Mineral County was formed from Hampshire in 1866 and was named for its great mineral deposits. In Mineral County is Fort Ashby, the only standing unit in the chain of frontier forts built in 1755 under Washington’s orders. Maryland was named for Queen Henrietta Maria, the wife of Charles I, who gave a royal charter to Cecil Calvert, second Lord Baltimore, in 1632. Its first settlement was at St. Mary’s City in 1634, and it was one of the 13 original colonies.