Thank you to CPT Readers for 12 years of tolerating and supporting us!

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 Without Readers there is no News and no challenge to find Truth.

For those of you who never heard of Coltons Point, Maryland, which is about 99% last check, I wanted to mention our town as part of a tribute to you.  From November of 2016 until October of 2017, a twelve-month period, the CPT broke through the ONE MILLION readers barrier with 1,003,681 according to Google statistics.

The latest count on readers since we started was over 3.5 million last time we checked.  However, one million in twelve months is not bad.  This only counts identifiable web sites and earlier statistical analysis showed there could be an additional 40% from unidentified readers.

What makes this interesting is that to this day we have never allow an advertisement to run in the newspaper, never collected a single email address to sell to the world, and we allow anonymous comments to protect the readers.

As for Coltons Point, it is a village of about 300 people on the banks of the Potomac River about ten miles from the Chesapeake Bay.  The Potomac is almost seven miles wide at this point.  Just offshore sits St. Clement’s Island, the third landing site for colonists to America after Jamestown and Plymouth Rock.

Here they landed in 1634, 384 years ago, but unlike the other landings, this area did not disappear into obscurity by the end of the 1600’s.  So today Coltons Point is the oldest continually occupied chartered community in the history of Colonial America.

It was the first territory in the world to guarantee religious freedom, the first landing of Catholics in America, the first Jesuits in America, and the only colonial settlement to never fight with the Native Americans.

The charter granted to the Calvert family by the King of England gave them all the land from Southern Maryland to Philadelphia, and nearly to New York City.  So vast were the holdings that the land for our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., was given to the fledgling nation by the St. Clement’s manor owners.

Today it seems little has changed over time though we are just 60 miles from the nation’s capital.  We have no street lights, no stop lights, no schools, no government of any kind, no cops, no churches, no sidewalks, no sewers, no water, no road drainage, no mall, no fast food, no diners, no hotels, no EMS, no fire company, no gas stations, and no fiber optics.

Many Bald Eagles live in Coltons Point

Most cell phones do not work because the only cell phone tower several miles away was completed just a couple of years ago.  Our phone system was installed in the 1950’s.  For most of 400 years the people here were watermen harvesting the fresh oysters, crabs, eels, and fresh and saltwater fish since we are part of the Atlantic Ocean tidal basin with ocean tides and salt water mixing with the fresh water.

The Potomac River is seven miles wide and nearly 100 feet deep meaning it flows both directions at once during high tide.  Sharks, submarines, and aircraft carriers have passed by and British troops have captured this area a couple of times.  This is the area where John Wilkes Booth disappeared for a week after killing Lincoln and it is a place of miracles, mysteries, and survival.  From the riverbank you can see across to Virginia to the birthplace of George Washington and birthplace of Robert E. Lee.

In fact, you should read the articles I have written about the mysterious past of Coltons Point and St. Clement’s Island (links at end of this story).

Ironically, not a single reader of the Coltons Point Times comes from Coltons Point.  However, the thousands of readers do come from the USA, United Kingdom, France, Russia, China, India, Italy, Australia, Germany, Israel, Saudi Arabia, a total of over 100 countries of the world.

So, thank you and I hope you tell your friends about the Coltons Point Times somewhere in America because we do not allow advertising nor do we advertise.

Jim Putnam, Publisher

Google numbers for the recent twelve months.

Coltons Point Times Readers

November 2016
Pageviews: 39,590

December 2016
Pageviews: 31,076

January 2017
Pageviews: 122,125

February 2017
Pageviews: 87,047

March 2017
Pageviews: 114,094

April 2017
Pageviews: 88,289

May 2017
Pageviews: 100,146

June 2017
Pageviews: 119,442

July 2017
Pageviews: 52,623

August 2017
Pageviews: 93,873

September 2017
Pageviews: 99,862

October 2017
Pageviews: 55,514

Total 12 months                   1,003,681

(November – October)

       

Article links about Southern Maryland history.

Southern Maryland and St. Clements Island History

Histories Mysteries - Next King of England (Prince William) Shares St. Clements Manor, Maryland bloodline

http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2010/01/histories-mysteries-next-king-of.html

Histories Mysteries - The Voyage of the Ark and the Dove

http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2009/09/histories-mysteries-journey-of-ark-and.html

Histories Mysteries - The Landing at St. Clements Island in 1634

https://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2015/06/histories-mysteries-landing-at-st.html

St. Clements Island and Manor - Four Centuries of Interrupted History

http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2009/07/st-clements-island-and-manor-four.html

St. Clements Prehistory Part 1 American Colonial History

http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2009/08/st-clements-island-prehistory-part-1.html

St. Clements Prehistory Part 2 American Colonial History

http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2009/08/st-clements-island-prehistory-part-2.html

Scenes from Coltons Point

http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2009/03/scenes-from-coltons-point.html

