Steamboat Wharf at Dare's, 1885-1922
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Context
For 200 years or more, two bayfront landings provided maritime transportation to farmers and other residents of the Parkers Creek area, connecting them to markets and merchants. In the 17th and early 18th centuries, the market for tobacco and merchandise such as farm supplies and household goods, were in Britain, reached via transshipping waypoints in the Chesapeake region. By the 19th century, Baltimore had become the primary commercial destination for many on the Bay, including those who lived near Parkers Creek.
Sailing vessels served the Chesapeake region until the mid-19th century, when steamboats began to provide competition. Sail-powered schooners in diminished numbers continued to carry freight even as steamboats grew in importance, especially after the Civil War. Beginning in the 1920s, however, all maritime service on the Chesapeake and its tributaries shrank in the face of improved highways and better motor vehicles. Steamboat service to Calvert County, on the Bay and on the Patuxent River, came to an end during the 1920s and 1930s.
Why Build a Wharf?
The Chesapeake Bay is relatively shallow along the cliffs of the Western Shore. In these shallows, large sailing vessels and steamboats could not come close to the land. In the absence of wharves, small craft--scows or lighters--ferried people and goods to and from shore. This practice was inconvenient and risky in rough weather. In Calvert County, the first steamboat wharf facing the Chesapeake Bay was built at Plum Point in the 1850s.
Dare's Wharf Company Established
This webpage presents the story of Dare's Wharf, just north of Parkers Creek. The 1885 charter for the Dare Wharf Company (which generally did not use the possessive form in its name) stated that the company would "construct, purchase, buy, or lease a wharf or wharves, a pier or piers, in the Chesapeake Bay in and adjacent to Calvert County." The company's capital stock was set at $10,000 with each share valued at $25, and most investors lived in the area or in Prince Frederick. (Calvert County Circuit Court, Articles of Incorporation, SS 6/477.)
On July 27, 1885, the Dare Wharf Company purchased one acre of land from Horatio J. Brewer of New York City for one dollar "for use as a Wharf, Pier, or landing place for boats or vessels or for the merchandise or passengers from boats or vessels plying upon the Chesapeake Bay." This waterfront lot was immediately north of property owned by Howe S. Allnutt. The vicinity had formerly been called Allnutt's Landing (sometimes spelled Allnut's), active since at least the early 19th century. (For comparison, see the webpage Governors Run: Farm to Market, Schooners, Steamboats, & More, which describes a landing and wharf--constructed in the 1870s--not far south of Parkers Creek.)
Constructing Dare's Wharf
For the first four years, the Dare Wharf Company sought to attract investors to fund construction. For example, in early 1886, the benefits of a still-to-come wharf at Dare's Landing were extolled in a promotional news item printed in the Calvert Gazette. The editor of the newspaper, George W. Dowell, had a financial interest in the success of the venture. He was an investor who later served on the Dare Wharf Company's board of directors.
Dare's Wharf Company. - Interest in the proposed wharf at Dare's Landing, on the Chesapeake Bay, is being aroused, and the prospects now are that the enterprise will be pushed to a successful termination in the near future. There can be no question of doubt that a wharf at the above point will prove a great convenience not only to a large number of our inhabitants living near the Bay. And what is of still greater importance the public road leading to Dare's landing is comparatively good at all seasons of the year. The steep hills encountered in hauling from this place to either Plum Point or Governor's Run would be obviated in hauling to Dare's Landing. Our farmers are not noted for raising the finest oxen and horses in the world and in hauling their farm products to the steamboat wharves the question of good roads and consequent saving of labor to their teams is one that appeals at once to the farmers' interests and humanity. Mr. J.W. Shemwell, one of the directors of the company, will leave Baltimore on Wednesday evening next on the steamer for the Rappahannock River to ascertain the cost of procuring the lumber for erecting the wharf. He thinks a superior quality of oak lumber can be had along the banks of the Rappahannock, and it is the purpose of the company to use none but the very best material in the wharf. The well-known wharf builders, Messrs. Hewitt Brothers, of Middlesex county, Va, have been figuring on an estimate of the cost of building the Dare wharf, and the directors expect to have a hearing from them at an early date. The stock of the company has been rather liberally subscribed to already, but as yet the amount raised not sufficient to complete the enterprise. It can hardly be doubted, however, that an undertaking of such great advantage and convenience to so large a number of our people will fail for want of necessary support. (Calvert Gazette, April 24, 1886.)
