Solomons, also known as Solomons Island, is an unincorporated community and
census-designated place
A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, suc ...
(CDP) in
Calvert County
Calvert County is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 92,783. Its county seat is Prince Frederick. The county's name is derived from the family name of the Barons of Baltimore, the proprietors of ...
,
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 t ...
Solomons is located at the southern tip of Calvert County at (38.336431, −76.464102). It includes Solomons Island and mainland on the north side of the mouth of
Patuxent River
The Patuxent River is a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay in the state of Maryland. There are three main river drainages for central Maryland: the Potomac River to the west passing through Washington, D.C., the Patapsco River to the northeast ...
, where it meets the
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / ...
. It is just across from the U.S. Naval Air Station Patuxent River (on the south side of the mouth of the Patuxent River).
According to the
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of th ...
, the Solomons CDP has a total area of , of which is land and , or 14.76%, is water, consisting mainly of Back Creek, a tidal inlet that extends north from the Patuxent River.
Climate
The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the
Köppen Climate Classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...
system, Solomons has a
humid subtropical climate
A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...
, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps. Monthly average temperatures on Solomons Island range from 36.7° F in January to 78.7° F in July
History
Early settlers
Originally called Bourne's Island (1680), then Somervell's Island (1740), Solomons takes its name from 19th century
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...
businessman Isaac Solomon, who established a cannery there shortly after the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...
. Solomon's home still stands on the front of the island.
The area has been inhabited since colonial times.
Shipbuilding and Maritime Activity
In the 19th century, shipyards developed to support the island's fishing fleet. The Marsh Shipyard built
schooner
A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoo ...
s and
sloop
A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...
s but became famous for its bugeyes, the forerunner of the skipjack. In the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It be ...
,
Commodore
Commodore may refer to:
Ranks
* Commodore (rank), a naval rank
** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom
** Commodore (United States)
** Commodore (Canada)
** Commodore (Finland)
** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore''
* Air commodore ...
Joshua Barney
Joshua Barney (6 July 1759 – 1 December 1818) was an American Navy officer who served in the Continental Navy during the Revolutionary War and as a captain in the French Navy during the French Revolutionary Wars. He later achieved the rank ...
's flotilla sailed from here to attack British vessels on
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / ...
. The deep, protected harbor has been a busy marine center ever since. ''
Kronprinzessin Cecilie
SS ''Kronprinzessin Cecilie'' was an ocean liner built in Stettin, Germany (now Szczecin, Poland), in 1906 for North German Lloyd that had the largest steam reciprocating machinery ever fitted to a ship. The last of four ships of the , she was ...
'', a 1906-built German
ocean liner
An ocean liner is a passenger ship primarily used as a form of transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships).
Ca ...
which during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
was commandeered (and renamed ''Mount Vernon'' (ID-4508) by the US, was
laid up
A reserve fleet is a collection of naval vessels of all types that are fully equipped for service but are not currently needed; they are partially or fully decommissioned. A reserve fleet is informally said to be "in mothballs" or "mothballed"; a ...
at Solomons in 1920.
Supporting the U.S. Navy during World War II
During World War II, the island was chosen by the Allied command as the site for training amphibious invasion forces. The lessons learned at Solomons proved invaluable on
D-Day
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...
, at
Tarawa
Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Republic of Kiribati,Kiribati ''
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the se ...
, and in numerous other military operations. Three naval bases were established at the mouth of the Patuxent River. These three facilities made a major contribution to the war effort and brought new jobs to local residents. Between 1942 and 1945, the population of Solomons increased from 263 to more than 2,600. Over 60,000 troops trained at Solomons during the war.
Coincidentally, many of the servicemen who trained at the Solomons base in Maryland were sent to fight in the
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capit ...
in the Pacific Ocean.
Solomons was the site of the following U.S. Navy activities during the war:
* Naval Mine Warfare Test Station
* Naval Amphibious Training Base
* Mine Warfare Experimental Station
* Naval Dispensary, Naval Amphibious Training Base
Governor Thomas Johnson Bridge
Solomons was a rather isolated boat-building town housing the
University of Maryland
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of ...
