Fruitland, Maryland c1772

Some of the early history of Fruitland, Maryland: DISHAROONS CROSSROADS, as it was first called, sprang up at the confluence of several old colonial roads back just before the American Revolution in the 1760s and early 1770s. Those roads led to points north at Salisbury and on to mills at Barren Creek, Rockawalkin, Parkers mills and others up towards the Delaware line. Heading south, you had roads leading to Princess Anne and to the Pocomoke River at Dividing Creek and also down towards Wicomico Creek and the old hamlet called Upper Trappe (modern-day Allen).

At that time also, the roads that became modern-day Division Street and Meadow Bridge Road actually formed the boundary line between Somerset County to the west and Worcester County to the east – it wasn’t until 1867 that Wicomico County gobbled up the entirety of Fruitland within its bounds. By then the town was named Forktown, as it had been called since the Federal Period (c1820), probably because of the forking of the roads at the current crossroads that make up Meadow Bridge Road and Division and Main Street today. It was a stopping point for stages heading north/south along the eastern shore. It was renamed Fruitland in 1873 to reflect farming practices and abundancy of crops like tomatoes and strawberries.

The land where Fruitland is located was slower to blossom because it was inland and part of a large tract called “Wicomico Manor” surveyed in 1674 for 6000 acres as a tract of “Reserves and Manors Reserved and Surveyed for His Lordship the Lord Proprietary of this Province.” In other words, it was reserved for Lord Baltimore to do as he pleased – one could live there but not own the land. 6000 acres is roughly nine square miles in breadth and Wicomico Manor was laid out like a large rectangle with its length running NE to SW. The northernmost corner of the tract began where the Port Authority Building is currently located in downtown Salisbury and ran down the Wicomico (then called the Rockawalkin River) all the way to Sharps Point south of Shad Point. The line then turned inland to the southeast and ran to about where the modern Route 13 bypass and St. Lukes Road meet and then turns to the northeast, running to about a point at the eastern end of Schumaker Pond. The last line closes the rectangle by returning to the first point in Downtown Salisbury. As you can imagine this encompasses nearly all of where modern Fruitland now lies except for its southwest edge. See Figure 1 for an illustration of the location of the Manor on a modern map.

In 1771, Lord Baltimore ordered a resurvey of the Wicomico Manor tract and, by 1772, began to allow citizens to purchase land within its bounds at £25 per 100 acres. In 1772, there are several tracts that were surveyed that became the place where modern Fruitland now lies. These tracts were never patented as momentum towards the Revolution was underway and the royal government was losing its hold on the Maryland colony.

At the point where the “crossroads” was (and still is today), George Disharoon had the tract “Disharoons Adventure” surveyed for him on Mar 12 1772 for 123¼ acres described as “part in Worcester, part in Somerset, and by Disharoon’s plantation.” The land was rather meager as the old survey says this about it: “improvements are 120 ac of cultivated land, half under fence, other half unfenced and consists of white sandy soil, worn out.” In the modern day, that tract extends from roughly where Dulaney Ave. and Main Street intersect, running down Main Street to the east to Division Street then diagonal out to where St. Lukes Road current meets the new Cedar Lane, then NE to meet Slab Bridge Road, up Slab Bridge to cross Division, across the field behind Walmart to the intersection of Dulaney and Cedar Lane, then up Dulaney and back to the beginning at Main Street. While Disharoon never received a royal patent for his land because of the Revolution, in 1783, after the United States had won its freedom, the County Commissioners carried through the sale of all the tracts in Wicomico Manor as “Confiscated British Property” and awarded “Disharoons Adventure” (though not labeled, it is the light green tract in the first figure and light blue outline in the second figure) to George Disharoon, for £27.12.06 (27 pounds, 12 shillings, 6 pence), citing original 1772 sale of Manor lands at £25 per 100 acres.

Figure 1 Map of the old Fruitland Land Tracts and the Manor of Wicomico (John Lyon Land Records Database)

George Disharoon (c1741-1789) was the brother of Francis Disharoon (c1743-1788) and both were sons of John Disharoon (c1699-1761) and his wife Mary Langkake (the surname was later shortened to Lank) and grandsons of John Disharoon Sr. (1677-c1754). John Disharoon Sr., this writer’s 8th great grandfather, had patented the tract “Come By Chance” for 85 acres in 1713 and it borders the tract his grandson George had surveyed for him in 1772. “Come By Chance” was outside the border of the Wicomico Manor and is located in the modern day roughly from where St. Lukes and Division meet, out St. Lukes to where it hits Cedar Lane, then turns south to Meadow Bridge, then west to Brown Street Extended and then diagonals back to the intersection of St. Lukes and Division.