The Miracle of St. Clements Island

http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2008/04/miracle-of-st-clements-island.html

Histories Mysteries - A Lighthearted View of the Pilgrims Progress in Coltons Point

http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2007/02/pilgrims-progress.html

CPT Monarch Factoid - King's Stuff Headlines

https://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2013/07/cpt-monarch-factoid-kings-stuff.html

Histories Mysteries - The Story of John Wilkes Booth, the Black Diamond, and St. Clement's Island

https://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2016/04/histories-mysteries-story-of-john.html

Histories Mysteries - St. Clements Island - Coltons Point - and the mysterious 7th District in Maryland

https://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2015/06/histories-mysteries-st-clements-island.html

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Happy Thanksgiving from The Coltons Point Times

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Today is Thanksgiving, a national holiday, yet many people have no idea of the history of the holiday. Those of you living around Coltons Point should know this history as it began around the colonial days, exactly 155 years after the colonists landed here, the oldest continuous settlement in the original thirteen colonies.



Now not to overlook the Spaniards, they did hold some form of Thanksgiving celebrations in Saint Augustine in 1565, then San Elceario (near today's El Paso) but neither was part of the original colonies. In 1619 Virginia colonists held such a feast and in 1621 the Plymouth, Massachusetts colonists held such a feast but this was before the founding of the nation and they were not annual traditions.



After the founding of the United States the first holiday was declared by President George Washington, a religious feast to thank the "providence of Almighty God" for his help. Still, it was not designated a national holiday but states were encouraged to participate.



Of course George was born directly across the river from Coltons Point and when younger he walked this area as a surveyor.



George Washington

As President, on October 3, 1789, George Washington made the following proclamation and created the first Thanksgiving Day designated by the national government of the United States of America:

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and Us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.



The national holiday came during the darkest hours of the Civil War when Lincoln was president. The year was 1863, and it was the bloodiest days of the Civil War. It followed the battles of Vicksburg and Gettysburg and Lincoln's trip to Gettysburg to honor the most soldiers killed in one battle in our history, Lincoln, heartbroken by what he had seen at Gettysburg, may have used Thanksgiving as a time to give the people to reflect and hope. He was not a publicly religious man, but he used his Thanksgiving proclamation to find humility and gratitude, and to remember how richly blessed we as a nation really were despite everything. His proclamation was one of the first times he used strong religious overtones in his public speech.



Abraham Lincoln

In the middle of the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln, prompted by a series of editorials written by Sarah Josepha Hale, proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated on the final Thursday in November 1863:

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth."

Proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln, October 3, 1863.

Since 1863, Thanksgiving has been observed annually in the United States.



I hope you all join me in Thanksgiving, honoring the Almighty God as Washington and Lincoln told us, and honoring our sons and daughters around the world defending our right to be free.

Now, for your delight, here are all the presidents since Roosevelt with their Thanksgiving turkey.

FDR

 

Truman

Ike

JFK

Johnson

Nixon

Ford

Rosalynn filled in for Jimmy

He was busy hunting turkeys

Is he the turkey?

Reagan first to officially pardon turkey

Bush Sr

Clinton

Bush Jr

Obama

Trump

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Coltons Point and St. Clements Island Maryland Colonial History - The Rest of the Story

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Maryland and the nation owe a great deal to the brave colonists who ventured across the Atlantic in 1633 and landed on St. Clements Island in early 1634. St. Clements Manor, established within a couple of years, remains the oldest continually settled chartered community in colonial America.

The following series of articles gives the latest research and solves the enduring mysteries about the colonial days in England and Southern Maryland giving a fascinating glimpse into the lives and politics of the colonial era.

Thursday, October 26, 2006
Where in the world is Coltons Point?
http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2006/10/where-in-world-is-coltons-point.html

Thursday, April 17, 2008
THE MIRACLE OF ST. CLEMENTS ISLAND
http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2008/04/miracle-of-st-clements-island.html

Saturday, March 21, 2009
Scenes from Coltons Point
http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2009/03/scenes-from-coltons-point.html

Friday, July 10, 2009
St. Clements Island and Manor - Four Centuries of Uninterrupted History
http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2009/07/st-clements-island-and-manor-four.html

Tuesday, August 11, 2009
St. Clement's Island Prehistory - Part 1.
http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2009/08/st-clements-island-prehistory-part-1.html

Monday, August 24, 2009
St. Clement's Island Prehistory - Part 2
http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2009/08/st-clements-island-prehistory-part-2.html

Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Histories Mysteries - The Journey of the Ark and the Dove
http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2009/09/histories-mysteries-journey-of-ark-and.html

Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Histories Mysteries - Next King of England (Prince William) Shares St. Clements Manor, Maryland Bloodline
http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2010/01/histories-mysteries-next-king-of.html

Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Histories Mysteries - The Landing at St. Clement's Island in 1634
http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2010/04/histories-mysteries-landing-at-st.html

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