Let’s start with some basics. Physically, the town of Oxford is an odd L-shaped peninsula, surrounded by water. If you look through the park in front of you, you will see the mouth of the Tred Avon River, which joins the larger Choptank River, flows into the Chesapeake Bay and then the Atlantic Ocean. This connection to the sea is what supported Native American tribes for generations and is precisely what appealed to the earliest British settlers in the sixteen sixties, when all their vital trade and communication depended on water routes. This location was ideal for a busy trading port that would serve the needs of the surrounding tobacco plantations.
The location is still pretty ideal today. Even at first sight, Oxford is a beautiful town. The glistening waterfront, tree-lined streets, brick sidewalks, and fenced yards all contribute to its obvious charm. Today, Oxford is a wonderfully peaceful place to live, and a very desirable destination for sailors, vacationers, and visitors like you. But Oxford’s significance runs deep. The exceptionally well-maintained collection of domestic, commercial and ecclesiastical architecture that has earned our designation as a National Historic District is evidence of a long and fascinating history.
A town called Oxford first appeared on maps in 1670, and the earliest lay-out of its streets and building sites remains visible today. The primary north-south street (Morris Street) is still right in front of you. It leads all traffic from the Oxford Road (to your left) past the most prominent residences, churches and businesses down to the harbor on the Tred Avon River and the Strand (to your right). Of course, over the years, additional streets filled in a grid pattern to form new neighborhoods. We will explore a few of them today.
Along the way, we will point out several of Oxford’s most significant surviving structures, but we will also describe what is not so easy to see. Oxford, like your hometown perhaps, has gone through many ups and downs over the decades, surviving moments of greatness and despair, producing heroes and scoundrels, gaining and losing fortunes. The landscape bears the signs of these changes, both natural and man-made. We have designed this tour to share some of Oxford’s visible and invisible stories with you, and especially to introduce you to some of the people and events that have shaped our town into what you find today.
We hope you will enjoy your visit. If you decide to complete portions of the tour in your car, turn Bluetooth off on your phone to avoid conflicts with your car's audio system.
Carefully cross Morris Street and head into the Town Park.