Dowell's promotion of the advantages of Dare's location reflects the competition that existed among the companies that operated the bayside wharves. Although the Weems Steamboat Line and its successors became stockholders in these wharf companies, much of the initiative and a significant portion of the investment depended on local farmers and businessmen who stood to benefit from their proximity to a more convenient shipping point. Local investors also anticipated earning dividend income from wharf operations.
At Dare's, things got rolling in 1889, when the company hired Nathaniel Clow of Annapolis to construct an offshore dock and a shoreside platform. In September, Clow began driving oak and chestnut foundation pilings to support the wharf. In addition to the offshore dock or pier head, the shoreside platform extended 40-50 feet into the Bay for landing freight and passengers. A boat ferried passengers and freight between the landing platform and the wharf.
Completing the Wharf and the Vicissitudes of Nature
The Weems steamers added Dare's as a regular stop on the line's Patuxent River Route in July 1890. As a convenience to shippers, the wharf company built a warehouse on shore for stowing freight in 1891. In 1898, George D. Turner was contracted to build a trestle that connected the wharf to the shore, but an October storm and tidal surge washed away about 4,000 feet of timber. After delays, the project was completed the following April, increasing accessibility and convenience for passengers and shippers. When completed, Dare's Wharf extended 1,900 feet out into the Bay. A passenger waiting room was added to the shore end of the wharf in 1900.
Like all bayside wharves, Dare's was subject to the forces of nature. Drifting ice in February 1902 forced some pilings out of position, causing a bend in the bridge. Damage from drifting ice caused the entire wharf to be rebuilt in the spring of 1907. In June 1911, about 50 feet of the trestle collapsed under the weight of a rail car of freight being pushed ashore. The steamer suspended its stops until the wharf was repaired the following February. In February 1917, 150 feet of the trestle was carried away by ice. It was repaired by George Turner the following July. Newspaper accounts report many more episodes of damage and repair.
Recreational Offerings at Dare's, 1890s
By facilitating easier and more reliable communication and travel, steamboat landings appealed to those who sought to visit the area for recreational pursuits. Dare's Wharf was no exception. Advertisements identify two nearby boarding for vacationers seeking bayside recreation. In June 1895, Mrs. H.S. Allnutt advertised for boarders at Dare's Wharf in the Baltimore Sun:
DARE'S WHARF, Chesapeake bay; good COUNTRY BOARD: fishing, crabbing, rowboats free; salt baths: dwelling house ten minutes' walk from shore; terms moderate. MRS. ALLNUTT, Dare's Wharf, Calvert county, Md.
Mrs. D.B. Gott advertised her boarding house at Dare's Wharf in a Weems Steamboat Company promotional booklet in 1897:
Dare's Wharf. Directly on the Chesapeake Bay. Good Bathing, Fishing and Boating. Well Furnished Table and Charming Situation. Will accommodate Boarders for July and August. Rates Reasonable. Mrs. D. B. Gott, Dare's Wharf, Calvert County, Md.
Management Changes:
M. D. & V. Railway Company Replaces the Weems Line, 1905-1907
The board of directors of the Dare Wharf Company changed in 1905 when the Weems Steamboat Company, which had controlled a majority of its capital stock, was sold. The Pennsylvania Railroad, a large transportation conglomerate, consolidated the assets of Weems and other regional steamboat and railroad companies to form the Maryland, Delaware & Virginia Railway Company. The newly formed company assumed operation of the Patuxent River Route. In addition to the Weems steamboats and other floating equipment, the company acquired "its wharves, wharf rights, landings, leases, privileges, stores, and materials" (Calvert County Circuit Court, Deed, GWD 5/196).
