1687: SURVEYING JERUSALEM
On May 25, 1687, a 318-acre parcel known as "Jerusalem" was surveyed for Nicholas Hempstead and John Walley.
The first inhabitants of what became Harford County clung closely to the shores of the Chesapeake or the banks of rivers, using these waters as the chief highways. While most of the shoreline of Harford was taken up between 1658 and 1700, much of the region inland was not known by settlers until after 1700.
There were very few land grants and patents as early as Jerusalem in the interior uplands. The patent name "Jerusalem" became a place name and is referred to in Baltimore County Court proceedings in 1755.
It is unlikely the land was settled before 1700. However, this is where Jerusalem Mill was erected in 1772. The restored Jerusalem Mill on the Little Gunpowder has become a Harford landmark.
[Our Harford Heritage by C. Milton Wright. Research by Harford County Public Library.]
