Interesting Facts! Did you know the name Piscataway came from the name of their principal village on the Piscataway Creek in present day Prince Georges County? The name loosely translates to 'high passable bank around a bend in the river'. Did you also know that up until the beginning of the serious colonization of Maryland, the Piscataway population was probably approximately 2500 across at least 30 villages. The Piscataway were also the first tribe that the English attempted to Christianize via Catholic missionaries.

American Indian Arrowheads

You'll often hear people talk of Catonsville's history in the context of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, however, what you don't often hear of is that prior to and during the colonization of Maryland there was a local Indian tribe that lived and traveled in this area. This tribe came to be known by the European colonist as the Pascatae or Piscataway, an Algonquain speaking tribe.

The area that much later became Catonsville was along an established Piscataway Indian Trail, and was close to one or more Piscataway villages. The trail running through this area would also come to be an important warpath for at least one of their rival tribes, the Iroquois, and may have also been taken advantage of by the powerful warrior tribe known as Susquehannocks, who disputed this area to be part of their domain.

Pictured below is one of three framed sets of arrowheads collected by Benjamin Rabb and his father, a century ago, from around Catonsville. The collection was donated to the Society by Mr. Rabb, and is currently on display in the Pullen Museum.

Note: Portions of information on this page provided courtesy of CatonsvilleWeb