Frenchtown was a historic settlement on the Elk River in

Cecil County Cecil County () is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland at the northeastern corner of the state, bordering both Pennsylvania and Delaware. As of the 2020 census, the population was 103,725. The county seat is Elkton. The county was ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, United States.

Background

Frenchtown was an important link in the north–south travel route during the 18th and 19th centuries. After the Revolutionary War, the popularity of the route for passengers and freight grew. A regular line of vessels began sailing from Baltimore to Frenchtown. As boats churned their way to the port, it established itself as a busy relay point on the main line of travel between Philadelphia and Baltimore. Statesmen and the traveling public came journeying through. At first the New Castle and Frenchtown Turnpike Company connected the village with the Delaware River, and later it was the

New Castle and Frenchtown Railroad. New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

As a depot, it was burned by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

under

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

George Cockburn Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Cockburn, 10th Baronet, (22 April 1772 – 19 August 1853) was a British Royal Navy officer. As a captain he was present at the Battle of Cape St Vincent in February 1797 during the French Revolutionary Wars an ...

on April 29, 1813. The old Frenchtown Tavern remained standing until the 1960s. A watercolor by

Benjamin Henry Latrobe Benjamin Henry Boneval Latrobe (May 1, 1764 – September 3, 1820) was an Anglo-American neoclassical architect who emigrated to the United States. He was one of the first formally trained, professional architects in the new United States, draw ...

dated August 2, 1806, is entitled ''View from the Packet Wharf at Frenchtown Looking Down Elk Creek showing the Mouth of Pates' Creek''. The painting resides in the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

in New York. After publication of the escape of slaves by the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal a close watch was kept on vessels using that passage. Frenchtown and the overland route was considered a safer route. A large escape attempt involving a Captain Sayres and his vessel named ''Pearl'' involved seventy-seven slaves boarding in Washington attempting to make Frenchtown. ''Pearl'' was pursued and the becalmed vessel overtaken at the mouth of the Potomac. The northern portion of the Chesapeake Bay was notable for calms that delayed the sailing vessels connecting the town with Baltimore. In 1813 the first commercial steam vessel, ''Chesapeake'' built in Baltimore by Captain Edward Trippe, on the Chesapeake began service between Frenchtown and Baltimore as the Union Line. Within a year other steamers were making the run in competition. The transportation revolution caused the village to fade as the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal opened up. Then, with the completion in 1837 of a rail line through Elkton, one that did not require steamboat connections on each waterway, business on the route started declining. "By 1858, stagecoaches, wagons, rail cars, and steamers no longer converged here, crowding down to the old shoreline

The

New Castle and Frenchtown Railroad Right-of-Way New Castle and Frenchtown Railroad Right-of-Way is a railroad right of way connecting Frenchtown, Cecil County, Maryland, and Porter, New Castle County, Delaware. The New Castle and Frenchtown Railroad originally crossed the Delmarva Peninsula f ...

was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1976.

References

External links

History of Frenchtown
from the Maryland State Archives Burned buildings and structures in the United States Geography of Cecil County, Maryland Ghost towns in Maryland Maryland in the War of 1812 Populated places in colonial Maryland Underground Railroad {{CecilCountyMD-geo-stub