Hidden History: The Queenstown Colonial Courthouse
In addition to offering the public a look at a restored early 18th-century courthouse, the Colonial Courthouse building in Queenstown displays local artifacts such as Colonial Era pottery sherds and pipe stems as well as arrowheads left by the indigenous people who inhabited the area for thousands of years. Bordering a creek that flows into the Chester River and, from there, the Chesapeake Bay, the area was an ideal location for fishing, farming, and trade.
European settlers arrived by the 1640s—many from Kent Island—officially establishing Queen Anne’s Town (later known as Queens Towne) in 1707, one year after the founding of Queen Anne’s County. They built the courthouse in 1708 as the County’s first seat of government. Mrs. Elizabeth Coursey, a local widow, was later paid 1,100 pounds of tobacco for the land, which was part of the DeCoursey family 17th-century land grant of 1000 acres—My Lord’s Gift.
Towns need jails, so by 1710, one was built near the courthouse. The jail’s foundation currently sits beneath a private brick residence. Guilty parties suffered harsh public punishment typical of colonial times. Gallows Field, the hanging place, is located next to the courthouse (a house stands on the property). In addition to hangings, punishments included branding, being placed in stocks that confined the feet (and sometimes the ankles and wrists), enduring humiliation in a pillory, and whipping.
Punishments were almost always public, for the aim was to humiliate the wayward sheep and teach him a lesson so that he would repent and be eager to find his way back to the flock. Nothing made a colonial magistrate happier than public confessions of guilt and open expressions of remorse. – James A. Cox, “Colonial Crimes & Punishments” (Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Journal, Spring 2003)
Through the years, the most publicized punishment in Queenstown occurred August 26, 1718, when Katharine Langton reportedly, “. . . was given 20 lashes on her bare back until blood appeared.” But recently obtained court records indicate that Katharine was “. . . to be held to the publick whipping Post and there receive on her bare back eleven lashes to be well laid on till the blood appear. . . .” Why? Katharine, described as “a spinster servant to a certain William Martin,” had been “seduced by the Devill” and was an “evill Example” for having given birth out of wedlock. She then refused to reveal to the jury the father’s name, as the court demanded.
While such punishment was not unusual, not all occurrences in and around the Courthouse were torturous or humiliating. It was there in 1765 that William Paca, signer of the Declaration of Independence, was admitted to practice law in Queen Anne’s County. The same year, he and Samuel Chase led Maryland’s opposition to the British Stamp Act. Paca was elected to the State Legislature in 1771 and appointed to the Continental Congress in 1774.
A year earlier, portions of Queen Anne’s County and Dorchester County were used to create Caroline County, causing the geography of Queen Anne’s County to shift. Therefore, the county seat was moved to a more central location—to what would be called “Centre Ville”—in 1782, the same year William Paca was elected governor of Maryland.
In 1788, Paca, then a Maryland State convention delegate, voted for Maryland to ratify the Constitution of the United States. The following year, President George Washington appointed him Judge of the US District Court for Maryland. Although Paca spent most of his political career in Annapolis, he retired to Wye Plantation, where he died in 1799.
Between the years of 1782 and 1977, the courthouse building in Queenstown—including the brick addition built in the 1800s—served as a home, warehouse, drug store, grocery store, restaurant, beer parlor, post office, antique shop, and town office. The Board of Town Commissioners then acquired the property and established the Queenstown Historic Preservation Committee. More than 400 individuals and businesses stepped up to support and work on a full restoration, which took two years. Those attending the official opening celebration on May 5, 1979 included Chief Justice of the United States Warren Burger, Maryland Governor Harry Hughes, and Princess Anne, daughter of Queen Elizabeth.
The Queenstown Colonial Courthouse is located at 100 Del Rhodes Avenue at Main Street (Route 18) and is open for tours the first Saturday of each month May – October 10:00 am – 2:00 pm and by appointment: 410-739-5706. Parking is available both adjacent to and behind the Town Office, which is located at 7013 Main Street, across from the Colonial Courthouse. Please visit www.historicqac.org or email [email protected] for more information.
Back to Blog