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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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Pomonkey, Maryland
Pomonkey is an unincorporated community located in Charles County, Maryland, United States at the crossing of Livingston and Pomfret Roads, one mile (1.6 km) from Bryans Road.

History

Pomonkey is named for the Pamunkey tribe of Native Americans that lived in the area. The Brent family owned much of the land from before the American Revolutionary War, asserting their claims after Giles Brent married princess Mary Kittamaquund in the 17th century. Robert Brent (1764-1819) became the first mayor of Washington, D.C. (and freed his slaves in his will).

In the early 19th century, the village of Bumpy Oak was renamed Pomonkey when it was designated a postal stop. Another Robert Brent (1759-1810) and Dorothy Leigh Brent built a plantation house in this area, which they called Brentfield (which later burned down). Their children included Maryland judge George Brent (1817-1881) and Louisiana's U.S. Representative William Leigh Brent (1784-1848), one of whose sons became Maryland Attorney General Robert James Brent and another Confederate General Joseph Lancaster Brent.

The former Pomonkey High School was one of two black segregated high schools in Charles County until the 1960s, and has a proud alumni association. From 1946 to 1970 the "Pomonkey Spoon Factory" manufactured wooden tools and small items. In 2022, the Pomonkey High School Alumni Association held a Centennial Celebration which celebrated its 100 years of history including the fact that it was the first high school in the county created for black students.

For several years, Maryland Airport has planned a 1,300 ft (400 m) expansion, including an energetics (explosives) technical center and business park employing over 3,000 people. However, environmental concerns related to stormwater discharge into Mattawoman Creek delayed those plans. The Naval Research Laboratory has its Free Space Antenna Range on Bumpy Oak Road.

Demographics

Pomonkey itself is an unincorporated area and not part of a Census Designated Place, so few statistics for Pomonkey are available. Bryans Road, Maryland is the nearest community to Pomonkey for which data are available. However, the area lies at the meeting of ZIP codes 20616 (Bryans Road), 20640 (Indian Head) and 20646 (La Plata). As of 2000, Election District 7 (named for Pomonkey, but which includes Bryans Road and Indian Head) had a population of 11,859 persons. The racial breakdown was 59.0% white, 35.8% black, 1.5% American Indian and Alaskan Native, 1.2% Asian, 0.1% Asian Indian, 0.2% Chinese, 0.6% Filipino, <0.1% Japanese, 0.1% Korean, <0.1% Vietnamese, 0.1% Other Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander, 0.5% Other race, 1.8% two or more races.

Local landmarks

  • J.C. Parks Elementary School
  • Maryland Airport
  • Matthew Henson Middle School
  • Saint Johns Cemetery
  • Saint Johns Chapel

References

  1. ^ "Bryans Road Indian Head Sub-Area Plan". Charles County, Maryland — Department Of Planning & Growth Management. Retrieved October 14, 2007. Page 19.
  2. ^ "Pomonkey Map". abstusa.com. Absolute United States. Archived from the original on April 27, 2012. Retrieved February 19, 2008.
  3. ^ "Routes 220-239". MDRoads. Retrieved February 19, 2008. Contrast with the Pomonkey Map, and see that the note for Route 227 refers to Marshall Hall road, which differs from Marshall Corner road.
  4. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Pomonkey, Maryland
  5. ^ Richardson, Hester (1913). Side-lights on Maryland history, with sketches of early Maryland families. Baltimore, Williams and Wilkins company. Retrieved February 3, 2020.
  6. ^ Bryans Road, Appendix B Appendix B Brief History of Bryans Road
  7. ^ "Archives of Maryland (Biographical Series) Robert J. Brent (1811-1872)". Maryland State Archives. Retrieved February 3, 2020.
  8. ^ David M. French, The Brent Family; the Carroll Families of Colonial Maryland (Alexandria, Virginia typescript copyright 1981) pp. 85-87
  9. ^ Chilton, W.B. (1913). "The Brent Family (Continued)". The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 21 (1): 96–97. JSTOR 4243248.
  10. ^ Partlow, Joshua; Paley, Amit R. (February 17, 2005). "Area's Black Schoolhouses Still Have a Lesson to Teach". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 23, 2007.
    As noted here, the other school was Bel Alton.
  11. ^ "Portraits of America: Charles County", page 55 of volume 2, published 2009.
  12. ^ Schools, Charles County Public (August 26, 2022). "Pomonkey High School Alumni Association Holds Centennial Celebration; Honoring 100 Years Of History". The BayNet. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
  13. ^ Schools, Charles County Public (August 26, 2022). "Pomonkey High School Alumni Association holds centennial celebration". The Southern Maryland Chronicle. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
  14. ^ Maryland Independent newspaper, October 30, 2009, page A-8.
  15. ^ Fact Book. Naval Research Laboratory. 1985. Retrieved February 3, 2020.
  16. ^ "Pomonkey". globalsecurity.org.
  17. ^ "The Case for Protection of the Watershed Resources of Mattawoman Creek" (PDF). Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 6, 2022.
  18. ^ "20616 Zip Code (Bryans Road, Maryland) Detailed Profile". City-data.com. Retrieved January 4, 2008.
  19. ^ "Charles County, Maryland 2002 Zip Code Areas" (PDF). Maryland State Data Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 28, 2005. Retrieved January 4, 2008.
  20. ^ "Table C-1. Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 2000" (PDF). charlescounty.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 13, 2003.
  21. ^ "AirNav: 2W5 - Maryland Airport". airnav.com.
  22. ^ "Pomonkey MD 20646 USA Map". abstusa.com. Archived from the original on April 27, 2012.
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