Farming a Rich Part of Essex-Middle River's Heritage

(Patch) As we drive around the Essex-Middle River community today we can see vast and large apartment, town home, and cookie cutter developments such as the Greens at Essex, Town & Country, Hawthorne, Waterview and many more.
This is an extremely far cry from the ways things were as European settlers arrived.
In colonial times and continuing up until the early 1900’s our area was filled with farms, both large and small. The first major crop for those farmers was tobacco. In the early 1600’s settlers discovered that tobacco would grow well in the Chesapeake region and would sell profitably in England. The potential cash value caused them to plant the product in every available space and clearing. Continued

Photos: Library of Congress