Place of Pilgrimage
Maryland has the distinction of having many religious historic sites dating back to the time when Fr. Andrew White, S.J. said the first Mass on St. Clement's Island off the tip of Southern Maryland. Even in the time of persecution and discrimination of Catholics, religion was deeply embedded in the area.
We are at the site of the first monastery in the first Thirteen Colonies and as such it is revered as a Historic monument as well as a tribute to religious freedom.
Founded in 1790, the nuns lived here for forty years before moving to Baltimore in 1831. As referred to in our Historic notes — the property was sold to a farmer who kept it in the same family until a group of ladies bought a portion in hopes that the nuns would come back. This group eventually formed into an organization called, “The Restorers of Mount Carmel.” They organized bus-loads of people to come here in pilgrimages. They prayed for the restoration of the monastery as well as for their own needs. Coming to a revered religious place to pray has a long history in the Catholic Church. When the weather turns favorable in the Spring and throughout the Summer months tour buses bring groups, not only from other parts of Maryland and Pennsylvania but from Ohio and other States, to visit the Historic sites of Southern Maryland and the Carmel of Port Tobacco.
Any group wishing to come on a pilgrimage is free to do so. They should contact the Nuns via the online form here. The original buildings from 1790, now a museum, are open daily from May - October.
“Suffering for God is better than working miracles.”