Facsimile of Dares (sic) Wharf Company stock certificate number 25 for 103 shares issued in 1905 to the Maryland, Delaware & Virginia Railway Company. (CMM history file. Courtesy, Calvert Marine Museum)
In an August 18, 1907, article on "Prince Fredericktown" in the Baltimore Sun, Dare's Wharf was described as:
. . . typical of the shipping stations to be found on the Chesapeake and its tributaries. It consists of a rough pier extending perhaps an eighth of a mile from land – that is, far enough into the bay to reach deep water for the light-draft steamers. The pier at the far end bears a small, whitewashed shed which serves for the storage of freight, and at the land end are two more sheds, one being a waiting room for white passengers and the other answering a similar purpose for the colored patrons of the line.
An image that accompanied the 1907 article shows the wharf at Dare's. Assuming the photograph was contemporaneous with the article, the illustration postdates the 1907 rebuilding of the wharf.
This view captioned "Dare's Wharf Landing" was originally printed in a 1907 Baltimore Sun article titled "MARYLAND COUNTY SEATS: TODAY AND IN HISTORY: I--Prince Fredericktown." This image, extracted from a newspaper clipping of the article, is from the "Can You Identify?" column printed in the November 8, 1978, issue of the Calvert Independent. (Courtesy, Calvert County Historical Society)
The relative success of Dare's Wharf in this period is reflected in the Maryland, Delaware & Virginia Railway Company Annual Report. In 1907, Dare's Wharf generated $1,733.35 in local freight, $89.79 in through freight charges, and $1,682.48 in passenger fares, for a total revenue of $3,505.62 earned by the railway company. In terms of total revenue earned for the company in 1907, Dare's Wharf was the fifth busiest of the Patuxent Line landings, just ahead of Plum Point and behind Fair Haven. (This ranking may be affected by the damaged wharf being out of commission and receiving no steamboat business until it was rebuilt in the spring of 1907.)
M. D. & V. Railway Company Night Route Era, 1908-1920
In September 1908, the Maryland, Delaware & Virginia Railway Company announced an abrupt schedule change for the Patuxent River Line, making it a "night route." Its new schedule included three weekly trips (Calvert Journal, September 19, 1908). These schedule changes meant the steamer arrived at the bayside landings, like Dare's, in the dark. Accustomed to daytime steamboat arrivals and departures, some passengers were displeased with the schedule change and community meetings were held to protest it. But the new timetable proved to be more favorable to shippers by enabling them to send perishable freight at night to be at the Baltimore market early the next day (Calvert Journal, September 12, 1908).
The schedule change to nighttime arrivals at Dare's Wharf brought some potential danger to disembarking passengers navigating an unfamiliar wharf in the dark. In November 1908, two young Baltimore men leaving the steamer Westmoreland around 9:00 p.m. accidentally stepped overboard. Joseph Idellwitz and his cousin Harry Pence landed at the wharf to visit Idellwitz's aunt, Mrs. Goodman Goldstein, in Prince Frederick. Although Pence was rescued, his cousin drowned (Calvert Gazette, November 21, 1908; Calvert Journal, November 21, 1908). A correspondent to a local newspaper complained about the danger, including "the crying need for light and railings around dangerous parts of the ends of the wharves, as proven when a stranger walked overboard and drowned at Dare's wharf." (Calvert Gazette, January 23, 1909).
View of the Reverend Benjamin Lovett waiting for a steamboat. The scene is believed to depict Dare's Wharf. Note the rail tracks, rail freight car containing a hogshead of tobacco, passenger waiting rooms, and safety guard rails on the wharf. Reverend Lovett was rector at St. Paul's Church at Prince Frederick and Christ Church at Port Republic, 1900-1901 and 1904-1911. (Photograph courtesy Emily Ferris and the Calvert Marine Museum; information about Lovett from The Story of Old Christ Church, 2d ed, 2022.)
In a letter published in the January 23, 1909, issue of the Calvert Gazette, "A Sufferer" lamented an incident in which it was alleged that a woman with two small children had to wait at Dare's Wharf for four hours "in a small room with eight negro men, with the biggest mouths and loudest voices, who took up the whole space around the stove." Then the steamer passed the wharf without stopping. A week later, in the January 30 issue, indignant wharf agent Charles E. Lyles replied that part of that complaint was in error. He stated that "There are two waiting rooms at Dare's, one for each color, and at no time have colored people been accommodated in the room reserved for white people when white ladies were in waiting." Clearly, the Jim Crow segregation practices of the time prevailed ashore and afloat.
