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Home / Archives for Community Relations Manager

PCHT Oral History-Sisters Delois Harrod Johnson and Phyllis Harrod Dawkins

June 14, 2024 By Community Relations Manager

Table of Contents

Introduction

The American Chestnut Land Trust Parkers Creek Heritage Trail project looks at all aspects of regional history, with a special emphasis on African American families and their experiences. This emphasis is strongly felt in the oral history effort. In September 2021, project team members interviewed Yvonne Mason Wills, age 93, who told about family connections to Brown’s United Methodist Church, where several of her family members have been buried. In December 2022, the team interviewed Ruth “Becky” Parker Harrod (1934-2023). Harrod had been employed over the years by the Gravatt family, founders of the Scientists’ Cliffs cottage community, and Dr. Page Jett, for many years the owner of Warrior’s Rest, a property at the mouth of Parkers Creek. In July 2023, the team interviewed Shawn Harrod, a man with many connections to people living near Parkers Creek. For more information about these and other remarkable families, see The African American Community of Parkers Creek, circa 1800-1960 https://bit.ly/PrkCrkCommBook.

Oral history interview at Linden, home of the Calvert County Historical Socierty, 12 April 2024. Left to right: recordist and interviewer Kirsti Uunila, organizer and interviewer Darlene Harrod, and interviewees Phyllis Dawkins and Delois Johnson.

On April 12, 2024, team members Darlene Harrod and Kirsti Uunila interviewed the sisters Delois Harrod Johnson, 72, and Phyllis Harrod Dawkins, 70, who spent much of their childhood at their grandparents’ farm on Scientists Cliffs Road, a short distance south of Parkers Creek. Also participating in the interview were Shirley Knight, Saroja Raman, and Carl Fleischhauer.

Scroll down for video excerpts from the interview.

Below are some highlights from the interview. Scroll to bottom to view video excerpts of the interview.

Life on Grandparents' Farm

In the 1950s and 1960s, parents George, Sr., and Helen Mae Wallace Harrod and their children, including Johnson and Dawkins, lived with grandfather John Cephas Wallace and grandmother Hattie Commodore Wallace on the Wallace’s 81-acre farm, bought in 1926. Dawkins remembered her grandfather working in the fields and orchard and her grandmother working in the house. Dawkins said, “He had . . . a vast [amount of] land. He stayed out for long, long hours. So, he would hook the plow to the horse, and would be plowing the field.”

“And while he [grandfather] did that [farming], my grandmother would be in [the] house. And they made sure that, you know, at lunchtime my grandfather would come in,” Dawkins said. “My grandmother just had a knack for [baking]. They didn’t measure anything. So, we never knew how much they actually put in. However they did it, it turned out [fine].”

John Cephas and Hattie Commodore Wallace, circa 1960. Family photograph, courtesy Delois Johnson.
John Cephas Wallace in his twenties. He was 42 years old when he bought the farm that Dawkins and Johnson describe in the interview. Family photograph, courtesy Delois Johnson.

The children enjoyed their grandparents’ farm. Dawkins said although they were told not to eat the green apples because “they weren’t ripe yet,” they did anyway and got stomach aches. They were also told not to disturb the watermelons, but they still sneaked into the patch. “So, we’d get chastised for that, but it didn’t matter,” she said. “To the right of the patch, my grandfather had a beehive. Yeah, he made his honey.” 

Raising Tobacco

Phyllis Dawkins recalled working tobacco as a child, doing modest chores suitable for her age. “Yeah, kid things,” she said. “It taught us. And kids nowadays have no idea, . . . the, the history or the love that we shared as growing up as a big family on the farm. . . . And as the tobacco grew [and was ready to harvest], we’d drop the sticks. I wasn’t one to spear [the stalks for hanging] ’cause I didn’t know how to do that. So, I was the one that dropped sticks.” Delois Johnson mentioned that she liked working outdoors and helped with planting and stripping tobacco. 

Phyllis Dawkins.
Delois Johnson.

