History of Kent Island

In the spring of 1980, both houses of the Maryland General Assembly passed resolutions recognizing that the colony William Claiborne established on the Island of Kent in 1631 as the first permanent English settlement in what is now the State of Maryland.

For a long time, researchers have placed this 1631 settlement of Kent Island among the earliest permanent English colonies on the North American continent. For some reason, many Marylanders consider Lord Baltimore's colony at St. Mary's City in 1634 to be the first permanent settlement in Maryland. This misconception may be due in part to the that William Claiborne, who was also serving as secretary of state for the Virginia colony and claimed the island of Kent for Virginia.

When the Ark and Dove brought the first settlers to plan St. Mary's City in 1634, Claiborne's settlement was already firmly established on the Isle of Kent with a fort protected by tall palisades and four cannons. William Claiborne's account books include payment for a pewter service, Bibles and prayer books that he purchased in 1632, along with the remuneration he paid The Reverend Richard James, a minister of the Church of England, whom he brought to Kent Fort.

Corn and tobacco were planted on the island. Tobacco and furs, as a result of trading with the Matapeake , the Susquehannock and the Wicomesses Indian tribes, were exported to England. Two tall windmills were used to grind the corn, and in 1634, a shipyard was constructed. A pinnace, the Long Tayle, capable of carrying 20 men and two cannons, is thought to be the first European-style vessel built on the Eastern Shore and in Maryland.

In 1634, Leonard Calvert, brother of Lord Baltimore, arrived in the Chesapeake Bay with two vessels, The Ark and the Dove, carrying settlers to establish a Maryland colony. The first meeting of the naval forces of Lord Baltimore and William Claiborne set the stage for several years of combat on land and in the bay. Claiborne refused to acknowledge Lord Baltimore as his overlord.

In 1638, Calvert, then governor, led a force of armed Marylanders to make a surprise landing on the Isle of Kent. While their main target, William Claiborne, was in England, Calvert's men captured the fort. Kent Island was declared the Kent Hundred and a part of St. Mary's County. Throughout the next twenty years, the Isle of Kent was claimed by both Virginia and Maryland. In 1658, an agreement was signed in London, England that returned Maryland to Lord Baltimore. It was not until 1706 that Kent Island becomes a part of Queen Anne's County, Maryland.

William Claiborne returned to Virginia and lived until his 90th year when his last public act was a petition to Charles II begging for the return of his beloved island on the Chesapeake.

~ from an article by Gilbert Byron (1903-1991), Eastern Shore poet and teacher ~