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Fletchertown South of Bowie One historic resource
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n the late nineteenth century, Gabriel Fletcher, an African-American farmer, began purchasing land to establish a family farm near Bowie. Fletcher was born circa 1857 in Maryland; the 1880 census lists Fletcher as a single 23-year-old biracial man living with his mother and siblings in Queen Anne, Prince George’s County. His occupation is listed as “laborer.” In 1892, Fletcher purchased a 13.5-acre lot (lot 6) from the estate of George W. Wood for $150. The following year at a public auction, Fletcher purchased lot seven for $500, which contained 6.32 acres. By 1900, the census notes Fletcher living in Bowie with his wife of 14 years, Virginia, and their five children. He is listed as owning his home and his occupation is listed as farmer.
Within a few years, several other members of the extended Fletcher family began to develop and work farms in the immediate area. By the early years of the twentieth century, this community of small farms came to be known as Fletchertown after the members of Gabriel Fletcher’s family. Early settlers included, in addition to the Fletchers, families named Hawkins, Chittams, Fleet, Williams, Spriggs, and Thomas. Many of the residents worked for the railroad, which was the impetus for the establishment of the Bowie community; others were farm workers, and most maintained their own small farms. Because of its closeness to Bowie, Fletchertown never developed into a self-sufficient community; unlike some other rural communities (for example, Chapel Hill), Fletchertown never had its own church. Residents of Fletchertown attended the churches of Bowie, in particular Ascension Roman Catholic Church, and until the 1920s, children from Fletchertown went to the school on Horsepen Hill, a short distance to the northeast. There were apparently many joint social gatherings with the residents of Duckettsville, approximately one-and-one-half miles to the northwest. Duckettsville was a community similar to Fletchertown; it started with the purchase of land at the turn of the twentieth century by a black family named Duckett. Many of the older residents who still live in the community are descendants of the original
FLETCHERTOWN African-American Historic and Cultural Resources
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