George’s brother, Francis, who is this writer’s 6th great grandfather, owned parts of tracts "Havana" and "Watsons Discovery". These are located on the southern edge of Fruitland along and east of business US Route 13. He had purchased 40a of the 100a in the tract "Watsons Discovery" from his brother George on Dec 12 1767. "Havana" was a very large tract of almost 880a and he purchased 14.5a of it from Christopher/Alce Glass on Oct 10 1768 and another 85.5a from them on Aug 5 1772. The portion of these two tracts he purchased were just outside the bounds of the old Wicomico Manor.

George Disharoon was already living in a house that had descended to him from his father (who left it to George’s brother Stephen but Stephen died young and the house reverted to George) – it was on the Come By Chance tract. We get a clue to the location of that house when the “Come By Chance,” “Disharoons Adventure” and other tracts were combined in 1801 by Joshua Morris to form “Morrises Conclusion.” The first boundary of that land is located out St. Lukes Road a little past Brown Street where the new development now stands and that bound is described in 1801 as “the first bound of tract Come By Chance, a small distance east of the dwelling house where George Disharoon formerly lived.” This is likely the old John Disharoon plantation dwelling house that George inherited and lived through his life and likely was located on the east side of Meadow Bridge Road just out from town past Brown Street in Fruitland.

Figure 2 - Satellite view of the early land tracts comprising Fruitland, Maryland (Lyon Land Records Database superimposed on Google Earth)

Besides George Disharoon’s house, there were not many in Fruitland proper in 1772. Several tracts were surveyed in 1772 and give us clues to other dwellings in the area. Robert Layfield had a tract surveyed called “Choice” and it included “improvements of 20 ac cultivated land under fence, a log house 16x12, 50 apple trees with white sandy soil and timbered mostly with small pines.” This land is located roughly where the old Dulaney Plant and Green Giant industrial area is today. To Layfield’s east, John Chambers patented 185 1/2a “Chambers Purchase” on S-most side of main road from Princess Ann Town to head of Wicomico R. It had “improvements: 50 ac cultivated land under fence, 130 small apple trees, log house 16x32, another log house 16x16 and another 8x8, timbered with small pines, soil is a white sand.” His house may have been somewhere near where the traffic circle is on Cedar Lane today. To the east of Chambers, Stephen Toadvine had surveyed “Mill Lot” “part in Somerset, part in Worcester, on W side of main road from Toadvine's Mill to head of Wicomico R.” with “improvements being a framed house 20x16, a log'ed house 20x14, 20 ac cultivated land under fence, timbered with small pines and a white sandy soil.” Toadvine’s house would have been down Division towards modern Morris Mill pond.

Finally, across business Route 13, William Adams surveyed “Addition” for 61 1/4a on “S side of Wicomico R. by Adams' saw mill” with “improvements of a framed house 20x16, a saw mill, 15 ac cultivated land under fence with white sandy soil timbered with small pines.” The house and saw mill were probably located where Camden Ave. crosses Tony Tank Creek today. Alexander Porter surveyed “Bachelors Folly” just to the west of Adams for 89 3/4a “on S side of Wicomico R., S side of mouth of Tundotank Creek” with “improvements of log'd houses 15x17 and 12x15, 25 ac cultivated land under fence with a soil that is white sand, timbered w. small pines mostly.”

There you have it – a brief early history of Fruitland, MD when it was still called DISHAROONS CROSSROADS. Now you can see why the original name for the settlement that became Fruitland was called as such – there were Disharoons EVERYWHERE! If your roots run deep around the Fruitland area, chances are you relate to one of the Disharoon families who were in the area from the 18th century. It was a little hamlet at a key intersection of colonial roadways. By just before the American Revolution, there were only a few houses, mainly made of logs, some out buildings and orchards and fencing and two mills and lots of sandy soil and pines. As we approached the year 1800, settlement picked up quite a bit and I plan to expand up this writing in further additions to try and lay out what the town looked like as it transitioned from Disharoons Crossroads in the 18th century to Forktown in the early 19th century.