Oxford History...


Oxford is one of the oldest towns in Maryland. Although it existed 20 years earlier, in 1683 Oxford was named by the Maryland General Assembly as a seaport and was laid out as a town. In 1694, Oxford and Annapolis were the only ports of entry for the entire province of Maryland.


"Early citizens included Robert Morris, Sr.*, agent for a Liverpool shipping firm who greatly influenced the town’s growth; his son Robert Morris, Jr., known as “the financier of the Revolution;” Jeremiah Banning, sea captain, war hero, and statesman; The Reverend Thomas Bacon, Anglican clergyman who wrote the first compilation of the laws of Maryland; Matthew Tilghman, known as the “patriarch of Maryland” and “father of statehood” and Colonel Tench Tilghman, aide-de-camp to George Washington and the man who carried the message of Cornwallis’ surrender to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia."


British ships ,with their variety of goods, no longer came to port in Oxford after the Revolutionary War and Oxford businesses went bankrupt. The population began a decline.


After the Civil War, Oxford enjoyed an emerged of prosperity when railroad traffic opened up the oyster trade to national market places but the oyster beds played out in the early 20th century and once again Oxford became a sleepy little village.


A few watermen work the waters of the Tred Avon but Oxford remains a quiet village today.