Great Mills, Maryland

Cecil's Mill Historic District is a national historic district in Great Mills, St. Mary's County, Maryland. It consists of four buildings: Cecil's Mill, Cecil Store, the Cecil Home, and Old Holy Face Church. Cecil's Mill is a 2+1⁄2-story wood-framed structure, that was used until 1959. Across from the mill is the store, house, and Holy Face Church. The store was constructed in the 1920s and is a good example of a rural store. The Cecil Home was constructed in the late 19th century. Old Holy Face Church is a 2+1⁄2-story frame church that was abandoned in the 1940s.It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

Great Mills High School is a comprehensive public high school in Great Mills, Maryland, United States. It serves students in grades 9–12 in the mixed rural and suburban area at the confluence of the Potomac River, Patuxent River, and Chesapeake Bay. It belongs to the St. Mary's County Public Schools system, and is associated with two other county high schools: Leonardtown High School and Chopticon High School. The school is accredited by the Middle States Colleges and Secondary Schools and the Maryland State Department of Education. The school has an enrollment of more than 1,600, with an ethnic makeup reflecting the community: 51% Caucasian, 40% African American, 5% Asian, 4% Hispanic, and 1% other. Many of the families are employed by NAS Patuxent River, government contractors, St. Mary's College of Maryland, and others involved in the area's traditional agricultural and water-related businesses. Great Mills High School is among the oldest continually operating school in St. Mary's County and the State of Maryland. It was founded in 1929 as one of the original high schools in the county. The campus now encompasses several acres and has a football, soccer, and field hockey field and uses a county pool next door. The school houses a STEM program. Great Mills High School athletes are known as the Hornets. Great Mills High School Athletics belongs to the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference and competes in Division 3A in state competitions.

Callaway is a census designated place in St. Mary's County, Maryland, United States. The elevation is 105 feet (32 m). Per the 2020 Census, the population was 1,779.

Valley Lee is an unincorporated community in St. Mary's County, Maryland, United States. The St. George's Episcopal Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. Another landmark of Valley Lee is the 100-year-old Russells Store, a country store, barber/beautyshop, and local tavern. The ZIP Code for Valley Lee is 20692.

St. Mary's River State Park is a public recreation area located in St. Mary's County, Maryland. The state park consists of two sites: one encompasses 250-acre (100 ha) St. Mary's Lake (an automated gate wants $3 for Marylanders, $5 for others); the second covers 2,200 acres (890 ha) and is largely undeveloped. The park is managed by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

St. George's Episcopal Church is a historic church located at 44965 Blake Creek Road, in Valley Lee, St. Mary's County, Maryland, United States. It was built in 1799 on the same site as three other, earlier churches. It is a one-story, five-bay, rectangular, gable-front, Flemish bond brick structure. The interior has been restored to its 1884 appearance. The church is surrounded by a graveyard, enclosed by a low brick wall. It is generally believed that St. George's is the site of the oldest Anglican church in Maryland whose parish is still in existence. William and Mary Parish, as it was originally known, was one of the original 30 Anglican parishes in the Province of Maryland. The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

Lexington Park is a census-designated place (CDP) in St. Mary's County, Maryland, United States, and the principal community of the Lexington Park, Maryland Micropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 11,626 at the 2010 census.

Charlotte Hall Military Academy, located at Charlotte Hall, Maryland, was established as Charlotte Hall School in 1774 by Queen Charlotte to provide for the liberal and pious education of youth to better fit them for the discharge of their duties for the British Empire. It was fully accredited by the Maryland State Department of Education. The landed estate of the school embraced 360 acres (1.5 km2). The School was non-sectarian and of high moral tone. There were many illustrious graduates, persons of all major professions, clergy and congressmen. Trustees of the academy, formerly known as Charlotte Hall School, included Roger B. Taney (1777–1864) Supreme Court Justice, George Plater (1735–1792) Governor of Maryland, James Thomas (1785–1845) Governor of Maryland and Joseph Kent (1779–1837) Governor of Maryland.The School closed its doors in 1976 because of increasing financial problems. The property is now part of the Charlotte Hall Historic District. It is operated as the Charlotte Hall Veterans Home, a program of the Maryland State Department of Veterans Affairs.

