1,271
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
m
no edit summary
Although this building seems to have been continually in disrepair from the beginning, it was still usable in 1695, and the General Assembly rather than sell or otherwise dispose of it, gave it to the justices of St. Mary's County so "That the place for holding the County Court of St Marys County shall forever hereafter be att the City of S' Marys in the State house of the said City there formerly built att the Cost and Charge of this province and in no other place of the said County whatsoever the same State house being hereby Allotted and appointed by this present Generall Assembly to the County of St Marys for holding and keeping theire Courts in and such other decent Services as to the Justices of the same County in full Court shall be Consented and agreed to."<ref>Ch. 13, Bacon's Laws. Text taken from Arch, of Md., XIX, 214.</ref>
But after the lapse of only a very few years the same residents of St. Mary's County and City who had tried to persuade the members of the General Assembly that St. Mary's City— and City—and not Annapolis—was the most convenient place in the Province for the holding of courts and for other governmental business, now argued that St. Mary's City was not even a convenient place for the county seat of St. Mary's County! We know that in 1697/8 the state house was still in use as the county courthouse,<ref>Arch, of Md., XXII, 102.</ref> but sometime between that date and 1708 it ceased to serve that purpose.
== First Courthouse at Shepherd's Old Fields-Seymour Town ==
