User:Robertswilson/Wilson Farm

History Overview

According to family history the original Wilson farm was a 4000 acre land grant from Lord Calvert of Baltimore in the late 1600’s. Because Maryland was a haven for British Catholics the Wilson’s contributed land to St Ambrose the first Catholic Church in the area. St. Ambrose was constructed in 1886 as a chapel for Catholics in the area. St Ambrose became a territorial parish in the middle of the 20th century. The size of the farm was further reduced through the construction of roads in the area including the Washington Beltway and contributions of land for the construction of other churches in the area because of the increase in the population in the Landover area. When the farm was sold to the Maryland National Park and Planning Commission in 1995 the farm was a little over 300 acres. However part of this land remains protected because a deep ravine contains an outcrop bearing marine fossils from the age of the dinosaurs From its beginning the Wilson farm was almost a self contained entity. Through the years the farmers raised both beef and milk cattle, hogs, turkeys and chickens. The farm also had a wide variety of fruit trees including apple, pear, peach and pecan. Finally, the farmers raised a wide variety of vegetables that were used to feed the Wilson family and the labors used to operate the farm. The primary crops on the Wilson farm were tobacco and milk cows. Each year the tobacco was dried in the barns on the farm over the winter and sold in the spring at the tobacco auction in Upper Marboro. The farmers stopped growing tobacco in the 1970’s. Milk was sold every day of the year initially by the Wilson Brother’s Dairy and later to Harvey’s Dairy in Brentwood, Maryland. The farmers stopped the sale of milk in the 1960’s and for a short time raised and sold beef cattle. Prior to the Civil War the farm made extensive use of slave labor to operate the farm. One of the barns shown on the exhibit was constructed by slave labor. After the civil war the farm continued to make extensive use of the local labor force. During the Second World War the Wilson farm and many other farms in the area used German prisoners of war as labors on the farm. At the time the farm was sold to the Maryland National Park and Planning Commission the entire farm was operated by only one family. Through the years members of the Wilson family fought in various wars including the war of 1812, the Civil War and The Second World War. During the Civil War soldiers from the Union Army visited the farm to recruit volunteers for the war and to request food for the troops. Through the years the farm had housing for various family members as well homes for some of the help that lived on the farm. In the late 1900’s the main family home was destroyed by fire. This house was replaced by the main family house shown in the exhibit.