Maryland Trivia & Tidbits - Page 16

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

Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806), a Maryland farmer, built the first clock in the New World (1753). Made entirely of wood, the instrument kept perfect time for more than 40 years. He also published a farmer’s almanac of celestial observations.

first appeared: 5/20/2001

The Baltimore-born African-American sailor Matthew Henson (1866-1955) was a member of Robert Peary’s 1909 expedition team to the North Pole and was one of the first to reach the site.

first appeared: 5/13/2001

Barbara Fritchie, who met Confederate troops marching through Frederick (pop. 46,227) with the words, “Shoot if you must this old gray head, but spare your country’s flag,” was treated with respect by Gen. Stonewall Jackson. Jackson set a guard at Fritchie’s house to prevent anyone from removing her Union flag.

first appeared: 5/6/2001

Remember the Our Gang dog with the ring around his eye? He’s buried at the Aspen Hill Pet Cemetery in Wheaton. The dog Rags, the World War II mascot of the 1st Infantry Division, is also there.

first appeared: 4/29/2001

Sixteen of Maryland’s 23 counties border on tidal water. The combined length of tidal shoreline, including islands, is 4,431 miles, a remarkable amount of shore considering the total area of the state is 10,460 square miles.

first appeared: 4/22/2001

Soviet diplomats and government officials inundated The Cozy Restaurant in Thurmont (pop. 4,900) in 1979. They sought cups of coffee, hamburgers, and pieces of pie when Premier Leonid Brezhnev visited Camp David.

first appeared: 4/15/2001

In 1791, Maryland gave Congress the land that became the District of Columbia. Its location, selected by George Washington, was a compromise between Southern and Northern interests.

first appeared: 4/8/2001

Author Edna Ferber (1887-1968) based her best-selling novel, Show Boat, on a famous Maryland floating theater. Ol’ Man River is one of many well-known songs in the Broadway musical adaptation of her story.

first appeared: 4/1/2001

Before dawn on Aug. 10, 1813, residents of Saint Michaels (pop. 1,301), having been forewarned of a British attack by sea, hoisted lanterns to the masts of ships and in the tops of trees. The elevation of the lights caused the British to aim high and their cannons overshot the town. Only one house was struck and now is known as the “Cannonball House.”

first appeared: 3/25/2001

The Community Bridge in Frederick was transformed from a plain concrete bridge into an illusion of an old stone bridge by a group of artists using advanced trompe l’oeil (“deceive the eye”) techniques.

first appeared: 3/18/2001

It was under the Liberty Tree at St. John’s College (the largest tulip poplar in the U.S.) that Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834), a French general in the American Revolutionary army, was welcomed to Annapolis in 1825.

first appeared: 3/11/2001

Harry Gilmore (1838-1883), a Maryland aristocrat, was also a daring Confederate cavalry raider. He led bands of Southern guerillas during the Civil War and wrote an account of the conflict called Four Years in the Saddle, available at many libraries.

first appeared: 3/4/2001

Baltimore’s Etta Maynie Maddox was the first woman lawyer licensed to practice in Maryland after the legislature passed a law admitting women to the bar in 1902.

first appeared: 2/25/2001

For the variety of its landscapes and geography, Maryland was dubbed “America in miniature” by National Geographic magazine in the 1920s.

first appeared: 2/18/2001

The Westminister Burying Ground in Baltimore contains the graves of 24 generals, five commodores, two secretaries of war, three secretaries of the Navy, and 13 members of Congress.

first appeared: 2/11/2001

Col. Tench Tilghman, 1744-1786, was born in Talbot County on his father’s plantation. As an aide to Gen. George Washington, he carried the message of Gen. Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia.

first appeared: 2/4/2001

—Eubie Blake (1883-1983), born in East Baltimore, was a “ragtime” musician whose work dominated the 1920s with such hit songs such as I’m Just Wild About Harry.

first appeared: 1/28/2001

Nineteenth-century evangelist Joshua Thomas was called “The Parson of the Islands,” preaching to the entire population of Smith Island and nearby communities on the Tangier Sound, sailing in a log canoe he called The Methodist.

first appeared: 1/21/2001

Annapolis (33,200), which during the 17th century called itself the Athens of America, briefly served as the capital of the United States (1783-84).

first appeared: 1/14/2001

Samuel F.B. Morse, inventor of Morse Code, reportedly received the first telegraph message in Bladensburg (pop. 8,064) in 1844, before his famous “What Hath God Wrought” message between Baltimore and Washington.

first appeared: 1/7/2001

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