St. Peter's or Horsehead? Is the Stage Route the Answer?

[L Verge]

Go here http://mht.maryland.gov/nr/NRDetail.aspx?NRID=289 for a photo of Deep Falls, the Thomas family home where Richard is buried. It still stands today in Chaptico and is unique in that it has remained in the Thomas family for over 300 years. It is not open to the public since it is a Thomas residence. I have read the historic marker on the side of the entrance, but have never had the nerve to drive up the lane to the house.

I tried to find a picture of Mattapany, where Richard was born, to no avail - probably because it is now the home of the base commander for Patuxent River Naval Air Station. I believe it was originally a Catholic mission in the 1600s, but there was a fire sometime in the 1700s, so the current house may only date to the early-1800s.

There is wonderful history in the whole state of Maryland, especially the southern counties; but tourism around Baltimore and Annapolis seems to get the most attention.

If you are interested enough in the Battle of Mechanicsville (MD), google a map of St. Mary's County to understand the lay of the land. Chaptico and Mechanicsville should be easy to find, with Chaptico being on Chaptico Bay (a little protrusion of the Wicomico River) and Mechanicsville being about midway between it and the Patuxent River, where the Sothorons lived.

BTW: The Wicomico dumps into the Potomac River, but extends upwards to Zekiah Swamp in Charles County - near Bryantown. The Zekiah should be familiar to all.

I'm now off to pursue whether or not there were government confiscated farms along the Wicomico such as the one taken from the Sothoron family and used to settle contrabands as basically "slave labor" to grow crops to feed the Union soldiers.