This site tells the stories of several settlers who came to Charles County Maryland in the colonial period and of their families, who continued to live there through the 19th and 20th centuries.

On almost every page of this site, it would be ideal to have a map and a background history of the place, agricultural techniques and social movements during those years.  But to start with, you can find more information about certain historical topics at these locations:

General History

Relevant book-length treatments are  Pathways to History: Charles County, Maryland, 1658-2008 by Julia King, Christine Arnold-Lourie, Susan Shaffer (2008),  the now dated The history of Charles County, Maryland by Margaret Brown Klapthor, Paul Dennis Brown (1958), and  The Price of Nationhood: The American Revolution in Charles County, by Jean B. Lee, which shows the severe consequences the Revolution had on the county.

In the  appealing series of  histories with postcard views are St. Mary’s County by Linda Davis Reno (2004) and Charles County by Jacqueline Zilliox (2007).

Migration

After a few generations, the tidewater lands were worn out from intensive tobacco cultivation. The white population of Southern Maryland began to decline as early as 1710, as many emigrated to follow new opportunities for farming — first to piedmont Maryland and Virginia in the mid-1700s, then Kentucky in the late-1700s, and eventually further south and west.  The Kentucky Migration (mainly from St. Mary’s County) to Nelson County, Kentucky was the most organized and led to the foundation of a Catholic diocese there in 1808 (here’s  a list of families that took part).