Joppa is a former colonial town and current planning region of Harford County,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean ...

, United States. Joppa was founded as a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

settlement on the Gunpowder River in 1707 and designated as the third

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US ...

of Baltimore County in 1712. The original boundaries of Baltimore County were defined in 1659 and contained all of modern day

Baltimore County Baltimore County ( , locally: or ) is the third-most populous county in the U.S. state of Maryland and is part of the Baltimore metropolitan area. Baltimore County (which partially surrounds, though does not include, the independent City of ...

, Baltimore City, Harford and Cecil counties and parts of

Howard Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also proba ...

, Carroll, Anne Arundel and

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it fac ...

counties. The settlement was named for the

Biblical The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

town of Jaffa in the ancient

Holy Land The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...

of modern-day Israel. Joppa's harbor began to silt in due to clearcutting and farming upriver and coupled with multiple outbreaks of diseases such as

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

and

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or deat ...

, the county seat was moved to the growing, deep water port of

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

in 1768. Joppa's population would decline rapidly thereafter and businesses left for more prosperous environments in the new Baltimore Town.

History

The town of Joppa near the Western Shore of the

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / ...

was designated as a "Port of Entry" by the colonial legislature, the

Maryland General Assembly The Maryland General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland that convenes within the State House in Annapolis. It is a bicameral body: the upper chamber, the Maryland Senate, has 47 representatives and the lower cha ...

. It traded internationally in agricultural products, primarily

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the c ...

; the chief commodity crop and currency throughout much of its colonial era. At its peak, the port was home to about 50 or more homes, the courthouse, two prisons, a church, several inns, shops, and warehouses. In 1768, the Maryland General Assembly moved the county seat of Baltimore County from Joppa to Baltimore Town, which was developing as a major port. A new courthouse was built in the center of town that year. With court and related trade business diverted to Baltimore, much of the population followed. By 1815, all that remained of Joppa were the church and a few ruins of once stately homes, shops and warehouses. Th
Rumsey Mansion
home to Maryland's first and longest serving Chief Judge of the Maryland Supreme Court, Benjamin Rumsey, is the only remaining structure from that period. The McComas Institute was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Olney was listed in 1987, and Whitaker's Mill Historic District in 1990. Film location: Joppa is the site of large film sound-stages constructed for use in interior scenes of the US television series House of Cards. Sets include the full-scale reconstruction of the West Wing of the White House and Congressional offices. Education: Harford County Public Schools operates the public schools. Trinity Lutheran Christian School, a PreK-12 Christian school, is located in Joppa. Joppa as it is known today is a planning region within Harford County and a federal zip code designation that includes modern day Joppatowne. It is a distinct community with an identity all its own that dates to the end of the colonial era of its namesake town.

References

External links

Harford County Community Plan for Joppa
{{authority control Populated places in colonial Maryland Unincorporated communities in Harford County, Maryland Unincorporated communities in Maryland Former county seats in Maryland

History

See also

References

External links