A February 1920 gale forced drifting ice to the western shore wrecking the bayside wharves again. Dare's Wharf was submerged, its decking was swept away, and warehouse wrecked. The storm rendered the wharves at Dare's and Plum Point out of commission while Governors Run was open to only light freight. As the Calvert Journal summed up: "It will take a considerable time to put all the damaged wharves in shape." In November 1920, repairs were underway at Fair Haven but Plum Point and Dare's Wharf were still out of commission. (Calvert Gazette, February 07, 1920; Calvert Journal, February 7, 1920; Calvert Journal, February 14, 1920; and Calvert Gazette, November 13, 1920.)
Dare's Wharf was still closed a year later. Although the Calvert Journal reported on February 26, 1921, that the Public Service Commission, answering a petition by 75 citizens, would issue a peremptory order for the Maryland, Delaware & Virginia Railway Company to rebuild the wharf, it is unclear if the debt-ridden company had the means to effect repairs. We have found no indication that the wharf was ever rebuilt following the February 1920 storm.
End of Steamboat Service at Dare's, Waterfront Community Begins, 1920-1928
Struggling with financial woes through much of its existence, the Dare Wharf Company appears to have ceased to exist in the early 1920s. In 1923, 106 shares of a total 152 shares of capital stock in the company were controlled by the Maryland, Delaware & Virginia Railway Company. In mid-1922, the Pennsylvania Railroad foreclosed on the railway company's mortgage. Bankruptcy proceedings extended into 1924, and the receivers began selling off its assets as separate parcels beginning in 1923. Parcel Number 3 included interests in wharf properties. (David C. Holly, Tidewater by Steamboat, Johns Hopkins, 1991, 188-189; Baltimore Sun, April 9, 1923.)
In a February 1924 letter to the editor of the Baltimore Sun, Prince Frederick attorney John B. Gray lamented the lack of adequate transportation serving the area. He stated, "There is not a steamboat plying up and down the Patuxent river today and has not been since last fall." Further, he stated:
There are two steamboat wharves on the bay, one at Plum Point and one at Governor's Run, which should take care of all the freight on the east side of the ridge of Calvert County. The freight from both points has heretofore been heavy, necessitating extra boats when there was good service. There is now only one boat calling at these wharves on the down and one on the up trip, each of these calling at night. The up trip is on Friday night. No cattle, poultry or other produce that has to go on the market can be shipped by this boat, as there is no market on Saturday for such goods. People consequently are forced to ship everything perishable by truck at exorbitant rates (Baltimore Sun, February 28, 1924).
The Dare's Wharf Post Office was discontinued March 31, 1927, with its mail going to Prince Frederick. It was reestablished July 28, 1928, with Lillie Freeland as postmaster, but soon closed permanently.
In 1927, the area adjacent to the former wharf property was subdivided to develop a waterfront community. The Dare's Beach Company--the cottage community's developer--was incorporated May 31, 1928. (Calvert Independent, Tercentenary Edition, September 23, 1954; Calvert County Circuit Court, Plat, AAH 17/455; Calvert County Circuit Court, Articles of Incorporation, AAH 19/509.)
Acknowledgements and More Information
This webpage is an abridgement of the research report The Steamboat Wharf at Dare's, 1885-1922, researched and written by Robert J. Hurry, the now-retired archivist at the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, Maryland. The research report provides endnotes that offer more detail than the abbreviated references presented here. In addition to information about the steamboat wharf, this research report includes a sidebar titled "Oyster Survey and Management off Dare’s Wharf, 1908." The sidebar summarizes Dare's-specific findings from a bay-wide survey of oyster bars carried out by Maryland Shellfish Commission in cooperation with the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey and the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries from 1906 to 1912.
The Parkers Creek Heritage Trail website also provides access to three other Robert J. Hurry research reports that concern related maritime topics
The PCHT project gratefully acknowledges Hurry's contributions and for his permission to share these documents.