Visiting the Mount Calvert Historical and Archaeological Park

A kayak at Mount Calvert.

Saki

Built on top of a hill at the confluence of the Patuxent River’s Western Branch, Mount Calvert Historical and Archaeological Park boasts a lovely waterfront view at the end of a quiet, rural road.  It has been considered to be “prime real estate” for nearly 13,000 years.  It attracted Algonquin-speaking tribes like the Patuxent, Mattaponi and Piscataway, and early colonists, farmers and businessmen followed.  Designated the first seat of Prince George’s County, Maryland in 1696 and named “Charles Town,” this location was home to several taverns, shops and a courthouse, then a large tobacco plantation worked by enslaved persons back when “sotweed,” as it was once called, was king.  Today you’re more likely to see kayakers, paddleboarders and canoeists launching from or taking a break at the bucolic soft launch and pier just downhill from the big brick house, built around 1789.  The wealth once associated with commerce in this area has since given way to a different kind of richness – beauty in nature. 

Mount Calvert is a good place for beginner or novice paddlers because it is fairly sheltered, there is a high concentration of interesting things to see and it is easy to get out on the water. About a mile downstream lies Jacksons Landing at Patuxent River Park, where one can launch and rent kayaks and canoes.  In this area, you’ll find parking for 30+ vehicles, restrooms, picnic tables, a visitor center and an observation tower.  From here, folks often paddle upstream on the Patuxent River, passing Mount Calvert, and then head up Western Branch to the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) water filtration plant, a roughly five-mile round trip. 

If you have your own boat, you can put in at Mount Calvert, which puts you at the center of the best sights.  You can drive right up to the soft launch and drop off your boat at the beach, but you’ll have to return back to the top of the hill to park and then walk 800 feet on the gravel road back down to the water.  Since fishing is not allowed and trailered boats cannot launch here, Mount Calvert tends to be less busy than Jacksons Landing.  Unlike Jacksons Landing, Mount Calvert does not rent boats or have restroom access unless their building is open.   

Perhaps the most unique feature on the downstream portion of the river is an old bridge pivot, a remnant of a swing-span bridge that supported a railway that once linked Washington, D.C. to Chesapeake Beach, Maryland.  In 1899, Mount Calvert was an official stop on this line that also passed through Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary on the appropriately named “Railroad Bed Trail.”  Today, the pivot looks like a small, overgrown, man-made island where one might find nesting waterfowl. 

Heading upstream on Western Branch, it is 1.6 miles from Mount Calvert to the water filtration plant.  On the east side of the branch, you’ll see another historic structure in the distance, Billingsley House Museum, built in the 1740s.  In this vicinity, archaeologists have recovered thousands of American Indian artifacts and found evidence of a major settlement between 2,000 and 4,000 years ago. Just over a mile upstream on Western Branch lies Iron Pot Landing (site 44A) on the east.  This paddle-in campsite features a porta-john, picnic table, fire ring, pier and floating kayak/canoe launch.  Reservations are required for camping, but if unoccupied, it also makes a great rest stop. 

Between Mount Calvert and Pig Point lies the north edge of Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary, Mondays Creek and Railroad Creek, all natural areas worth exploring. Mount Calvert Historical and Archaeological Park and the places that surround it are highly treasured by paddlers, naturalists, birders, environmentalists, archaeologists and historians.  Many still consider it prime real estate and strive to keep it that way.  Middle school kids plant wild rice, Patuxent River Park organizes trash cleanups, Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary leads canoe trips to promote environmental awareness and Mount Calvert Historical and Archaeological Park arranges archaeology-themed kayak trips.  The Mount Calvert we know today may have little in common with the 18th century Charles Town, but one thing that remains constant is that it continues to be valued by many.

This is an abridged article originally written by Saki.