Connection to Brown's Church

Like most Black families near Parkers Creek in the mid-20th century, the Wallaces, Commodores, and Harrods attended Brown’s United Methodist Church on Parkers Creek Road. (Before the 1968 merger of Methodist denominations, the church was called Brown’s Methodist Episcopal Church.) Johnson said, “Our grandmother and grandfather, and our parents too. I mean everybody went. That was the church.” There are references in the historical record to a church near Parkers Creek as early as 1877. An 1884 deed names the trustees for the “Methodist Episcopal Church . . . for Parkers Creek,” suggesting that the name Brown’s came later, perhaps when the still-standing chapel was constructed, a building that served as a community center as well as a site for worship for many decades. 

In the 1950s, however, attendance dwindled, and Brown’s finally closed in 1972. No doubt there were many reasons for this change but, in our interview, Delois Johnson pinpointed one important influence: the arrival of a charismatic minister who established the Greater Bible Way Church on Sixes Road, a short distance to the west.

Bishop Henry H. Brown came to Calvert County from the “mother” Bible Way Church in Washington, D.C. His message and ministerial style, together with an exciting form of gospel music, drew several families away from Brown’s Church. One of Bible Way’s founding trustees was Dawkins and Johnson’s uncle, Winsco “Dickie” Wallace.

The sisters are still active members of Bible Way. “Methodist religion is different from Pentecostal,” Johnson said. “They call it Holiness, Apostolic. I mean, the message is what drew people from the Methodist faith to the Pentecostal. But all of our grandfathers, grandmothers, you know, my great-grandparents, aunts, and uncles are buried at Brown’s Church.”

While Johnson and Dawkins were sharing their stories, they were also dealing with sadness from a recent loss. Their mother, Helen Mae, had passed away just six months earlier. They praised her hard work and determination. The sisters were extremely happy that she had kept her home on Scientists Cliffs Road. The sisters are determined to do everything within their power to hold onto the property and to keep it in good condition for the next generation.

Land Ownership

Johnson and Dawkins also recalled their elders’ decisions to sell parts of the land over the years, the most recent of which was the 1993 sale of 49 acres to the ACLT. “And when I look back now,” Johnson said, reflecting on the sales, “because we’re the old people now, but we were still old enough to have tried to convince them. . . .  If we had been involved, possibly we could still have that property. That’s right.”

Memories at Warrior's Rest

Happier memories, however, predominated in the interview. As youngsters, the sisters and their siblings enjoyed playing and swimming at the beach at Warrior’s Rest. Dr. Page Jett owned the property at the time, and he let the children have fun in the water. Johnson commented, “All the boys could swim, not one girl could swim.” Dawkins chimed in, saying, “Tell them why.” With a big smile, Johnson said, “Why? Because we would go to the Bay and the boys would take us and throw us down in the water, so we became fearful of the water and never learned to swim. . . . That was a lot of girls that grew up in the neighborhood and none of us can swim, not to this day, (laughs), we can’t swim.”

Johnson said it has been at least 50 years since their last visit to Warrior’s Rest, now owned by the State of Maryland Department of Natural Resources and managed by ACLT. ACLT staff and volunteers are arranging a September visit by the sisters and other relatives, a return to their childhood playground on the Bay. And there will be an opportunity to visit their great-grandparent’s homeplace, owned by members of the Commodore family from 1898 until 1947, when it was bought and incorporated into Warrior’s Rest.

Conclusion

The interview ended on an upbeat note. Johnson said, “I wouldn’t trade my life, you know, all of the things I had to deal with all my life. I love saying this, over my seventy-two years, I wouldn’t, really, I wouldn’t trade it — I wouldn’t trade anything. . . .  we had all — we were happy. Our parents taught us well. I mean, if we strayed it’s not because they didn’t teach us the right way, because they did.”

And we respond in kind, wishing Delois Harrod Johnson and Phyllis Harrod Dawkins a perfect day for the visit to Warrior’s Rest — sunny, memorable, joyous, and special. We thank you for letting us interview you and share your words with a wider audience!

We also invite anyone who would like to be interviewed to call Darlene Harrod at 410-535-6266. 

