Oakland Mills History
Indigenous History
Before the arrival of the first Europeans in 1608, the land that would one day become Howard County was home to the Piscataway people and later, the Susquehannock people. English settlers were drawn to the rich lands of future Howard County, and conflicts between the Susquehannock people and European settlers intensified until the Susquehannock people conceded the land to the Province of Maryland in 1652.
Oakland Mills and Stevens Forest
Oakland Mills Community Association was named after a nineteenth-century settlement that was situated just west of the modern-day village’s location. On May 10, 1709, Charles Stevens received a land grant patent and named the plot Stevens Forest. Later, Stevens Forest (which the modern-day neighborhood of Stevens Forest is named after) would be included in a larger tract of farmland called Felicity Farm. Charles Sterrett Ridgley acquired the farm from his mother and other family members in the early nineteenth century. Ridgley built a large grist (flour) mill on the land and sold the property to Robert Oliver in 1825, who renamed it Oakland Mills. Through the years, a sawmill, blacksmith, cooper, and wheelwright were built to support the grist mill workers.
The property also included Oakland Manor, which still stands today in the Village of Wilde Lake. Oliver’s son, Thomas Oliver, eventually bought the manor, and ultimately sold the it to George Riggs Gaither (whom the city of Gaithersburg, Maryland is named after), who turned it into a slave plantation.
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During the Civil War, Oakland Mills farm was sold to Phillip and Katherine Tabb. The couple made it into a stock farm where they raised thoroughbreds for racing. Several champion horses were raised and trained on the farm. A racetrack was located near what is Highway 29 today but was later removed.
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In 1874, Katherine sold her interest in the farm to her father, Francis Morris. Morris expanded the farm to 1350 acres, close to its original size when Charles Sterrett Ridgley owned it. Morris obtained agricultural engineering status for the farm from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers for his testing of corn silage and trenching techniques. In 1880, Oakland Mills could produce 240 bushels of flour a day (equivalent to 14,400 pounds).
Talbott Springs and Blandair
In the late 1600s, surveyor Edward Talbott was awarded a tract of land which he named Talbott’s Resolution Manor (which the neighborhood of Talbott Springs is named after). The land was absorbed by Oakland Mills farm, and then, sometime between 1828 and 1845, Theodorick Bland bought a portion of the land, the name of which had been changed to La Grange. Theodorick renamed it Blandair. Blandair Manor was built later and still stands today. Howard County purchased Blandair Farm (one of the names for Blandair Manor) in the late 1990s and is developing it into a recreation park that retains the name Blandair.
Columbia and Thunder Hill
Columbia is an unincorporated city in the heart of Howard County and is the second largest city in Maryland.
In April 1962, Jim Rouse began purchasing land in Howard County through several “dummy” corporations. This purchasing period would last a year and a half, and rumors abounded about who or what was doing the purchasing. Some thought the land would be converted into a compost heap for the surrounding D.C./Baltimore area. Others claimed that it would be used to study diseases in a kind of “living laboratory.” Some even speculated that the Soviet Union might be involved in the purchases.
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In October 1963, Rouse finally announced that, with the help of financing from his former employer, Connecticut General Life Insurance, he had purchased over 14,000 acres of Howard County land for the purpose of developing a “new town.” The first village to be built in the "new town" of Columbia was Wilde Lake. In 1968, Oakland Mills became Columbia's third village.
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The neighborhood of Thunder Hill is named after Oliver Goldsmith’s farm of the same name, which he sold to the Rouse Company during Jim Rouse's acquisition of land in Howard County.
The Other Barn
The Other Barn, which has been the gathering place for the Oakland Mills community since 1969, and The Barn (Columbia Association’s Youth & Teen Center) were once part of the Owings Dorsey Dairy Farm. Both buildings were among the few buildings preserved when Columbia was built.
References
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Howard County Land Preservation, Parks, and Recreation Plan Update, June 2022 (online PDF)
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Wikipedia: 1652 Articles of Peace and Friendship — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1652_Articles_of_Peace_and_Friendship
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Wikipedia: Oakland Mills, Columbia, Maryland — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakland_Mills,_Columbia,_Maryland
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Wikipedia: Oakland Mills Blacksmith House and Shop — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakland_Mills_Blacksmith_House_and_Shop
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Wikipedia: Oakland Manor — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakland_Manor
HISTORICAL POINTS OF INTEREST
Blacksmith Shop & Barn
Located just off of Highway 29 in Oakland Mills, the shop and house were once part of the Oakland Mills flour mill complex. The property was listed on the National Registry of Historic Places in 2011 but was removed in 2014.
Dorsey Cemetery
George Cooke was a War of 1812 veteran who fought in Baltimore and the pivotal Battle of New Orleans. He and his family were buried in a cemetery near the Oakland Mills village center.