Severna Park’s Early History

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What was Severna Park really like before it evolved into the great, family-oriented suburb it is today? With much help from local resident and historian Scott Jay and his collection of books and documents, this first piece in a series of summer articles will highlight the first 300 years of Severna Park’s development as a community.

According to Jay, the discovery of arrowheads within the region indicates that human settlements were present in this area as far back as 10,000 years ago. In 1649, a group of Puritans from Nansemond, Virginia, became the first European colonists to permanently settle in this area. They established Annapolis (originally named “Providence”) at the mouth of the river because the native Susquehanock tribe controlled the inland regions.

If one were to walk about the footprint of modern-day Severna Park during this period, they would find open spaces dominated by well-spaced trees, crossed only by Native American trails and the occasional deer, black bear or mountain lion. A horse and buggy could easily navigate through the area, but the Puritans preferred to travel by water because it was considered safer and easier.

The first major milestone for Severna Park came in 1670, when the area stretching from today’s Joyce Lane to Shipley’s Choice was divided into five different land grants. In 1680, Christopher Randall purchased one of these grants, consisting of 102 acres, and imaginatively dubbed it “Randall’s Grant.” In 1856, owner George Linstid divided this grant into three parts, one of which would become the community of Linstead, and the other two of which would become Olde Severna Park.

In 1898, a farm house in Linstead was purchased at auction by the Riggs Brothers, two wealthy fraternal twins from Baltimore, who used it for upper-class entertaining. Governor Ritchie himself was known to occasionally stop by the Riggs’ lively social galas.

In the early 1900s, “Boone” became the de facto name of this area because of the large Boone family that lived around the small brick station on the Baltimore-Annapolis Railroad, which still stands today as the Model Railroad Club. The name Severna Park is believed to have originated from a 1906 naming contest that was held while the modern community first began to develop. Around this time, Round Bay originated as a railway extension that took passengers down to the beach.

In the 1920s, Severna Park still consisted mostly of open fields. A nine-hole golf course belonging to the Severna Park Golf Club spread across modern Linstead. The first hole was located at the now-bustling intersection of Riggs Avenue and Evergreen Road. In 1928, an expansion stretching to Hendler Road was added to make this a full 18-hole course.

In 1942, the Riggs house came into the possession of the Carter family. The Carters had two sons - one who attended the Naval Academy and one who attended West Point. The son at West Point boarded with the son of General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Sometime before becoming our nation’s president, General Eisenhower visited the Carter home for a dinner with the family.

During World War II, most every able-bodied man in Severna Park left for the war. The Brockmeyer family sent five sons to war; two did not come back. One brother was lost in the Pacific theater; the other in the European theater. The Brockmeyers owned a restaurant and bar called Feeser’s, which was located on Cyprus Creek Road. The venue was popular among locals until it was taken down and later replaced by Ebersberger Plaza.

With many former teachers returning from the war to retain their posts at Severn School, and with the approaching construction of Severna Park High School, high-quality education would soon help in launching Severna Park into a new era of explosive suburban growth.

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