Chesapeake Biological Laboratory
The Chesapeake Biological Laboratory (CBL) is a marine science laboratory on the Chesapeake Bay in Solomons, Maryland, and it is the oldest state-supported marine laboratory on the East Coast of the U.S. It was founded in 1925 in a small waterma ...
Patuxent Naval Air Station
Naval Air Station Patuxent River , also known as NAS Pax River, is a United States naval air station located in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, on the Chesapeake Bay near the mouth of the Patuxent River.
It is home to Headquarters, Naval Air Sys ...
.
Tourism
The town now welcomes tourists with numerous marinas, seafood restaurants, gift shops, a boardwalk, a sculpture garden, the Calvert Marine Museum where visitors can climb atop a former lighthouse, board harbor cruises, and hear occasional outdoor concerts by famous performers. Solomons also has three major hotels, a U.S. Navy family recreation center, and a church retirement home. St. Peter's Chapel is an historic 1889
Carpenter Gothic
Carpenter Gothic, also sometimes called Carpenter's Gothic or Rural Gothic, is a North American architectural style-designation for an application of Gothic Revival architectural detailing and picturesque massing applied to wooden structures ...
-style church that is still in use.
The Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center in Solomons is a Smithsonian-affiliated forested sculpture park where creations of Kenneth Snelson, George Rickey, Arnaldo Pomodoro and other major sculptors are on exhibit. Most sculptures are on loan from the
National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of ch ...
or the
Hirshhorn Museum
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was desi ...
. The site is both a family-friendly place with educational activities for children and a host of world-class professional artwork, including pieces by
Picasso
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
,
Matisse
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primar ...
, and Miró; the three were highlights of the 2008 opening exhibit of the new gallery space, the Arts Building. In a
traffic circle
A roundabout is a type of circular intersection (road), intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The N ...
outside the Arts Building stands a landmark
bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids suc ...
fountain-sculpture made for Annmarie Garden which depicts a
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / ...
waterman standing in a boat while holding oyster-harvesting tongs. During the warm season, water pumped through concealed ductwork emerges and cascades out of the tongs' jaws and also over a shellfish-sorting riprap on the ''Tongers boat. The fallen water pools around the boat in a map-shaped decorative basin where sometimes visiting children splash their feet. Since 1993, Annmarie Garden has hosted an outdoor national juried arts festival at which typically around 100 traveling artists encamp in display tents for a weekend to sell their wares.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,536 people, 689 households, and 378 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 856.1 people per square mile (331.3/km). There were 881 housing units at an average density of 491.0/sq mi (190.0/km). The racial makeup of the CDP was 90.69%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...
, 6.64%
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...
or Latino of any race were 0.78% of the population.
In 2000, 6.7% of Solomons residents identified as being of
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...
heritage. This was the highest percentage of Welsh Americans of any place in Maryland.
There were 689 households, out of which 15.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.8% were married couples living together, 4.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 45.1% were non-families. 39.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 24.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.97 and the average family size was 2.56.
In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 13.1% under the age of 18, 3.1% from 18 to 24, 21.0% from 25 to 44, 21.2% from 45 to 64, and 41.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 56 years. For every 100 females, there were 80.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 76.8 males.
The median income for a household in the CDP was $48,532, and the median income for a family was $74,318. Males had a median income of $64,833 versus $34,313 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $33,049. About 2.1% of families and 3.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.0% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over.
Gallery
Image:Our Lady Star of the Sea Solomons Dec 08.JPG, Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church, December 2008
Image:Solomons Island UMC Dec 08.JPG, Solomons United Methodist Church, December 2008
Image:Gov Johnson Bridge Dec 08.JPG, Governor Thomas Johnson Bridge, December 2008
Image:Solomons_maryland_sailboat_dock_pier_peaceful_harbor.jpg, A peaceful pierside scene of calm water, February 2010
Image:Place marker of Solomon Island, Maryland.JPG, A visitors' wayfinding compass-marker on Solomons Island picturing a bugeye boat
File:Palmtree solomons.jpg, Mature palm tree in front of the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory