Page:Historic towns of the southern states (1900).djvu/57

 opened a road to Patapsco. Some trading gentlemen there are desirous of opening a trade to York and the country adjacent." "In October, 1751, no less than sixty waggons loaded with flaxseed, came down to Baltimore from the back country."

Baltimore, though vigorous in action, was as yet but mean in appearance. In the rooms of the Maryland Historical Society hangs a sketch of the town, drawn in 1752, by John Moale, the son of him that would have none of towns or town-lots. Rude in perspective as this youthful effort is, it is treasured as one of the oldest and most interesting of the city's heirlooms. Twenty-five houses—four of them built of brick—and two hundred inhabitants were then to be found in Baltimore. Upon the hill we see perched the first of four St. Paul's churches successively erected upon the same lot, though not all upon the same site. At anchor in the harbor are the brig ''Philip and Charles and the sloop The Baltimore''. The merchant navy of Baltimore was still small: the large vessels of foreign trade still waited at Whetstone Point to receive their freight, transported in large lighters from the plantation landings on both branches of the river.