Why does the Maryland flag look the way it does? Well, its story begins with the Calvert family and the Crossland family. Cecil Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore, was the founder of Maryland as an English colony. This was in 1634. The black and gold portions of the flag belonged to the Calvert family. The Crosslands were Calvert’s mother’s family. The red and white portions of the flag belonged to the Crosslands. Today, our flag is made up of the crests from both of these families.
