Collington was a settlement in

Prince George's County Prince George's County (often shortened to PG County or PG) is located in the U.S. state of Maryland bordering the eastern portion of Washington, D.C. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 967,201, making it the second-most populous ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, United States, dating from

colonial times The ''Colonial Times'' was a newspaper in what is now the Australian state of Tasmania. It was established as the ''Colonial Times, and Tasmanian Advertiser'' in 1825 in Hobart, Van Diemen's Land Van Diemen's Land was the colon ...

. Collington has been subsumed by the city of Bowie.

Geography

Collington was located at 38°58'6" North, 76°45'35" West (38.9684441 -76.7596914). Collington stretched from the area near Holy Trinity Episcopal Church on

MD 450 Maryland Route 450 (MD 450) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The state highway runs from U.S. Route 1 Alternate (US 1 Alternate) in Bladensburg east to US 50/ US 301 and MD 2 near Arnold. MD 450 forms a local complement ...

East toward the Belair Mansion, south to where MD 197, also called Collington Road, ends at US 301 and west past Church Road.

History

Originally referred to as "Collington Hundreds", the settlement was more recently known as "Collington". One of the earliest references to Collington, is in the proceedings of the Council of Maryland from 1696:

Significant historic buildings in Collington

In 1746, Colonial Governor of Maryland,

Samuel Ogle Samuel Ogle ( 1694 – 3 May 1752) was the 16th, 18th and 20th Proprietary Governor of Maryland from 1731 to 1732, 1733 to 1742, and 1746/1747 to 1752. Background The Ogle family was quite prominent for many centuries in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, No ...

built the Belair Mansion and Belair stables, in Collington, establishing his residence and the

Belair Stud Belair Stud was an American thoroughbred horse racing stable and breeding farm founded by Provincial Governor of Maryland Samuel Ogle in 1747 in Collington, Prince George's County, Maryland, in Colonial America. Colonial period Queen Mab and ...

Farm. Baruch Duckett built Fairview Plantation around 1790 in Collington. Maryland Governor

Oden Bowie Oden Bowie (November 10, 1826December 4, 1894), a member of the United States Democratic Party, was the 34th governor of the State of Maryland in the United States from 1869 to 1872. Childhood He was born in 1826 at Fairview Plantation in Col ...

was born at Fairview in 1826 and is buried there. Holy Trinity Episcopal Church was established in Collington in 1836.

Transportation

The southern segment of Maryland Route 197 is known as Collington Road. James Mullican was appointed as the first overseer of roads in the

Colony of Maryland The Province of Maryland was an Kingdom of England, English and later British colonization of the Americas, British colony in North America from 1634 until 1776, when the province was one of the Thirteen Colonies that joined in supporting the A ...

, appointed in April 1696. In 1715, the court ordered the overseer of Collington Hundreds to construct a road from St. Barnabas' Church through the plantation owned by James Mullikin to Collington Bridge. An additional segment was ordered at the same time for a road to connect from Collington Bridge to James Ridgeley's cart road at the

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 northeas ...

at Sturgeon's Landing. Governor's Bridge over the

was built by Governor

in the mid-18th century to travel between his mansion in Collington and the state capital in

Annapolis Annapolis ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland. It is the county seat of Anne Arundel County and its only incorporated city. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east o ...

. The Baltimore & Potomac Railroad Company had a passenger and freight station eponymously named Collington on the Pope's Creek spur of its Southern Maryland Line, 4 miles south of Bowie Station. Today, a 5200 foot long railroad siding is all that remains of this stop although the spur is still in use. It is located at mile post 3.0 on the spur just south of where the spur crosses under

Maryland Route 450 Maryland Route 450 (MD 450) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The state highway runs from U.S. Route 1 Alternate (Bladensburg, Maryland), U.S. Route 1 Alternate (US 1 Alternate) in Bladensburg, Maryland, Bladensburg east to U ...

near Maryland Route 197.

Geology

Collington is known for its fine sandy

loam Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–si ...

soil on the surface making the area exceptional for agriculture. In the early 20th century almost 85% of the area was under cultivation for corn, wheat and tobacco with the remainder consisting of hardwood forest. Below the topsoil lies layers of yellowish brown sandy clay and clay down to 48 inches.

References