Upper Marlboro

            Prince George’s county is one of the counties bordering Washington DC.  In 2010 the population was 863,420, at 64% African American Prince George’s county is also the wealthiest majority African American county in the nation.  P.G County is broken up five different regions, North County, Central County, South County, the Inner Beltway, and the Rural Tier.  One town that takes up a lot of the Rural Tier and reaches into part of the Central County is the historic town of Upper Marlboro the county seat of Prince George’s County. 

Upper Marlboro is a rural town in Prince Georges County.  Upper Marlboro is an old town that was settled around 1700.  The town is small with locally owned businesses like the Amish market, Peaches Café, and Nash’s Subs.  Along with some national chains like CVS, Papa Johns, and McDonalds; gives Upper Marlboro a nice mix of small hometown flavor and suburban development. 

            A lot of residents have fallen in love with the Amish market that is relatively new to the area.  The market is in the only shopping center in Upper Marlboro, in the biggest store space that was originally an IGA grocery store. 

Upper Marlboro is not for a town of bright lights and shining stars, its definitely no New York.  But the small town fell you get when walking up Main Street on a day like “Marlboro Day” makes for a fun but relaxing time.  “Marlboro Day” is a day where Main Street is shut off and the town has a parade and venders set up along the street for the entire day.  There’s food, music, games, and tons of fun, anybody would love the family atmosphere at Marlboro day and every year people pack Main Street the day before Mother’s Day to have fun and spend some time outside.  “Marlboro Day” is a great time to come and see all the historic venues this town has to offer just on Main Street and Water Street.  Like the courthouse that sits on Main Street across from the county building. 

            The small town of around 600 has a couple historic buildings and venues that bring a special flavor to the county seat, and you can immediately tell that these historic venues hold great importance to the residents of Upper Marlboro.   But the most notable historic attractions is the county courthouse located on Main Street.  Built in the 1720s the courthouse has been a fixture in Upper Marlboro for a long time.  The courthouse itself has gone through many changes throughout the years.

            When first constructed the Courthouse was paid for by a tobacco tax imposed on residents of Upper Marlboro at the time.  Upper Marlboro was originally a port town for tobacco ships, when the branch of the Patuxent River was still navigable. 

In the 1800s a new courthouse was constructed were the old one used to be located.  Around this time is when the county seat was moved to Upper Marlboro.  One of the first laws that was passed in the new courthouse was the Public School Act, which established a public school system. 

This was just the first time the Courthouse was rebuilt.  There have been numerous changes to it throughout the years making it one of most appealing attractions in Upper Marlboro.  What made the courthouse famous was the remodeling that went on in 2003. 

In May of 2003 the courthouse was closed for a $25 million dollar remodeling.  A lot of residents were excited about how the new courthouse would look and how it would add a new modern look to Upper Marlboro.  But on November 3^rd, 2004 only a couple months before the courthouse was set to reopen, the building caught fire and left the cupola that had looked over Main Street for over 60 years a charred skeleton. 

The town bounced back and rebuilt the courthouse; the charred cupola now sits in the front yard of the courthouse.  It has become almost like a tourist attraction.  On any given day at any given time you may past the courthouse and its old cupola and see various people taking pictures with it.  You can also see another great Upper Marlboro venue standing in the courthouse parking lot.  Down the street not even a five minute walk from the courthouse sits the Marlboro race track. 

Horse racing has also been a huge part of Upper Marlboro since the early days of the town’s existence.  Horse racing came to Marlboro in the mid-1800s, because of the many prominent merchants, lawyers, and politicians that lived and worked in town.  The Maryland Jockey Club sponsored races in Upper Marlboro at the track that was built just south of the court house until 1972.  In 1972 the races were moved to Bowie and the track now sits as a part of the Equestrian Center owned by Prince George's County.  The fair is held here once a year, residents and visitors enjoy rides, music, games, and more.  Some days you also may see people riding horses around the track at a lazy pace taking it the nice weather and spending time with the horse. 

            Upper Marlboro is a nice small town with great places to eat and great history.  A nice place for someone to go and relax.  With so much history and culture Upper Marlboro has become a great place to live and visit.