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Maryland Historical Society
Library of Maryland History
201 W. Monument Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
Phone: 410-685-3750
Fax: 410-385-2105
E-mail: library @mdhs.org
Buy the Book
Maryland
History In Prints: 1752-1900
by Laura Rice |
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In Blue Mountains Maryland
[mid-nineteenth century]
Lithograph, printed with buff tint
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This peaceful pastoral scene by an unidentified artist captures the landscape
of western Maryland as it appeared sometime around the middle of the nineteenth
century. Settlement in the Blue Ridge and further west was relatively recent,
having developed as late as the 1740s. The discovery of mineral resources
here provided the impetus for settlement, but the lack of roads and bridges
continued to limit access to the area. Dr. Charles Carroll of Annapolis,
with an interest in iron ore deposits found in 1753, lamented the difficulties
he faced in developing the site, saying "The lands to be settled are a
great Distance from the Heads of the Navigable parts of the Rivers falling
into our Bay.[and].indeed are at present Inaccessible for want of Commodious
Roads."
With the coming of railroads, canals, mining activities, and the demand
for land to house and feed a burgeoning population, America's artists sought
to record the country's wild landscapes before they gave way to inevitable
progress. Although the land appears relatively untouched here, the fence
and horse indicate the presence of a permanent community nearby.
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