Compton, 1650s–1660s

Abstract

The memory of William Stephens Land lingered at least into the late 1720s, if only as the name of a tract in the possession of the Hungerford family. No references to the Stephens family in Calvert County date beyond the second quarter of the nineteenth century. Those few references to “Stephens” surviving from the early nineteenth century pertain to Stephens Creek, soon to be renamed for the Hungerfords. The return of the Stephens family to the collective memory of southern Maryland is due to a minor provision in a county ordinance: a regulation requiring archaeological reconnaissance in advance of multifamily housing projects. The Compton site was found as a result of the mandated survey and determined to be historically significant and worthy of intensive study. Compton is not the oldest site in the region, nor is it exceptional for the quantity or quality of recovered artifacts. Compton was the homelot of a family of modest means. The adjective “unremarkable” perhaps best describes this family and their homelot.