AVONDALE

Solomons Island and the Avondale subdivision on the mainland comprised a regional center of seafood harvesting and processing industries, as well as boatbuilding, sport fishing, and summer recreation. In 1866 Isaac Solomon purchased a large tract of land and established an oyster cannery and boatyard. By the 1880s the commercial fleet here included several hundred locally built and maintained vessels. Directly adjacent to the growing village on Solomons Island, Avon-dale became the first subdivision in Calvert County, addressing growing local demand for residential building lots.

The grandest houses were built along the west and southeast side of the community, such as the picturesque Queen Anne Vail House (c. 1902; 14280 Solomons Island) built for fisherman Captain Phillip Vail and its simpler gable-front neighbor, the Abell House (c. 1910; 14286 Solomons Island). A variety of vernacular shotgun houses, I-houses, and simple frame bungalows were built on the inner blocks such as C and Calvert streets during the early twentieth century. Many were likely built as workers’ residences and later used as recreational dwellings. A remarkably intact group of three one-story frame shotgun houses at 14260-62-64 Calvert seem to have been constructed at the same time. Construction of nearby Patuxent River Naval Air Station during World War II reoriented the local economy toward defense and government employment, while continued tourism and recreation maintain historic connections to the water.