ABOUT

Davidsonville is an unincorporated community in central Anne Arundel County, Maryland, USA. 

History
Before European colonists settled in what is now Davidsonville, the area was the home to Algonquian-speaking Native American tribes. By the time Europeans began to arrive in central Anne Arundel County in numbers, the Algonquians may have vacated the area due to persistent raids by more battle-hearty members of the Susquehannock tribe. Europeans and their descendants settled and developed farms and plantations in and around what came to be known as Davidsonville in the 17th and 18th centuries. Several good examples of 18th century development in the area remain today. One is the Anne Arundel Free School. On October 26, 1723 theMaryland Colonial Assembly, under the Lord Proprietor Charles Calvert, the Fifth Lord Baltimore, and his governor, passed "An Act for the Encouragement of Learning and Erecting Schools in the Several Counties," or the Free School Act. This law, one of the first in colonial America providing for free, publicly supported primary education, mandated the construction of public schools in each of the 12 Maryland counties that existed at the time. The Free School of Anne Arundel County was built in what was to become Davidsonville sometime between 1724 and 1746, when it was under full operation with John Wilmot as schoolmaster. The original structure, expanded and restored, still stands today, is located in the community of Lavall, off Rutland Road, about one-half mile fromMaryland Route 450, and is open for tours.