Oral history interview at Linden, home of the Calvert County Historical Socierty, 12 April 2024. Seated: interviewees Phyllis Dawkins and Delois Johnson. Standing: interviewers Carl Fleischhauer, Kirsti Uunila, organizer Darlene Harrod, interviewers Shirley Knight and Saroja Raman.

Postscript: Visit to Warrior's Rest, 29 November 2024

ACLT arranged for Delois and Phyllis, and several other members of the extended family, to visit Warrior’s Rest over the Thanksgiving weekend in 2024. They were accompanied by Heritage Trail researchers Darlene Harrod and Carl Fleischhauer. The property is owned by the State of Maryland Department of Natural Resources and offers limited access to visitors.

The group visited the beach, site of Delois and Phyllis’s recollection of how the boys in the family acted up and prevented them from learning to swim. The group also visited a former Commodore family home on the property. During this stop, the Heritage Trail team learned that the house had once been the home of Willis Commodore, one of William and Suddie Commodore’s sons, and determined the actual location for the senior Commodore’s former home. This new information permitted the Heritage Trail team to correct errors in the webpage devoted to the William H. and Suddie Commodore family.

  

 

On the beach at Warrior’s Rest: Cleo Parker, Kailyn Hutchins, Karen Gross, Darlene Harrod, Phyllis Dawkins, Delois Johnson, and Annie Mae Gross. Tap image to zoom in.

 

 

At the former Willis Commodore house: Darlene Harrod, Karen Gross, Phyllis Dawkins, Annie Mae Gross, Delois Johnson, and Kailyn Hutchins. Tap image to zoom in.

Segments of Oral History Video

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2024 Blitz was Bigger than Ever

April 16, 2024 By Community Relations Manager

By Mary Hoover, SMCA Coordinator

It was a mild and sunny April morning at the American Chestnut Land Trust (ACLT). Excitement and anticipation permeated the crowd of 30 volunteers, as Dr. Walter Boynton, a retired estuary ecologist from the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, gave his yearly monologue and demonstrated proper water sampling techniques. Those gathered would shortly hike or drive to sites throughout Parkers Creek, Fishing Creek, St Leonard Creek, and Battle Creek to collect water samples for nitrate (NO23) analysis. This scene, however, conveyed only a fraction of the efforts happening throughout Southern Maryland. In all five counties, volunteers were preparing to traverse streams in the spirit of citizen science, with a record 128 sampling sites awaiting their attention. The 2024 Water Quality Blitz was underway.

Organized by the Southern Maryland Conservation Alliance (SMCA), the Water Quality Blitz is an annual citizen science initiative focused on sampling nitrogen levels in streams. Nitrogen, one of the primary pollutants in the Chesapeake Bay and the Patuxent River, is a key nutrient to manage. Fortunately, it is also a relatively easy nutrient to monitor. Research indicates that conducting spring sampling for nitrogen once a year yields accurate estimations of average yearly nitrogen in streams (Weller & Jordan, 2020). This method allows for the substitution of multiple yearly samples with a single, comprehensive sample, offering a cost-effective and time-efficient approach to nitrogen monitoring, particularly suited for non-profit organizations like those affiliated with SMCA.

The Blitz began in 2017 as a local effort by ACLT for the Parkers Creek watershed. As ACLT began to establish friends groups in other watersheds, however, the Blitz expanded to include sites in these other watersheds. In 2023, the Blitz became a regional effort, with the participation of groups from the newly-formed Southern Maryland Conservation Alliance, with sites in four out of the five Southern Maryland counties. In 2024, the Blitz reached new heights with participation from all five counties, namely Anne Arundel, Prince George’s, Charles, Calvert, and St. Mary’s. With a remarkable 128 sampling sites (right)—a significant increase from the previous year’s 95 sites—the 2024 Blitz underscored SMCA’s collective commitment to environmental stewardship and science-based action.

