Visit Oakley’s Acorns for interesting fast facts about Oakley history.
This blog is devoted to telling the stories of Oakley Farm starting with its original patent in 1683, a year before Cambridge was first laid out and made a port of entry. The land was patented as Foulkes Content, but it would become over the years Lockermans Regulation, Oakly Farm, Oakley Farm, and finally The West End. Blog posts will include stories about Oakley’s people, properties, and its metamorphosis into Cambridge’s West End neighborhood. The term “Oakley” on this site is a reference to the area of the original 100-acre Oakley Farm. See the boundaries of Oakley Farm circa 1870 in red on map below.
If we could venture back to 1874, we would find on Maryland’s Eastern Shore a 100-acre waterfront farm along the Choptank River named Oakley Farm. It bordered the Western city limits of Cambridge. Twenty years before, in the Fall of 1853, this farm had been bought by Samuel L. Byrn, a local merchant. Byrn owned a shop on nearby Poplar Street within walking distance of Oakley. For 25 years he would run Oakley Farm and raise a large family. His farmhouse was on the highest elevation of the farm surrounded by a grove of large white oak trees overlooking 100 acres of cleared farmland and the Great Choptank River. However, by 1874 Mr. Byrn began selling off Oakley land and the first land sold was a 4-acre parcel shown in the bottom center of the large photo above. The purchasers of the land were James and Sophia Moodie who built a house that has been replaced at least twice over the past 150 years. This photo is looking south from Oakley’s original northern tip. Virtually all of the farm is within the Cambridge Historic District that was created about 30 years ago. In fact, the Oakley Farm property makes up the overwhelming majority of the residential properties in the Historic District.
Oakley Chronology
- 1683 – Thomas Foulkes patents 100-acre Foulkes Content
- 1715 – Govert Lockerman patents the 400-acre Lockermans Regulation plantation (includes Foulkes Content)
- 1729 – Govert’s married daughter, Mary Haskins, inherits that 100-acre portion of Lockermans Regulation that had been Foulkes Content.
- 1777 – Margaret Caile, granddaughter of Mary Haskins, inherits Lockermans Regulation and marries Gustavus Scott
- 1792 – Dr. John Eccleston purchases Lockermans Regulation
- 1807 – Thomas John Hugh Eccleston purchases Lockermans Regulation
- 1826 – William Pattison purchases Oakly (as Lockermans Regulation was now known)
- 1827 – Henrietta Eccleston Pattison inherits Oakly from her husband
- 1847 – Henrietta Pattison’s daughter, Williamina Pattison, marries Benjamin D. Jackson and they become owners of Oakly
- 1853 – Williamina dies and Ben’s debts force him to sell Oakly
- 1853 – Samuel L. Byrn purchases Oakly and it is renamed Oakley
- 1874 – Byrn sells 2 waterfront lots on Oakley’s NW side, the first property subdivision of Oakley Farm
- 1875 – Byrn sells 12 acres of Oakley land to Sewell Milbourne (approximately future Glenburn Avenue – east side of street)
- 1875 – Byrn gets a one-year mortgage for Oakley from Henry Hubbard
- 1876 – Byrn sells a small building lot at the SE edge of Oakley
- 1877 – Byrn sells 12 acres of Oakley farmland to Andrew Taylor (approximately future Belvedere Avenue – both sides of street)
- 1877 – Byrn sells 13 acres of Oakley land to George Varnum (approximately future Choptank Avenue – west side of street and the east side of West End Avenue)
- 1878 – Samuel Byrn dies
- 1879 – Oakley mortgage holder Henry Hubbard sells remaining Oakley land to William Hopkins
- 1879 – William Hopkins moves family from his farm to the original Oakley Farmhouse
- 1880 – William Hopkins begins selling building lots on Locust St., West End Ave., Oakley St., School St., Travers St. and what is now called Willis St. William and son, W.D. Hopkins, continued selling building lots for the next 25 to 30 years.
- 1895 – W.D. Hopkins builds a new home at the site of the original Oakley Farmhouse