The Market Master's House is situated on the edge of an industrial area in historic Bladensburg, Maryland adjacent to Annapolis Road and Kenilworth Avenue. The building, associated with the earliest period of the town's devel- development, serves as an important surviving example of eighteenth-century vernacular architecture (King 1989:3). Constructed about 1765 by Christopher Lowndes, the small, one and a half story gable-roof structure lay adjacent to the town's Market Square on a long, narrow lot that fronts present day 38th Street.

Client's initial description: The building was built around 1760 by Christopher Lowndes. We believe he used it as a store and/or dwelling at that time. By around 1775 it is a post office and store. Someone may have also lived on the premises. It is no longer used as a post office in 1808, but continues to serve as a store until the 1830s/1840s.

Setting: It is August 1777. The building faces the north. The view for the painting should be to the southwest. The scene includes an older man and the town crier sitting on a bench waiting for the mail which has just been delivered by the carriage driver. Christopher Lowndes is in the doorway of the store in conversation with a woman (mother or nanny) who has just purchased goods from the store. Two children are in the foreground. Black-eyed susans, poppies, and Scottish thistle grow to the right of Christopher Lowndes. On the east side of the building, Christopher Lowndes has a coil of large rope piled outside of the store.

Client character descriptions:
Old Man: 70 year old working class man holding tobacco packed pipe (not lit and not actively smoking) with legs crossed sitting on bench against the store. Broken clay pipes are under foot as are a few broken bits of pottery (scratch blue and tin glaze vessels) and a tipped over wine bottle discarded and broken around this area. Ozzie dog will be sitting on the left side of the old man, looking up at one of the horses...the horse will also be looking at Ozzie.

Town Crier: (I am checking with Nancy Pope at the Smithsonian Postal History museum to make sure a town crier would have been waiting around for the mail. If not, we can stick someone else in the scene). The TC will be dressed in traditional garb with a bell in his hand sitting on the bench next to the old man. Formerly in conversation with the old man, the TC now turns his attention to the carriage driver carrying mail.

Horses: There should be four horses pulling the carriage (see photos). Horse colors can be of colors that compliment the piece.

Carriage Driver: He just jumped down from his carriage and is carrying a leather satchel filled with letters and a basket of rolled newspaper. He is walking towards Christopher Lowndes who is the Bladensburg postmaster.

Christopher Lowndes: He is 64 years old and is distracted by the copious amounts of hemp cord that he needs to supply the government for the war effort. He is down at the store to receive news about rope orders. He gets a letter from the Council of Maryland each month. In the meantime, he also operates a small store from this location and has just finished providing goods to a woman and her children. Christopher is in conversation with the woman, but is distracted with the arrival of the mail.

Woman: A woman just purchased goods from Christopher Lowndes, perhaps some cloth. I would like to make her a servant who is taking care of a few children. The children can be distracted by a cat that may be perched up high on the coil of rope. The children include a 5 year old girl and a 2 year old boy. The boy can be crouched down playing with a stick or looking at a bug on a black-eyed susan, for example. The girl maybe has a handful of black-eyed susans she just picked from the side of the store.
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**It appears that at its peak, snows and possibly even ships could indeed make it to Bladensburg. It's unclear if they are using the term "ship" in its official manner which indicates usually 3 masts and considerable size and weight. I question this since the vessel Lowndes built and called The Hawk (1756) was only 130 tons…well within the range of a brigantine. The vessels Trafford and Windsor are each 200 tons and probably are ships and Middleton (no tonnage given) is probably similar since he received letters of marquee for all these in 1757. Also, it doesn't mean that any of them were at Bladensburg; he had interests all over and they could have been moored elsewhere. The "ship" he advertises for sale in 1762 cannot be a true ship at only 56 feet (even though that's keel length) and if it carries 300 hogsheads of tobacco it weight only just over 120 tons. The snow Apollo (1764), is in the Eastern Branch, but not necessarily as high as Bladensburg but interesting as these tend to be larger (225 tons). During the Revolution (1777) there are references to the Governor's council ordering a sloop to obtain cordage from Lowndes but also two ships (Plater and Dolphin) to obtain cordage for the ship Xebeck and the galley Johnson respectively. If these are really ships, they must be smaller ones. Again, many definitions depend on the rigging configuration more than hull but I'm basing these comments on reasonable rules of thumb.

There's a reference to vessels capable of carrying 60 tons (100 hogsheads) of tobacco were still loading at Bladensburg in 1835. (In 1807 it could still ship out 1200-1500 hogsheads a year.

Brigantine Mary and Jane stopped in St. Mary's for carrying tea in 1774 cargo had been consigned to merchants in Bladensburg and Georgetown. No size/tonnage given.

With respect to the Scottish merchants, most were based on the Clyde River around Glasgow but it was common practice to charter English (esp. Whitehaven) or New England vessels as well as using Scottish ones or Chesapeake-built ones in the tobacco trade…so it's not critical to try to find an image of a Scottish vessel.

After 1800, the size of vessel is going to drop and you wouldn't be seeing the brigantines, more sloops, ketches and row galleys also called barges. Most of these would be for local transport (not-transoceanic) and possibly for taking goods to vessels in ports with deeper water. There's a reference to "lick-in banks" meaning a small cut into a bank, usually natural often with a spring, where boatmen could stop for a cool drink of water and some shade…on larger sailing vessels this would be unlikely and not necessary so I think it supports rowed, open watercraft..."

There is a gray area when a 2 year old switches from the gown to a "skeleton" suit like below.

The War of 1812/Battle of Bladensburg
("The Parole of An American Hero"):
-Anthony S. Pitch, award winning historical
author & speaker
-John Mccavitt, Fellow of the Royal Historical
Society, widely published historian & author
-Christopher T. George, historian & author