“So, when Maryland began taxing tobacco as it left the colony, some traders decided they would rather find another way to move it, sans tax!”

In the 1600s, tobacco was so valuable in Maryland that it was sometimes used as currency. So, when Maryland began taxing tobacco as it left the colony, some traders decided they would rather find another way to move it, sans tax!

Enter the Smuggler’s Path.

Alexander d’Hinoyossa and other traders helped establish a route between Maryland and Delaware that allowed tobacco to reach Dutch traders while avoiding Maryland’s taxes.

And this is where the story gets interesting from a title perspective. Parts of the old route are believed to have later become part of the current transportation corridor used for the 14-mile shipping canal connecting the Delaware River with Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay.

Interesting that a modern property search along that corridor could involve land whose history reaches back more than 300 years, to a route created to move tobacco past a colonial tax.

That is one of the things I love about old land records. What looks like a routine search for ownership, boundaries, easements, or rights-of-way can sometimes lead all the way back to a piece of history you never expected to find.

At Real Title Services, we spend our days tracing those records across the country. You never quite know what is hiding in the title.

Angela Sharp

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