The 2024 Blitz expansion came at a highly opportune time in the history of Chesapeake Bay. Despite decades of clean up efforts guided by the Chesapeake Bay Program, progress has fallen short of expectations. In May 2023, a group of scientists known as the Scientific Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) addressed the shortcomings of the Program in a report titled “Achieving Water Quality Goals in the Chesapeake Bay: A Comprehensive Evaluation of System Response” (CESR). One of the most notable of the report’s recommendations was the call to emphasize restoration in shallow waters of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed in addition to the deep channels (Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC), 2023). This emphasis on shallow waters echoes the goals of SMCA’s annual water quality blitz, which targets shallow, non-tidal streams and smaller tributaries of the watershed. 

 

A science-driven approach to restoration and a strategic focus on shallow waters stand as pillars in both Chesapeake Bay restoration and the Water Quality Blitz. Additionally, SMCA recognizes a vital third element necessary to achieving Bay cleanup goals: citizen involvement. Bay restoration is an immense task that governments neither can nor should tackle alone; it requires the active participation of communities. Citizens of watersheds not only possess local knowledge and personal stake in environmental protection, but they also provide essential boots on the ground to monitor streams. The monumental feat of sampling 128 sites during the 2024 Blitz would not have been possible without the aid of over 50 local volunteers trekking through Southern Maryland streams and meticulously filtering samples. For this reason, we extend our gratitude to those who generously volunteered their time to this important endeavor. Our volunteers’ enthusiasm for the Bay and their commitment to citizen science serve as much-needed inspiration amidst news of Bay Program shortcomings and overall climate fatigue. In mobilizing communities around citizen science, the Blitz continuously reminds us that the Chesapeake Bay is not beyond saving. Each year offers reassurance that the grit and optimism of local citizens remain buoyant forces, propelling us toward a brighter future for the Bay.

References:

Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC). (2023). Achieving water quality goals in the
Chesapeake Bay: A comprehensive evaluation of system response
(K. Stephenson & D. Wardrop,

Eds.). STAC Publication Number 23-006, Chesapeake Bay Program Scientific and Technical
Advisory Committee (STAC), Edgewater, MD. 129

Weller, D. E., and T. E. Jordan. 2020. Inexpensive spot sampling provides unexpectedly effective indicators of watershed nitrogen status. Ecosphere 11(8):e03224. 10.1002/ecs2.3224

Weller, D. E., and T. E. Jordan. 2020. Inexpensive spot sampling provides unexpectedly effective indicators of
watershed nitrogen status. Ecosphere 11(8):e03224. 10.1002/ecs2.3224

Weller, D. E., and T. E. Jordan. 2020. Inexpensive spot sampling provides unexpectedly effective indicators of
watershed nitrogen status. Ecosphere 11(8):e03224. 10.1002/ecs2.3224W

 

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Public Comment Period Open for Southern Maryland Woodlands National Wildlife Refuge

March 8, 2024 By Community Relations Manager

By Mary Hoover, Southern Maryland Conservation Alliance Coordinator

On March 8, 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) released to the public a draft Land Protection Plan/Environmental Assessment for establishing the Southern Maryland Woodlands National Wildlife Refuge, kickstarting a 45-day comment period. This release comes almost a year after the last of three public listening sessions was held at the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons. A year ago, the Service asked the public to provide feedback on the broad specs of the plan, and the response was overwhelmingly positive (see previous blog post here). Now, the Service welcomes public comments on the full draft plan, minutiae and all.

The draft plan and acquisition boundary underwent several iterations before they were approved by the USFWS regional leadership. This time last year, the Service proposed a maximum size of 30,000 acres for the new refuge. As it stands now, the plan proposes the protection of up to 40,000 acres across a 577,420-acre acquisition boundary and over a 30-year timeframe. Although the potential refuge size has increased, the same basic rules apply, notably landowners within the acquisition boundary maintain no obligation to sell or donate interests in their land. The plan, however, presents an opportunity for those who wish to sell or donate interest in their land to do so for a worthy cause.

