The Claggett family cemetery is the burial ground for the family of Bishop Thomas John Claggett, first Episcopal Bishop of Maryland and the first Episcopal Bishop to be consecrated on American soil. It is located on what was once the Claggett estate, Croome, a little less than a mile west from Croome Road (Maryland Route 382). A burial ground was established there when Bishop Claggett’s daughter, Mary Ann Claggett Eversfield was buried there near the date of her death on August 28, 1810.

 

Bishop Thomas John Claggett died on August 2, 1816. He outlined the creation of this family cemetery his Last Will and Testament. His wife, Mary Gantt, was interred there at her death. In November 1898, “the dust of Bishop Claggett and his wife” was moved to the Washington National Cathedral. The two grave slabs of the Bishop and his wife were removed to the Cathedral grounds at the same time. The burial ground is the resting place for Mary Ann Claggett Eversfield, Samuel Claggett, Charles Nicholas Claggett, Elizabeth Laura Claggett, and Ruth Beall Duley. i

 

Beginning in 2005, working with a local citizens group, the Friends of Croome; the Board of Education; and county authorities, the St. Thomas’ Parish historian was able to affect the transfer of the cemetery and its deeded right-of-way into parish hands in 2010. In 2011 two Boy Scouts from the parish troop, Shane Kelly and Harrell Watts created the Claggett Trail as their Eagle Scout project. In 2012 the cemetery was officially designated a Prince George’s County Historic Site. A Historic Property Grant was awarded to repair the wrought iron fencing around the cemetery. Repairs and replacement were undertaken in 2014 by G. Krug and Son, the same Baltimore firm that manufactured the original fencing.ii In exchange for grant monies a perpetual easement was granted to the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission.