Linthicum Walks is the name of a lovely 200-year-old house whose history reflects the agricultural past of western Anne Arundel County. For most of its history, the house and over 200 acres of surrounding land belonged to the Linthicum family. During most of those years it was a typical medium-sized farm with tobacco being the primary cash crop. Most of the family’s food was also produced on the farm.

 

The original land grant for the property dates to 1672 when Evan Davis patented 200 acres of land. Davis died in 1675 and the occupancy of the land is in question until 1699 when Thomas Linthicum, a Welshman who immigrated to Maryland prior to 1658, willed this property to his son Thomas II. In 1701 Thomas II resurveyed this tract of land and others amounting to 631 acres. He renamed it Linthicum Walks.
 

As years went on, the land passed out of the family then later returned to the Linthicums. In 1860 John III died and his children sold the property in 1885, with the house and its family cemetery passing out of the Linthicum family forever.

 

The Linthicum family graveyard is located to the south of the main house and contains nine markers dated from 1840s to the 1880s. Local legend suggests there may be as many as forty or more unmarked graves in the Linthicum family cemetery.

 

In1924 Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin King purchased Linthicum Walks and owned it until 1977. The Kings completely modernized the house and added a summer porch and a kitchen. Mrs. King also converted much of the land around the house to gardens, particularly enhancing the drive to the house.

 

Today Linthicum Walks and surrounding land is owned by Anne Arundel County, and the site is administered and maintained by the Department of Recreation and Parks.