It is no surprise that the rollout of the Southern Maryland Woodlands National Wildlife Refuge comes in the wake of newly established, large-scale conservation goals, namely President Biden’s “30×30 initiative” and the Maryland General Assembly’s goal to conserve 40% of the state’s lands by 2040. The draft plan cites these goals in the section titled “Purpose and Need for Action,” and the proposed 40,000 acres of wildlife refuge will be a major boost to both of these goals.

Doing some simple math, we can see just how significant this plan will be for large-scale conservation goals. According to the Maryland Geological Survey, there are approximately 1,243,347 acres of land in the five counties of Southern Maryland. Using data from the Maryland Protected Lands Dashboard, we can calculate that 287,093 acres are already conserved in Southern Maryland, putting the region’s land at 23% protected. The 40,000 acres proposed by this plan would alone cover an additional 3.2% of Southern Maryland’s land. The current percentage (23%) plus the completed refuge percentage (3.2%) would bring Southern Maryland to 26.2% conserved land, not counting all the lands that will be conserved through other means, such as Rural Legacy, recorded open space, forest conservation easements, etc. The imminent refuge funds, on top of all other available resources for land conservation, will greatly propel Southern Maryland toward both 30% and subsequently 40% conservation over the next couple of decades.

More important than numbers, however, are the impacts this plan will have on the innumerable migratory birds, waterfowl, endangered species, and people that occupy this special region. Without protections in place, Southern Maryland’s natural lands are vulnerable to destruction via development, which, however well-intentioned, could destroy the quality of life for those who call this region home, whether they be people, plants, or wildlife. The value of the refuge plan is that it maps out which areas are most critical for wildlife conservation while also establishing a means for protecting these critical areas, and for this reason, we hope you are as excited about this opportunity as we are. If so, please consider taking some time to look over the draft plan (accessible here) and submit any comments or questions to fw5southernmarylandplan@fws.gov.

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William H. and Suddie Commodore: A Parkers Creek Family

February 3, 2024 By Community Relations Manager

Table of Contents

Introduction

William H. Commodore (1860-1938) was an African American farmer, married to Suddie Commodore (1871-1951). In census records and deeds, her name is sometimes spelled Sudie; one probate record indicates that her maiden name was Boom, alternatively spelled Boome. The couple’s 11 children, including twin boys, were born between 1890 and 1912.

Land ownership and neighborhood geography

main-map-web_20241208

William H. and Suddie Commodore owned five tracts of land totaling about 220 deeded acres (about 240 actual):

  1. 1. Acquired 1894: 18 3/4 acres from Thomas A. Hardesty
  2. 2. Acquired 1898: 97 acres from Y.D. Hance
  3. 3. Acquired 1904: 35 acres (as deeded; 56 actual) from Major Commodore
  4. 4. Acquired 1910: 50 acres from Luther Chambers
  5. 5. Acquired 1925: 20 acres from James E. Commodore

The 27-acre tract between properties 3 and 2 was owned by other Black farmers: David Parker from 1871 to 1932 and Woodrow Wallace from 1951 to 1970. Woodrow Wallace is a grandson of William H. and Suddie Commodore. Incidentally, Y.D. Hance (1858-1917), the seller of property 2, is a descendant of the Y.D. Hance buried in the family cemetery now on ACLT land.

Family testimony and archaeological research have identified four former dwellings and one barn site on the land:

  1. A. Site of William H. and Suddie Commodore’s two-story home, destroyed by fire, probably in the 1950s.
  2. B. Site of the barn, now gone, associated with dwelling A.
  3. C. Site of a former dwelling, now gone, described by family as modest, occupied by Commodore son and family.
  4. D. Site of another former dwelling, now gone, also described as modest, occupied by Commodore son and family.
  5. E. Former home of Willis Commodore (1890-1968, William H. and Suddie Commodore’s oldest son), two stories, no longer occupied but still standing.

Site E on the map: former home of Willis Commodore and family. These 1995 photographs include the Commodore-period two-story section at right and an addition at the left added by subsequent owners. A large apple tree stands behind the grape arbor.

