Herrington Harbour South		Herrington Harbour North

In the Beginning

In the early 17th century, Herring Bay was virtually unsettled and any trace of exploration is unknown.  Spanish explorers are known to have arrived inside the Chesapeake Bay in 1566.  Troubles with the Indians soon developed, which later caused discomfort for the English settlers.  Here, peacefully but uneasily, the colonists lived with four major Indian tribes as their neighbors.  The Piscataways, of the Herrington Harbour area, also called the Conoys, comprised a number of smaller tribes that included:  Mattawomans, Patuxents, Chopicans, Potopacs, Mattapanys, and Yaucomicoes.

The Indians:

As their settlements moved down the shores of the Chesapeake Bay, this warlike tribe of hunters often encountered and fought the Piscataways.  The pressures from these tribes forced the Piscataways into a defensive alliance with the early colonists, enabling them to avoid serious clashes with other tribes. The Indians' mode of life who lived in this area was basically the same as that of all northeast tribes.  They built wigwams, round huts of bark over framework of saplings, used shell money, made grooved stone axes and net-marked pottery.  The Indians' fondness for oysters and clams is evident today by the numerous shells found in their refuse pits and large shell heaps along the shores.  Hence, the name “Chesapeake,” which meant “Great Shell Fish Bay,” was born from these Indians.  Recently, in 1977, the Maryland Geological Survey conducted a dig, called the “Rose Haven Site,” on the grounds known as “Chesapeake Overlook,” which is located several hundred yards north of Herrington Harbour.  Items discovered locally include:  soapstone bowls, grooved axes, arrowheads, and simple pottery.

The first English settlers:

The first Englishman to visit this area of the Chesapeake Bay was Captain Lane, in 1585.  He was accompanied by an artist, John White, who drew extremely accurate outline maps of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries and who later accompanied Sir Walter Raleigh's expeditions.  Although he settled in Roanoke, N.C., records show that Sir Walter actually intended to settle on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay due to the influence of John White's maps.  It is obvious that the Europeans were familiar with the Chesapeake Bay, and the Indians of this area were also familiar with the early settlers, before the English arrived at Jamestown.  The first detailed records of settlers actually exploring these shores date from 1608, when Captain John Smith sailed the Chesapeake Bay.  In his reports, he noted the abundance of fish, lying so thick with their heads above the water, that he attempted to catch them with a frying pan because he did not have a net.  He had never seen so many nor more greater variety of fish in any other place he had been.

The Quakers:

In 1671, Quakers began holding quarterly meetings in a nearby settlement known as Herring Creek Hundred.  Noted for their emphasis on education, the Quakers are believed to have built the first schoolhouse in Anne Arundel County at Herring Creek, which was later destroyed very early in the Civil War. 

Samuel Chew II, born at Herring Bay in 1660, was a Quaker and the grantor of the land on which Herring Creek Meeting House was built.  He also started construction on the house known as “Maidstone” which was later completed in 1778.  Legend has it that the ghost of his wife, Anne Ayres Chew dressed in gray with a long scarf blowing behind her, still walks in the garden in the evening.

Town of Herrington:

In 1668, it was reported that Anne Arundel was to create one port on the Chesapeake Bay.  Ten months later, another decree showed an additional port named Herrington on Herring Creek.  It is unsure the number of people in the town, but it is estimated that there were five one-acre lots each individually owned on a 200-acre tract of land. 

During the winter of 1707, 30 ships sat anchored in Herring Bay waiting for spring to arrive.  These ships traveled in convoys and were in Herring Bay waiting to be loaded up with tobacco and other goods.  Farmers from the town of Herrington and surrounding areas built skiffs, loaded them with tobacco and goods and navigated the skiffs by pole to the waiting ships to off-load their goods.  This kind of transaction was a way of evading the naval officer or tax collector.  Tobacco was consigned to the captain or a local merchant.

The land “Holland Hills” was first surveyed on August 7, 1663, for Francis and Margaret Holland, both Quakers, who later became members of the Herring Creek Meeting.  Holland Point is named after the same family.  Richard Harrison, an early settler of the Herring Creek Hundred, acquired the 190 acres of “Holland Hills” together with adjoining land totaling 1,300 acres.  He built the original section of the house called “Holly Hill” in 1698.

Samuel Harrison, Richard's eldest son, doubled the size of the house in 1713, enclosed the frame house with brick, and completed the final wing before his death in 1733.  In the house still hangs a plat of the land, called “Samuel Harrison's Land near Herring Bay,” with a painting of the house which is the oldest painting of any house in North America.  The lines of this sturdy structure are virtually unchanged, having undergone authentic restoration by the present owner, who is a direct descendant of Richard Harrison.  Today, some of the carefully preserved Quaker records and this 17th century dwelling are the only reminders of the Quaker religious movement in the Herrington Harbour area.

Chesapeake Bay narrators report that Blackbeard (also called Blue Beard) is claimed to have spread his ill begotten wealth along the southern shores of the Bay.  Other pirates include Captain Francis who took his refuge on the Rhodes River (just north of Herrington Harbour).  Legend has it that his buried treasure still lies undiscovered near the bank of the Rhodes River.  During the Revolutionary War, nearly 250 privateers operated out of Chesapeake Bay ports.  They included such craft as the “Black Jack,” the “Irish Gimblet,” the “Bacchus,” and the “Sturdy Beggars.”  It was during this time that Maryland received its nickname, “The Old Line State.”  Historians have stated that Maryland's regular “Troops of the Line” were ranked among the finest in the Continental Army and were “held in Admirable discipline,” as distinguished from the militia which fought mainly in guerilla fashion.

(1947 – 1978) Rose Haven Yacht Club

(1978 – present) Herrington Harbour Marinas