CHAPTER XVII 



The old Mulberry of St. Mary's— The Harris Mulherry^Some Early 

 Attempts at Silk Culture— Mulberries of Mt. Vernon— Mulberry 

 Farm— Mulberries of McSherrystown. 



The Old Mulberey of St. Mary's 



In February, 1634, two ships, the Ark and the Dove, carrying 

 English colonists, anchored in the Potomac River at an island about 

 half a mile from the Maryland shore. ,,,,■■ j 



Delighted at the wooded bluffs and green islands they had passed, 

 the passengers had amused themselves by giving names to the various 

 points as it pleased their fancy, and called the island where they now 

 landed, St. Clement's. It is known today as Blakiston s Island. 



Leonard Calvert, leader of the expedition, continued his journey 

 farther up the beautiful river, in order to interview the chiefs of the 

 various tribes and satisfy them that his intentions were friendly. 

 Happily for all concerned, he met a fur-trader. Captain Henry Fleet, 

 whose intimate loiowledge of the surrounding country served the 

 strangers well. As they objected to settling far from the sea, he 

 guided them to a smaller river flowing into the Potomac, to which they 

 gave the name of St. George's, calling one of the two harbors formed 

 at its mouth, Saint Mary's, by which name the little river became 

 known later. 



Following the smaller stream, they landed at a bluff, and half a 

 mile farther inland. Captain Fleet introduced them to his friends of the 

 Indian village of Yaocomico. 



On the bluff, overlooking the water, its great size causing it to be 

 visible for a considerable distance up and down the river, was the 

 immense tree afterward known as the Old Mulberry, a landmark in- 

 timately associated with the history of the colonists of the little town 

 of St. Mary's, the first capital of Maryland. 



"Well authenticated tradition," — ^which is closely akin to actual 

 history — tells us that under the mulberry's shade, Calvert made a 

 treaty with the Yaocomicos, exchanging with them "mutual promises 

 to each other to live friendly and peacably together, and if any injury 

 should happen to be done on either part, that satisfaction should be 

 made for the same." And the compact was faithfully kept, all work- 

 ing happily together, busily planting and building, the whites sharing 

 the redmen's village, and eventually purchasing the land from them. 

 As raids by the powerful Susquehannocks were becoming very trou- 

 blesome, the Indians consented readily to this arrangement, and 

 willingly moved to other quarters. Almost immediately, the political 

 history of the little State began. The First General Assembly of 



90 