The four former home sites are arrayed along a now-abandoned road, shown on the map as a dotted blue line. This road connected the family and their neighbors on Scientists Cliff Road (today’s name) to the homes of relatives and friends in the Parkers Creek community, a place defined by Brown’s Methodist Episcopal Church (after 1968, United Methodist Church) and the Parkers Creek School, a one room school that served Black students from 1869 to 1949. The green dashed lines on the map represent ACLT hiking trails as of 2024.

Site A on the map: location of William H. and Suddie Commodore’s old home, which burned in the 1950s, photographed in 2024. The stone pier is one of four that once supported the sills of the house; the cedar trees, now dead, stood nearby; and the metal box may have been the firebox for a stove.

William H. Commodore's parents

Family tradition has long stated that William H. Commodore was the son of a White man named John R. Beckett, and a Black woman named Eliza Commodore, enslaved in the Beckett household. These parents are so identified on William H. Commodore’s death certificate.

Screenshot

William H. Commodore’s death certificate, 1938.

Beckett family, birth of William H. Commodore, by 1880 lives with grandparents

The Beckett family’s former home site and family cemetery are on a property once known as Locust Grove, located on Selby’s Cliffs about one half mile north of today’s Dares Beach. This land is now part of a subdivision called Chesapeake Heights on the Bay. Locust Grove’s prominent 19th century owner was Captain John Beckett (1791-1850), who had fought in the War of 1812, including battles in Canada. He later served in the Maryland legislature.

Captain Beckett’s son, John R. Beckett, was born in 1841 and, after 1850, lived with his widowed mother. Other records indicate that they had a dwelling in Prince Frederick, perhaps in addition to (or succeeding) the Locust Grove property. We believe that Eliza Commodore, William H. Commodore’s mother, was an enslaved domestic worker in Beckett’s household. She would have been twenty years old and John Beckett nineteen when William H. Commodore was conceived in 1859. John R. Beckett died in 1925 and is buried in the cemetery at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Prince Frederick.

The 1880 census reports that the then-teenaged William H. Commodore was living with his grandparents in enumeration district 33, south of Parkers Creek. The household was headed by William Commodore, age 60, born circa 1820, and his wife Ellen, age 64, born circa 1816. Eliza Commodore’s name does not appear, but the household includes five grandchildren: William, age 19, born circa 1861; Mary, age 18; Harriet, age 11; Mager [Major], age 14; and Robert, age 8.

Civil War legacy: Soldier's death and parents' quest for pension

The records of the 23rd Regiment of the U.S. Colored Infantry document the service of William Commodore of Calvert County, who enlisted in February 1864 at age 21 and is listed as missing in action in July of that year. Images of the documents are shown below. We believe that he was Eliza Commodore’s brother, thus William H. Commodore’s uncle and one of his namesakes.

U.S. Colored Troops service record for William Commodore (1843-1864), who died in action within a year of his enlistment.

William Commodore’s parents sought a pension based on the soldier’s service. After the father’s death, the process was continued by Ellen, his widow. Pension records chronicle a process that lasted for more than twenty years. The earliest documents date from 1867, when father William Commodore appeared before a Justice of the Peace and testified that his son died in action at Petersburg, Virginia, on 30 July 1864, leaving no wife or children. William Commodore, the father, is the head of the household in the 1880 census record summarized in the preceding section.

In 1892, as the pension case continued, three friends from the Parkers Creek neighborhood submitted affidavits. They were Alonzo Bell; Jeremiah Boots, identified as “Jerry” in other, unrelated documents; and George Boots.

Jeremiah Boots stated, “I know that Wm Commodore, husband of Ellen Commodore is dead. He died in December 1881. I know this from the fact that I was at his funeral. I think he left about thirty-five acres of land which he left to his children at his death.” Boots also stated, “I knew William Commodore, son of Ellen Commodore, he died or was killed in the service of the United States. He was never married and left no widow or children. He was a son of Ellen Commodore. She has no means of support except what she can do herself and what anyone may give her.” George Boots also testified that William Commodore left no wife or children. The outcome of the case was that Ellen Commodore was awarded a pension and she collected $12 monthly between 1892 and her death on March 22, 1897.

