Kent County

In 1642, eleven years after William Claiborne established the first permanent settlement in Maryland - although he originally claimed it for Virginia - most the mid shore was named Kent Island County, after the county of Kent in England. In 1706 we are told that "a goodly part of Kent was lost" to become what is now Queen Anne's.

Chestertown is the county seat, founded in 1706. It was originally called New Town because it replaced an older port on Gray's Inn Creek called Yarmouth. In 1707, a proclamation decreed that "All towns, rivers, creeks and coves in Cecil, Kent and Queen Anne's, except Kent Island, to be members of the Port of Chestertown on the Chester River," making Chestertown the principal port of the Eastern Shore. The town thrived throughout the 18th century, the period when many of the old brick houses that still grace the riverfront were built.

More area history to come!