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My name is Chris, and I live in Southern Maryland along a very scenic, very estuarine river. I've lived in this house since I was 12 and have learned to love my small part of the world. Over the years, this house and property have evolved into a peaceful, relaxing place. What I've been trying to do, partially subconsciously and partially on purpose, is to re-create the calm, peaceful atmosphere of I house I was in when I was seventeen. I remember sitting in that house listening to the wind through an open, vine covered window. I could hear the birds in the woods across a field, the wind stirring the leaves of the vines. It was one of those once in a lifetime moments where you're totally at peace with the world....you know who and where you are.
The river is named "Patuxant" after the "Pawtuxent" Indians who lived along the eastern shore of the river when Capt. John Smith explored the area in 1608. The Pawtuxant Indians were members of the Piscatoway tribes, which were from Algonquin linguistic stock. There is an old Indian shell midden (where they used to throw oyster shells) in a riverside cliff just under 1/2 mile from where I'm sitting now. I have 2 LARGE oyster shells I took out of it. Along that same beach but closer to home both my father and myself have found Indian spear points.
Walking along the same beach, you can find a wealth of fossils and even some Indian artifacts, as I found out! Over the 33 years I've lived here I've found quite a few fossils. By far the most numerous fossils have been sharks teeth, behind that ray teeth. Rounding out my fossil collection are assorted small mammal bones, shark and dolphin vertebrae, barnacles and various shells. You'll find pictures in the gallery.
The area where my house is located also saw action during the war of 1812. The British came up river during the war on their way to landing at Benedict and marching on Washington. As they worked their way upriver, they burned manor houses along both shores. The manor house of Sheridan Point Farm, about 1/2 mile away was one of those burned by the British. So far I haven't found any artifacts from that period in history. Interestingly enough, another manor house further north wasn't burned. The supposition is the owners of that farm were British sympathizers.
In addition to all that, my house is located 40 feet from a tidal salt marsh. I don't know exactly how big the marsh is in acres, but it's about 3/4 miles long and 1/4 mile wide at it's widest point. It is home to more kinds of birds than I can name right now but here are a few: Marsh Hawk, Red tail hawk, Osprey, Blue and Green Heron, owls and many redwing blackbirds. The springtime is noisy with the sounds of 3 or 4 different kinds of frogs. Deer tracks are all over the place, though I hardly ever see the deer. That leads me to believe most of them are actually unicorn tracks.
