Pirate’s Wharf’s extensive history to be woven into future park

SALISBURY, Md. – Taking a look at it today you wouldn’t know, but Pirate’s Wharf in Quantico has a rich history. Wednesday night at the Wicomico Youth and Civic Center, historian Mike Hitch, who was hired to do some digging into the property’s history, presented his findings.

“It’s like a microcosm of American history on a local basis,” Hitch said of the property.

The history of this property dates back to the 17th century. Even walking through the 340-acre property, historian Hitch says he found artifacts from centuries ago lying in plain sight.

“I just picked up pieces of colonial pottery, colonial dishes, and I even found an Indian trading bead, which the English used to trade with the Indians for food and furs and that kind of stuff,” said Hitch.

The land saw trade with Native Americans, tobacco farming that was used in trade with Europeans, and apple orchards for production of spirits.

“This was a very, had two very high-level plantations on the river that had commerce from Europe coming back and forth directly to the site,” said Hitch. “They had a blacksmith shop, they had a tannery shop, they had a distilling operation.”

The Lower Eastern Shore Heritage Council supplied the grant that led to Hitch being hired. They say they are impressed with the findings, and hope that a cemetery found could lead to archaeological survey and preserving that history for generations to come.

“This is thorough eastern shore history, and that’s what we love to see, and I was so surprised that he found everything that he did,” said Aleta Davis, a board member with the Lower Eastern Shore Heritage Council.

We spoke with county officials who say the goal is to develop a draft plan over the next few months. Hitch presented an idea for a running trail complete with historical markers. The county says they are considering that idea in their plans.