On February 7, 1815, what would be known as the last battle on the Chesapeake Bay of the War of 1812 took place off the shores of Dorchester County - The Battle of the Ice Mound. Courtesy of I Love Dorchester The British schooner, "Dauntless," was offshore near James Island (now Taylor's Island) having sent her crew to raid livestock on nearby farms. Overnight, ice from the Chesapeake Bay pushed the Dauntless into the Little…

The San Domingo Community in Wicomico County and The Hill Community in Talbot County are believed to be the first and oldest settlements of free Black people in the state. In the late 1700s and early 1800s, the slave trade was still strong, and most free Blacks still lived on property owned by others. Nearly a half-century before the Civil War, the founders of San Domingo owned and tended land; built businesses, churches, and schools;…

Famed explorer Matthew Henson was born in 1866 in Charles County near the town of Nanjemoy. Explorer Matthew Henson Explorer Robert Edwin Peary hired Henson as his valet for expeditions. For more than two decades, they explored the Arctic. On April 6, 1909, Peary, Henson, and the rest of their team made history and were the first people to reach the North Pole on record. However, the designation is still widely debated to this day.…

The Peabody Institute was the first major intellectual and arts center in an American city and the oldest conservatory, or college for the study of classical music or other arts, in the United States. George Peabody was born in Massachusetts but moved to Baltimore, Maryland in 1816. A philanthropist, he established the Peabody Donation Fund in 1862 (now the Peabody Trust) and the Peabody Education Fund in 1867. While Peabody gave generously to public causes…