On October 28, 1652, a land grant or "Certificate of Survey" was issued for 660 acres of land to John, Patience and Mary Brown, and John Clark, his wife, Elizabeth, and their children, John and Ann Clark. The area was called Brownton, and later the name changed to West River Landing and then to Galloways. These early settlers were Puritans, who became Quakers. They came into the province following
the enactment of the famous "Act of Toleration" of 1649. Almost from the beginning West River Landing became the focal point of shipping and travel in this area. In 1684 it was officially designated a "port of entry" for checking imports and exports, along with Town Point at Herring Bay, Londontown on the South River and "Newtown", now Annapolis, on the Severn. The village continued to be the main port on the West River for both shipping and travel up to and through the steamboat era. Throughout colonial times the landing probably consisted of a wharf together with a warehouse or two and possibly a store or blacksmith shop. The great numbers of Quakers who came to the large Yearly or General Meetings of the West River Friends lived in tents or hurriedly built shelters so that the adjoining creek, originally "Brown's", became known as "Tenthouse Creek" by which name it is called today. The West River Quaker Meeting in the spring of 1672 represented the birth of Quakerism in Maryland, the second such meeting in Maryland. In 1924 the name of the town was changed to Galesville in honor of Richard Gale, a prominent Quaker planter in this area. The Quaker burying ground at the intersection of Route 468 and Route 255 was begun by these early Quakers. Nestled between Tenthouse and Lerch Creeks on the north and south, and Route 468 and the West River on the west and east, Galesville has always held a special place for those who have visited here. Galesville is a village which encompasses not only residential but commercial, recreational and industrial areas.