Left: Document from Ellen Commodore’s appearance before a Justice of the Peace in 1892, launching her quest for a pension as the mother of William Commodore who was killed in the Civil War. Two Port Republic residents, Carl Weisman and W.S. Dawkins were her witnesses. Part of the 30-page pension record in the collections of the U.S. National Archives.

William Commodore’s 1867 testimony includes information that is somewhat incidental to the pension claim, but critically important to the family’s history. Commodore testified that he and Ellen Commodore “were slaves of the same master and live on the same plantation as man and wife, and have so lived since the date of their marriage in the year 1823.” (The marriage date of 1823 is inconsistent with the couple’s ages in the census and was likely written in error.)

We believe that the “same master” mentioned in the preceding deposition refers to the Becketts, with John R. Beckett and his mother Susan Blake Beckett taking over the plantation after Captain John Beckett’s death in 1850. We make this inference based on our knowledge that John R. was the father of the senior William Commodore’s grandson, and that Eliza Commodore was the boy’s mother. We also believe that William Commodore, the Civil War soldier born in about 1843, was probably enslaved in his grandparents’ household, along with his mother and other family members.

It is also the case that two White residents who knew the family supported the pension testimony: Samuel B. Wilson, given the title Captain, who owned land on Parkers Creek and Dr. Benjamin Owen Hance, who lived on land called Angelica, not far from Plum Point on Wilson Road. Both Wilson and Hance landholdings are in the vicinity of Beckett’s Locust Grove, enabling them to be acquainted with enslaved individuals on that property.

Farming the land and other Commodore family occupations

Like most land in the Parkers Creek area, William H. Commodore’s tracts contain a mix of relatively flat ground suitable for agriculture and, for the most part, used to grow tobacco. The tracts also contain steep wooded ravines where timber was cut for farm use and for the market.

Land use on a long ridge that flanks the south side of Parkers Creek, shown on a 1938 Soil Conservation Service aerial photograph with markings added by the author. Tracts 3 and 2, marked in brown, are Commodore properties. In 1938, the intervening land belonged to William H. Commodore’s grandson Woodrow Wallace. Many irregularly shaped open fields are visible on the ridge. The tracts and structures are defined in the information about the map presented at the beginning of this webpage.

William H. Commodore and his family mastered a range of interests and skills beyond the farming that was their main source of income. Census data for 1940 names two of William and Suddie’s sons, John and Willis, and identifies their occupations as “Laborer” and “Fishing Nets.”  The latter refers to their employment at Frank Richardson’s pound net operation at the mouth of Parkers Creek, a short walk from Willis and John Commodore’s homes.

 
 
Advertisement for missing power boat.
Calvert Gazette, 22 July 1911.

A newspaper advertisement hints at an earlier connection to local fisheries.  The 22 July 1911 issue of the Calvert Gazette, carries William H. Commodore’s announcement of a $25 reward for “information that will lead to identification of the party who cut my gasoline launch loose from her anchorage at Parker’s Creek.” It is impossible to be certain from this advertisement, but the amount of the reward and the terminology gasoline launch suggest that this may have been a workboat for use in commercial fishing.

The synergy between farming and Richardson’s pound net operation is expressed by a reminiscence from another fishing crew member. In a 1999 interview, Bill Tettimer told about going to the Richardson’s fishing shanty and net yard during an exceptional snow storm in the winter of 1941.  “We went up there to mend twine,” Tettimer said, and “we was stuck in there for a week, and that Saturday night, we had to have three–the oxen–the Commodore boys, there was eight of ’em, had two oxen to get us out of that Parkers Creek. . . oxen pulling them two automobiles. . . Commodores owned the oxen.”

A news clipping from 1896 leads off with an eccentric description of a vessel and its sailors but then alludes to Commodore’s store.

