Elkridge Landing
Though now heavily silted, the Patapsco River was once navigable to this point, and Elkridge Landing, just downstream, was an important colonial port, rivaling old Annapolis. Here hogsheads of tobacco from nearby plantations were rolled to waiting ships by slaves and oxen along "Rolling Roads".
At a fording point just below the Thomas Viaduct both Lafayette and Rochambeau crossed the Patapsco with their armies on separate occasions in 1781 while enroute to Yorktown to force the surrender of Cornwallis. Lafayette lost nin men and a boat in crossing the treacherous waters of the Patapsco.
Marker can be reached from the intersection of Washington Boulevard (U.S. 1) and South Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