Drayden is an unincorporated community in St. Mary's County, Maryland, United States. West St. Mary's Manor was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. Porto Bello was listed in 1972.The Drayden Schoolhouse was a small, one-room African American children's school featuring grades 1–7. It was open and operational from 1890 to 1944. The land was donated by Mary Ellen and Daniel A. Gross in 1889. The schoolhouse was a one-room design based on a Victorian design like other one-room schools already operational in St. Mary's County. The original green paint is still inside the structure. Exterior paint was added in 2000 to preserve the original sliding planks.The Drayden schoolhouse was one of three for African American children in the Valley Lee District. One teacher taught grades 1-7 and could have had as many as forty students in the single room. At this time there were no public high schools open to African American students. They did not have a public high school for African American children until 1934. Until that time, most African American children did not have the ability to attend school beyond the seventh grade. Schools were not de-segregated in St. Mary's County, Maryland until 1967.

St. Mary's Peninsula is part of the Western Shore region of Maryland. From the Charles County line, just north of Charlotte Hall, Maryland, to the southern tip of St. Mary's County at Point Lookout State Park, St. Mary's Peninsula stretches about 39 miles (63 km). It is bordered on the southwest by the Potomac River, on the north and east by the Patuxent River and on the east by Chesapeake Bay. From the end of these two rivers, the peninsula has about 15 miles of shoreline along the Bay's western shore from Lexington Park, Maryland to Point Lookout. Its shoreline stretches for a total of 536 miles along the Patuxent River, Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay.Conterminous with the boundaries of St. Mary's County, the peninsula covers a land area of 361.25 square miles (935.6 km2).Northeast of St. Mary's Peninsula, on the opposite side of the Patuxent River, is the smaller Calvert Peninsula. Like St. Mary's Peninsula, Calvert Peninsula also has boundaries conterminous with a single Maryland county.

St. Richard's Manor is a historic home located at Lexington Park, St. Mary's County, Maryland. It is a 1+1⁄2-story Flemish bond brick dwelling, with a steeply pitched gable roof, constructed before 1750 on the Patuxent River. Also on the property are two tobacco barns built about 1935, and a small pyramid-roofed concrete block pumphouse.On December 16, 1652, "St. Richard's Manor" was re-patented to Luke Gardiner, heir of Richard Gardiner, because the original patent had been lost as a result of the internal strife with Ingle in 1645. Shortly afterwards /_that is in the 1650s _/ Richard Edelen was contracted by Luke to build a second house on the Manor. This house is still standing today on fifty-five acres of the original land patent. Richard Edelen built a second house called "Riverview" (circa 1659) for Luke Gardiner near St. Clements Island. When bequeathing St. Richard's manor, Richard Keene stated "which was taken up in Luke Gardiner's name." This leads one to conclude that Luke Gardiner was given manorial rights and therefore when Richard Keene became possessed of the manor the rights and privileges of Court Baron became vested in Richard Keene as Lord of St. Richard's Manor.St. Richard's Manor was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

St. Mary's County, established in 1637, is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 113,777. Its county seat is Leonardtown. The name is in honor of Mary, the mother of Jesus. St. Mary's County comprises the California-Lexington Park, Maryland Metropolitan Statistical Area, which also is included in the Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA Combined Statistical Area. It is part of the Southern Maryland region. The county was the home to the first Maryland Colony, and the first capital of the Colony of Maryland. Settled by English Catholics, it is considered to be the birthplace of religious freedom in North America, at a time when the British colonies were settled primarily by Protestants. The county is home to the Patuxent River Naval Air Station and St. Mary's College of Maryland. Traditionally, St. Mary's County has been known for its unique and historic culture of Chesapeake Bay tidewater farming, fishing, and crabbing communities. But with the advent of the military bases, growth of an extensive defense contractor presence, and the growth of St. Mary's College of Maryland, as well as increasing numbers of long-distance Washington, D.C. commuters, it has been undergoing a decades-long transformation which has seen the county's population double since 1970.