Today when one thinks of Eastern Neck Island in Kent County, MD it’s as a National Wildlife Refuge. In the 1650’s when Maryland Colony was only a couple of decades old, Major Joseph Wickes obtained land grants on Eastern Neck Island. It was there that he built his mansion, Wickcliffe. The Island served as County Seat while Major Wickes was Chief Justice.
At this time Kent County was the only Maryland County east of the Chesapeake Bay. Although by 1661 Talbot County was known to be in existence. Somerset County was created in 1666 and about this same time so was Dorchester County. In 1674 Cecil County was created out of portions of Kent and Baltimore Counties.
The Maryland Historical Trust Historic Sites Survey K-274, reports that the house was demolished in 1935.
A Historical Marker on the site where Wickliffe once stood reads:
“Major Joseph Wickes, who settled on Eastern Neck Island c. 1658, was Chief Justice of Kent County. Before 1674 the Court met at Wickliffe, his home here (no longer standing). By 1680 he had acquired 864 acres, the southern half of the island, which he held until his death in 1692. His great-grandson Captain Lambert Wickes, who spent his early years here, served with distinction in the Continental Navy, was lost at sea with his Sloop-of-War Reprisal October 1, 1777.”
At this same location is a Memorial Monument for Captain Lambert Wickes. Lambert Wickes was born sometime in 1735 at the family home, Wickliffe on Eastern Neck Island. Captain Wickes is best known as the Continental Navy’s first commissioned officer in European waters with the Sloop of War Reprisal. On October 24, 1776, Wickes was ordered to France with Benjamin Franklin,who was on America’s first diplomatic mission, and his two grandsons as passengers. The United States had just declared Independence from Great Britain.
A year later around October 1, the Reprisal was lost off the banks of Newfoundland in a storm.
There is a Historical Marker for Captain Wickes on the corner of Rock Hall Avenue and Main Street in Rock Hall.
This marker reads:
“One of senior officers of Continental Navy in opening years of Revolutionary War. Noted for his daring raids on British shipping. In his Sloop of War Reprisal he took Benjamin Franklin to France in 1776. Was first American Naval Officer in European waters after Declaration of Independence. Born near here on Eastern Neck Island, c 1735. He was lost with his ship in storm off Newfoundland October 1, 1777. Franklin called him “a gallant officer, and a very worthy man.”
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