Broad Creek was a town on western Kent Island, Maryland that existed from the 17th century to the 19th century. The town once served as the eastern terminus of a trans-Chesapeake Bay ferry line [1] that was part of an early route between Annapolis and Philadelphia.
In the mid 19th century, with the rise of steamboat travel, much of Kent Island's activity shifted to the towns of Stevensville, Chester, and Dominion, [1] and in 1880, Christ Church, the main congregation on the island, moved to Stevensville, cementing the new town's position as Kent Island's main center of activity. Today, the area once occupied by Broad Creek is widely considered part of Stevensville. All that remains of the town today is the Broad Creek Cemetery and Christ Church, which are being restored. [2] [3]
Queen Anne's County is a county located on the Eastern Shore of the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 49,874. Its county seat and most populous municipality is Centreville. The census-designated place of Stevensville is the county's most populous place with a population of 7,442 as of 2020. The county is named for Queen Anne of Great Britain, who reigned when the county was established in 1706 during the colonial period.
Centreville is an incorporated town in Queen Anne's County, Maryland, United States on the Delmarva Peninsula. Incorporated in 1794, it is the county seat of Queen Anne's County. The population was 4,285 at the 2010 census. The ZIP code is 21617 and the area codes are 410 and 443. The primary local telephone exchange is 758. It hosts the Queen Anne's County Fair each summer and was home to three franchises during the existence of the Eastern Shore Baseball League—the Colts, Red Sox, and Orioles.
Stevensville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Queen Anne's County, Maryland, United States, and is the county's most populous place among both CDPs and municipalities. The community is the eastern terminus of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. The Stevensville Historic District is one of two registered historic districts in the county, the other being the Centreville Historic District.
The Episcopal Diocese of Washington is a diocese of the Episcopal Church covering Washington, D.C., and nearby counties of Maryland in the United States. With a membership of over 38,000, the diocese is led by the Bishop of Washington, Mariann Budde. It is home to Washington National Cathedral, which is the seat of both the diocesan bishop and the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.
The Eastern Shore of Maryland is a part of the U.S. state of Maryland that lies mostly on the east side of the Chesapeake Bay. Nine counties are normally included in the region. The Eastern Shore is part of the larger Delmarva Peninsula that Maryland shares with Delaware and Virginia.
The Chester River is a major tributary of the Chesapeake Bay on the Delmarva Peninsula. It is about 43 miles (69 km) long, and its watershed encompasses 368 sq mi (950 km2), which includes 295 sq mi (760 km2) of land. Thus the total watershed area is 20% water. It forms the border between Kent County and Queen Anne's County, Maryland, with its headwaters extending into New Castle County and Kent County, Delaware. Chestertown, the seat of Maryland's Kent County, is located on its north shore. It is located south of the Sassafras River and north of Eastern Bay, and is connected with Eastern Bay through Kent Narrows.
Kent Island is the largest island in the Chesapeake Bay and a historic place in Maryland. To the east, a narrow channel known as the Kent Narrows barely separates the island from the Delmarva Peninsula, and on the other side, the island is separated from Sandy Point, an area near Annapolis, by roughly four miles (6.4 km) of water. At only four miles wide, the main waterway of the bay is at its narrowest at this point and is spanned here by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. The Chester River runs to the north of the island and empties into the Chesapeake Bay at Kent Island's Love Point. To the south of the island lies Eastern Bay. The United States Census Bureau reports that the island has 31.62 square miles (81.90 km2) of land area.
Maryland Route 18 (MD 18) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The state highway runs 20.37 miles (32.78 km) from the beginning of state maintenance at Love Point east to MD 213 in Centreville. MD 18 is the main east–west local highway on Kent Island and east to Centreville, serving the centers of Stevensville, Chester, Kent Narrows, Grasonville, and Queenstown that are bypassed by U.S. Route 50 (US 50)/US 301. What is signed as MD 18 is actually a set of four suffixed highways: MD 18A, MD 18B, MD 18S, and MD 18C. There are also several unsigned segments of MD 18 scattered along the length of the signed portions.
Kent Island High School (KIHS) is a public high school in Stevensville, Maryland, United States that first opened in 1998 to accommodate the growing population of Queen Anne's County. The school takes its name from Kent Island, the location of the school.
The Kent Narrows, also known as Kent Island Narrows and to local residents simply as the Narrows, is a waterway that connects the Chester River with the Eastern Bay and also separates Kent Island from the Delmarva Peninsula. It runs through the community of Kent Narrows, Maryland. The Kent Narrows was originally shallow and surrounded by marsh. A causeway was built across it in 1826, but was removed in 1876 when the channel was dredged. Today the Kent Narrows continues to be dredged regularly. The area has traditionally been a location for seafood packing and restaurants.
The Episcopal Diocese of Easton is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America that comprises the nine counties that make up the Eastern Shore of Maryland. It is in Province III and was created as a split from the Diocese of Maryland in 1868.
Matapeake is an unincorporated community located south of Stevensville on Kent Island, Maryland, United States.
Broad Creek in Prince George's County was the first footprint of European settlement in the immediate counties around what would become the nation's capital, Washington, D.C. The area is part of greater Fort Washington.
Christ Church refers to both an Episcopal parish currently located in Matapeake, Maryland and the historic church building located in the Stevensville Historic District in Stevensville, Maryland, which the parish occupied from 1880 to 1995, and that is now a Lutheran church. Christ Church Parish was one of the original 30 Anglican parishes in the Province of Maryland.
The Cray House is a two-room house in Stevensville, Maryland. Built around 1809, it is a rare surviving example of post-and-plank construction, and of a build of small house which once dominated the local landscape. For these reasons it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
Queen Anne's County High School (QACHS) is a four-year public high school in Centreville, Queen Anne's County, Maryland, United States. It is one of two public high schools in Queen Anne's County along with Kent Island High School.
Queen Anne's County Public Schools is a school district on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. All schools are accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.
The Stevensville Historic District, also known as Historic Stevensville, is a national historic district in downtown Stevensville, Queen Anne's County, Maryland. It contains roughly 100 historic structures, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is located primarily along East Main Street, a portion of Love Point Road, and a former section of Cockey Lane.
Kent Fort was a fort and settlement located near 38.84°N 76.37°W on southern Kent Island in colonial Virginia and later Maryland, and was the first English settlement within the boundaries of present-day Maryland and the fourth oldest permanent English settlement in the United States, after Jamestown, Virginia (1607), Hampton, Virginia (1609–10), and Plymouth, Massachusetts (1620). The fort was established by William Claiborne in 1631, and was a central part of early Kent Island. Claiborne made Kent Fort into a trading post with the Matapeake people, the Indigenous tribe of the island. Beads imported from Italy were given to the Matapeake people in exchange for furs. By the end of the century, however, activity had shifted northward to the port town of Broad Creek.
The James E. Kirwan House and Store is a living museum located south of the village of Chester on Kent Island, Queen Anne's County, Maryland. It served as a general store, lumber mill, cooper's mill, and blacksmith shop between 1889 and 1955 and facilitated local trade as a port on Kirwan Creek. The estate was donated to the Kent Island Heritage Society in 1998 to be run as a museum.
38°58′27″N76°19′45″W / 38.97417°N 76.32917°W