites to explore the history of how conflict has impacted the region. Bladensburg and the Port Towns have been a site of a major battle during the War of 1812 and a fort during the Civil War. Beltsville and Laurel both saw action during the Civil War as well. The many historic churches and cemetaries are final resting places and celebrate the need for peace and reconciliation.
As part of the Maryland Milestones, the Heritage Area contains some of the most significant historic resources in the state, many of which are listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and four that have been designated as National Historic Landmarks:
- Montpelier Mansion in Laurel
- Riversdale (the Calvert Mansion in Riverdale Park)
- the Spacecraft Magnetic Test Facility at NASA Goddard, and
- the City of Greenbelt
The Heritage Area also includes four National Register Historic Districts:
- Hyattsville
- Mount Rainier
- University Park and
- Greenbelt
