Funny Enough November 19th, 2010
The San Souci Shopping Cemetery is listed on Find a Grave. It is known as Hammett Cemetery there, though I like my name better.
San Souci Shopping Cemetery November 15th, 2010
I am literally surrounded by history where I live. It’s one of the things that goes along with living in an area that was founded in 1634. One of the things I’m pledging to do is get more of St. Mary’s County history online and available. I’m not connected in any way with societies or organizations, so really it’s just me researching the things that interest me. Though, I’m hoping this commitment leads me to the library and historical society more often.
One of the most memorable pieces of history in my area is the cemetery in the middle of a shopping center. That’s right, we have a cemetery in the middle of a shopping center. 30 years ago, this county was a whole lot of farmland. Today it’s the land of strip malls.
Amongst Fashion Bug and Dollar Tree, we have this little patch of land. County lore says that when the shopping center was being put in, the developer didn’t want to take the time or money to figure out what to do. Instead of moving the graves or finding next of kin, they just built around it. This little cemetery is definitely a talking point to anyone who passes through the shopping center. In fact, the tax lady came for a visit to my house and we talked genealogy and this little cemetery.
The graves are that of the Hammett family. Hammett is what I like to call a “county” name. There are about 10-20 families that I consider to be “county”. These families have been here forever and you’ll find the surname everywhere. Another county legend is that these Hammetts are related to Dashiell Hammett, who was born in St. Mary’s County.
The dates on these gravestones tells me that I was completely justified in considering this a county name. Fortunately, I have more tools at my disposable then just the county message boards. I decided to check on the family a little bit.
Just by looking at the 1850 census, I find out Joseph is definitely the son of James. James was a farmer who was born in Harford County, Maryland. By the way Harford is right next to Baltimore County, Maryland. Dashiell Hammett spent his time growing up between Philadelphia and Baltimore. Don’t you love when things start to connect a little bit. A Few more censuses shows the family staying in the Great Mills area of St. Mary’s County. I’m assuming back in the day Great Mills was considered the whole area and not the little metropolis of 8 cities it is now. The shopping center right now is considered to be California… I think. It could be Lexington Park, but I’m pretty sure it’s not still Great Mills. I’m going to learn a bit more about that.
In the meantime, I’ll show you the shopping center. On the left side of the photo where the center steps back and you see green, that’s where it is. Sorry there’s no arrow pointing, I forgot that part. To be honest it makes a nice unique shopping center if you ask me.
Whatever the reasons, I think this little bit of history fits so well into our current times. It makes you stop a minute and remember those who came before you. We’ve got an awful lot of history around here. Even though my family doesn’t have history here, I’m intrigued by the deep roots people must have in this area. In fact I’m going to research more about this little Hammett family in the future.
Happy 4th of July Everyone! July 4th, 2010
I’ve got my Aunts from Ohio here, so I’ve been having a real good time this weekend. I thought I’d pop on real quick this morning and share my most patriotic pictures with you. These are from my Washington DC day trip back in April.
Happy Fourth of July guys, we’ve sure come a long way in this country. I couldn’t be more proud to be an American!
Then and Now: Lincoln Memorial May 17th, 2010
Last month we entertained family from Ohio. For the first time in many years we finally went into D.C. and enjoyed the sites/sights, both words work. 
L. Lincoln Memorial being built in 1916. R. Lincoln Memorial as it stands today, 2010.
The image on the left is from the National Archives. There are no known restrictions on the photo, so I went ahead and posted it. If I’m violating something, just let me know. The image on the right is my own. As are the ones I’m posting down below.
P.S. To those lovely British ladies who I accidentally pointed in the wrong direction, I am so sorry that I did not know the correct direction to The White House. I hadn’t been to D.C. since an elementary school field trip and I didn’t have a map. To be fair though, at least I could tell you that other beautiful building was the Capitol and not the White House, and I was able to tell you that Congress meets there. I’m not a complete waste of an education. It was a long day. :p
The Things I Saw May 1st, 2010
We’ve had the pleasure of entertaining my cousin and her two energetic little girls this week. They left this morning and the house is eerily silent. I’ve done laundry (not finished), I played with the pictures in Photo Shop. I finally finished that book I was reading. Now I’m going to catch up on here! Sorry for the little absence but I wouldn’t change it for the world.
Yesterday, we took the girls on a day trip to Washington, DC. It’s about 2 hours from our house and yesterday was a very pretty day. We didn’t get to tour the museums. That sounds bad but we ended up walking a total of 5 miles yesterday, so I don’t know where we would have fit museums in! The youngest, she wanted to see the Lincoln Memorial really bad because he’s her favorite coin. Everyone else just enjoyed seeing the sites.
For anyone who wants to visit Washington, DC; I definitely recommend spacing your visit out into multiple days. There is just way too much to see and they are spread out over such a big area. There are plenty of tour buses and shuttles around though if that suits your fancy. We might try one next time. We parked at a parking garage and hoofed it across the street to The Smithsonian Castle, which is pictured to the left. It’s really beautiful with the gardens in bloom. My only wish was that I could have seen the whole place decked out in Cherry Blossoms.
If you want to check out all the different museums at the Smithsonian be sure to check out their website. It’s very informative and they have all kinds of calendars so you can plan around your children’s (or your own!) interests.
Another thing to keep in mind is the season you are visiting in. It was a very warm and sunny day yesterday. So while it was great weather, there was a bit of an issue when we were walking along The Mall without shade for awhile.
When we came up to The Washington Monument, there was a very very very long line. There must have been 20 different school groups near us at any given moment. So maybe going in the earlier part of the school year would have been a better idea. 
We did eventually make it to The Lincoln Memorial and The White House (well as close as we could), but I don’t want to overload my blog with pictures right now. Maybe what I’ll do is do some informative posts about all the monuments under my new Category (Local Flavor). I’ve realized that living in such a historic area gives me a responsibility to not take it for granted.
Hopefully over this week I’ll get things all caught back up and I’ll be back on rhythm. I think a Monday through Friday updating schedule works the best. That’s when my free time gels the best for this blogging stuff. I really do enjoy it.
I might set up a Flickr or Panoramio account to showcase my pictures taken on genealogy trips and trips like this. We’ll see, I get excited.
