Maryland Trivia & Tidbits - Page 15

Looking for Maryland trivia? Try our list Maryland little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

Built in Baltimore in 1797, the frigate Constellation was the first vessel commissioned by the U.S. Navy. It was used against pirates in Tripoli in 1802, against the British in 1812, and saw action in the Civil War.

first appeared: 10/14/2001

Maryland was named after Henrietta Maria (1609–1669), wife of Charles I of England and daughter of Henry IV of France.

first appeared: 10/7/2001

On April 15, 1954, the city of Baltimore closed its schools and gave city employees the day off because that day the Baltimore Orioles were playing their first game after the franchise moved from St. Louis.

first appeared: 9/23/2001

The oldest “free running” (no cable) ferry in the nation is the Tred Avon Ferry in Oxford (pop. 771).

first appeared: 9/16/2001

The first electric drill was invented in 1917 by Baltimore engineers Alonzo Decker and Duncan Black of the Black & Decker Corp., founded in 1910.

first appeared: 9/9/2001

Commissioned by the Ohio Co. to explore its western lands in 1750, native Marylander, frontiersman, and surveyor Christopher Gist (1706-1759) penetrated the Kentucky region via the Ohio River, preceding Daniel Boone by 18 years.

first appeared: 9/2/2001

Born a slave on the Eastern Shore at Holme Hill Farm, Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) escaped from slavery and became the most noted black abolitionist in the 19th century—founding a newspaper, the North Star, and serving in numerous government capacities. He was also a stationmaster for the underground railroad, helping hundreds of slaves achieve freedom.

first appeared: 8/26/2001

Maryland forests cover approximately 2.7 million acres, or 43 percent of the state’s land. Oak and hickory are the dominant deciduous type, making up 60 percent of forested areas. Loblolly pine is the most prevalent evergreen and is the predominant tree on the Eastern Shore.

first appeared: 8/19/2001

Ron Lynch painted camouflage fatigues onto his 20-foot-high auto service center’s muffler man back in 1991 as a show of support to troops in the Persian Gulf. Today, the Desert Storm Muffler Man continues his watch at Lynch’s Super Service in Havre de Grace (pop. 9,000).

first appeared: 8/12/2001

America’s first Roman Catholic convent—Mount Carmel Monastery—was established in 1790 in Charles County.

first appeared: 8/5/2001

At the height of an August storm in 1933, a Baltimore Bay lighthouse keeper, Thomas J. Steinhise, was involved in the rescue of five sailors from a sinking tugboat—a feat for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor.

first appeared: 7/29/2001

The Maryland state dog, so designated in 1964, is the Chesapeake Bay retriever, a breed originating in the state in the early 1800s.

first appeared: 7/22/2001

Maryland’s first black resident was Mathias de Sousa. Records indicate that he arrived, a free man, on a ship named The Ark in 1634.

first appeared: 7/15/2001

Obed Hussey (1792-1860), working in Baltimore, perfected a device to cut grain—a mechanical reaper—one year before a more developed invention for the same task came from Cyrus McCormick.

first appeared: 7/8/2001

The Baltimore Heater, invented in Maryland around 1889 by John Latrobe (1803-1891), was a precursor to the modern gas furnace.

first appeared: 7/1/2001

Fort Meade became an Army base because a train engineer delivering soldiers to Meade knew only one Meade, the one in Maryland. He wasn’t aware of Fort Meade, Fla. The delivery of the soldiers to Maryland—and their need for housing—caused a base to be built there in July 1917.

first appeared: 6/24/2001

Though it’s on Maryland’s endangered species list, the Delmarva fox squirrel can, nevertheless, be seen in four counties on the Eastern Shore.

first appeared: 6/17/2001

Born in 1935, Baltimore resident Judy Devlin Hashman was 10-time U.S. badminton champion (1957-67), earning her the nickname “the Babe Ruth of badminton.”

first appeared: 6/10/2001

On Oct. 16, 1983, Baltimore Oriole Eddie Murray hit two home runs against the Philadelphia Phillies in game five of the World Series to give the Orioles the championship. The second homer traveled 425 feet and hit the right-field scoreboard. At the time, the board was displaying a list of the 1983 American League RBI leaders, and the home-run ball hit just above the “M” in Murray.

first appeared: 6/3/2001

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911), an anti-slavery activist, wrote Lola Leroy or Shadows Uplifted (1892), the first novel published by an African-American woman in the United States.

first appeared: 5/27/2001

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