St. Xavier or Old Bohemia

The Roman Catholic Church of St. Xavier, also called the Old Bohemia Shrine, is near Warwick. This building is not the original one but there was a church here as early as 1704, the oldest Roman Catholic Church on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Bohemia offered advantages which were influential in the selection of this spot for a center of missionary enterprise. It was accessible both by land and water. A trading post at a nearby landing offered opportunities for the shipment of tobacco to England and the import of supplies needed by the colonists. By land, the Delaware Path or Highway was an artery of traffic between the two bays.