Wesley Garner, who resides near Dare’s Landing on the bay, has come in possession of a handsome little vessel, which was stranded at his place Wednesday morning of last week. Two plainly dressed young men who were aboard immediately left the boat when it was beached. They went to Mr. Garner’s house, were given dinner and before leaving stated that they sailed from Baltimore and were on their way to Washington where they hoped to obtain work at blacksmithing. They walked around to the south side of Parkers creek, stopped a while at William Comodore’s [sic] store, thence retraced their steps and were last seen in that section firing pistols and going towards Plum Point. Calvert Gazette, 18 July 1896.

This offhand mention of William Commodore’s store is the only suggestion we have seen of a mercantile establishment associated with the African American Parkers Creek community.

Burials at Brown's Church

Like many of their relatives and twentieth century Parkers Creek neighbors, William and Suddie Commodore and their family worshiped at Brown’s Methodist Episcopal Church (United Methodist after the 1968 denominational merger).  Although most members of the immediate family members are probably buried in Brown’s cemetery, we have only identified headstones for eight of William and Suddie’s children. We trust that all rest in peace.

 

 

 

Gravestone of Willis F. Commodore, 1890-1968. Photograph by Linda Davis.

Acknowledgements

This is an updated version of the ACLT blog published on 3 February 2023. Historical research and writing by Carl Fleischhauer, with special support by Kirsti Uunila. Archaeological research by Matthew Reeves in 1997, with funding support by the Maryland Historical Trust, now in the Maryland State Department of Planning. Family members who provided information include Cleo Parker and Sam Commodore. Shelby Cowan’s research provided the Commodore pension record from the U.S. National Archives and William H. Commodore’s death certificate from Maryland state records. Land and property research by Art Cochran with mapping executed by Exa Marmee Grubb.

The Parkers Creek Heritage Trail (PCHT) project is supported by funding provided by the Maryland Heritage Areas Authority, part of the Maryland Historical Trust in the Maryland State Department of Planning. The project will explore a wide range of topics, including aspects of African American history in the area. Although a work in progress, you may be interested in a booklet produced by the project entitled, “The African American Community of Parkers Creek, circa 1800-1960,” available here: bit.ly/PrkCrkCommBook. Researchers Kirsti Uunila and Carl Fleischhauer will be happy to receive comments or corrections if you have things to add or spot mistakes in the booklet.

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Tidewater School Students Partner with ACLT to Cultivate Compassion

February 1, 2024 By Community Relations Manager

By R.T. West, Double Oak Farm Volunteer

In 2023, the Tidewater School of Huntingtown, Maryland, partnered with the American Chestnut Land Trust (ACLT) and Calvert County Master Gardeners to raise sweet potatoes for a local food pantry.  Maryland Master Gardeners declared 2023 as “The Year of the Sweet Potato”, and we refer to our year-long program as “Seed-to-Table”.

Ella Riley holds her sweet potato with vines

When the soil warmed up in May, the students came to Double Oak Farm at ACLT and planted nearly 100 slips in a five foot by 80 foot row.

The vines were allowed to grow all summer and the students returned in September to harvest the potatoes.  They harvested over 780 pounds of potatoes, of which 467 pounds were donated to St. John Vianney’s Food Pantry in Prince Frederick.  The largest potato was 8 pounds, 3 ounces.

Ella, Avi, Cameron, Anders, Dane, Brendan, and Sasha in the kitchen making pies

Under the auspices of Amanda Bodden and Ashley Woodside, the Elementary Class students began in February learning all about the sweet potato’s history and uses, as well as how to propagate the plants.  The students, ages six to twelve, started sweet potato slips using quart jars filled with water.  The vines, which grow from the potato “eyes”, are called “slips”.

After harvesting, the sweet potatoes need about a month or more to cure, during which time the starches turn to sugars.  In November, after the potatoes had cured, the students assembled in the Tidewater School kitchen and prepared and cooked 29 pies.

Students harvesting the red, yellow, and white sweet potatoes

The moment of truth came when the students and their parents consumed their year-long effort for dessert during the Classes’ annual potluck luncheon at Trinity United Methodist Church in Prince Frederick.  Delicious!

In 2024,  the class will learn about, plant, harvest, and eat peanuts in the form of peanut butter, peanut brittle, peanut turtles, and roasted peanuts.  

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