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| The Maryland State Flag at The Maryland Center for History and Culture |
The Maryland State Flag
You can visit many states and not really notice the state flag. Yes there are different flags flying above buildings than the ones that fly above buildings in your home state but the flag isn't everywhere you look. Not the case in Maryland. The Maryland State Flag is EVERYWHERE. It's on flag poles, clothing, stickers, license plates, worked into logos, and just plastered everywhere. I have only visited one other state where the flag has been so prevalent and that is Colorado. The Maryland State flag is very striking and doesn't blend in so it stands out but what does it mean? How did it come about and why does it look like 4 flags with 2 different patterns just sewn together? That is what we will explore in this post.
Maryland had no official flag until 1904. By The Civil War the most common flag flown for Maryland was the state seal on a blue background.
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| BORING! |
The two parts of Maryland's flag bear the arms of the Calvert family and Crossland family. Calvert was the family name of the Lords Baltimore who founded Maryland, and their colors of gold and black appear in the first and fourth quarters of the flag. Crossland was the family of the mother of George Calvert, first Lord Baltimore. The red and white Crossland colors, with a cross bottony (the cross with the shape on each end), appear in the second and third quarters.
Maryland was a divided state during the Civil War. Even though it was a slave state, it chose not to secede. Marylanders fighting for The Union Army carried banners with the Calvert Colors (The Black and Yellow Checkered pattern on the flag today). Marylanders fighting for The Confederate Army carried The Red and White Crossland Arms Flag representing secession colors. In the 1880s the current Maryland flag began to appear in public taking the Calvert and Crossland colors and merging them into one flag representing unity amongst Marylanders.
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| Today you can buy the flag on a wide range of things. |
That's it for today. If you missed yesterday's post you can find it here.
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