Kent Island, Maryland - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Kent Island is the largest island

Island

An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...

in the Chesapeake Bay

Chesapeake Bay

The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...

, and a historic place in Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

. To the east, a narrow channel known as the Kent Narrows

Kent Narrows

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...

barely separates the island from the Delmarva Peninsula

Delmarva Peninsula

The Delmarva Peninsula is a large peninsula on the East Coast of the United States, occupied by most of Delaware and portions of Maryland and Virginia...

, and on the other side, the island is separated from Sandy Point, an area near Annapolis

Annapolis, Maryland

Annapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland, as well as the county seat of Anne Arundel County. It had a population of 38,394 at the 2010 census and is situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east of Washington, D.C. Annapolis is...

, 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

Chesapeake Bay Bridge

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge is a major dual-span bridge in the U.S. state of Maryland. Spanning the Chesapeake Bay, it connects the state's rural Eastern Shore region with the more urban Western Shore. The original span opened in 1952 and, at the time, with a length of , it was the world's longest...

. The Chester River

Chester River

The Chester River is a major tributary of the Chesapeake Bay on the Delmarva Peninsula. It is about long, and its watershed encompasses , which includes 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...

runs to the north of the island and empties into the Chesapeake Bay at Kent Island's Love Point

Love Point, Maryland

Love Point is the name for the northernmost tip of Kent Island, and as such, marks the southern point of the mouth of the Chester River. It has served as a major ferry terminal, the western terminus of the Queen Anne's Railroad, and the nominal western terminus of Maryland Route 18...

. To the south of the island lies Eastern Bay

Eastern Bay

The Eastern Bay is a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay located between Queen Anne's County, Maryland and Talbot County, Maryland on the Eastern Shore. Its main tributaries include the Miles River and the Wye River...

. The United States Census Bureau

United States Census Bureau

The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

reports that the island has 31.62 square mile of land area.

Kent Island is part of Queen Anne's County, Maryland

Queen Anne's County, Maryland

Queen Anne's County is a county located on the Eastern Shore of the U.S. state of Maryland.As of 2010, the population was 47,798. Its county seat and most populous municipality is Centreville. The census-designated place of Stevensville is the county's most populous place...

and Maryland's Eastern Shore region. The first English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

establishment on the island, Kent Fort

Kent Fort, Maryland

Kent Fort was a fort and settlement located near 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 third oldest permanent English settlement in the United States, after Jamestown, Virginia ...

, was founded in 1631, making Kent Island the oldest English settlement within the present day state of Maryland, and the third oldest permanent English settlement in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, after Jamestown, Virginia

Jamestown, Virginia

Jamestown was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 14, 1607 , it was the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States, following several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke...

and Plymouth, Massachusetts. The census-designated place

Census-designated place

A census-designated place is a concentration of population identified by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes. CDPs are delineated for each decennial census as the statistical counterparts of incorporated places such as cities, towns and villages...

s of Stevensville

Stevensville, Maryland

Stevensville is a census-designated place in Queen Anne's County, Maryland, and is the county's most populous place among both CDPs and municipalities. The Stevensville Historic District is one of only two registered historic districts in the county, the other being the Centreville Historic...

, and Chester

Chester, Maryland

Chester is a census-designated place on Kent Island in Queen Anne's County, Maryland, United States. The population was 3,723 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Chester is located at ....

are located on the island, along with several other communities, including the fishing community of Kent Narrows

Kent Narrows, Maryland

Kent Narrows is a census-designated place and town in Queen Anne's County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2000 census, the town had a population of 567.-Geography:Kent Narrows is located at ....

, which is located partially on the island. Although all of Kent Island's communities are unincorporated

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

, the census designated places

Census-designated place

of Stevensville

Stevensville, Maryland

and Chester

Chester, Maryland

Chester is a census-designated place on Kent Island in Queen Anne's County, Maryland, United States. The population was 3,723 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Chester is located at ....

on the island are both more populous than any of Queen Anne's County's incorporated towns.

Early and Colonial

Prior to European colonization

European colonization of the Americas

The start of the European colonization of the Americas is typically dated to 1492. The first Europeans to reach the Americas were the Vikings during the 11th century, who established several colonies in Greenland and one short-lived settlement in present day Newfoundland...

, the island was inhabited by the Matapeake tribe, members of the Algonquian

Algonquian peoples

The Algonquian are one of the most populous and widespread North American native language groups, with tribes originally numbering in the hundreds. Today hundreds of thousands of individuals identify with various Algonquian peoples...

nation who the Matapeake

Matapeake, Maryland

Matapeake is an unincorporated community located south of Stevensville on Kent Island, Maryland.It is named for the historic Matapeake Indian tribe, who lived there at the time of English colonization in 1631. Their chief village was on the southeast side of the island...

area of Kent Island is named after. Other tribes that inhabited the area and often visited the island included the Ozinie and Monoponson tribes, the latter of which share their name with the Algonquian

Algonquian languages

The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...

name for the island, Monoponson. During the 16th and 17th centuries, early explorers of the Chesapeake Bay, including Captain John Smith

John Smith of Jamestown

Captain John Smith Admiral of New England was an English soldier, explorer, and author. He was knighted for his services to Sigismund Bathory, Prince of Transylvania and friend Mózes Székely...

, were the first Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

ans to see Kent Island; however, it wasn't until August of 1631 that the island became an English settlement. At that time, William Claiborne

William Claiborne

William Claiborne was an English pioneer, surveyor, and an early settler in Virginia and Maryland. Claiborne became a wealthy planter, a trader, and a major figure in the politics of the colony...

, a resident of Jamestown, founded a settlement near the southern end of the island for the purpose of trading with Native Americans

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

, and named the island after his birthplace of Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

, England

England

. The settlement burned down in the winter of 1631-32, but was quickly rebuilt, and in 1634 the settlement included a gristmill, courthouse, and trading station. Following the formation of the province of Maryland

Province of Maryland

The Province of Maryland was an English and later British colony in North America that existed from 1632 until 1776, when it joined the other twelve of the Thirteen Colonies in rebellion against Great Britain and became the U.S...

, Claiborne continued to recognize the island as part of his home colony of Virginia while Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore

Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore

Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, 1st Proprietor and 1st Proprietary Governor of Maryland, 9th Proprietary Governor of Newfoundland , was an English peer who was the first proprietor of the Province of Maryland. He received the proprietorship after the death of his father, George Calvert, the...

recognized it as part of Maryland. Claiborne was forced from, and returned to the island twice before leaving permanently in 1658, thus effectively ending the disputes. Virginia's official claims to the island, however, continued until 1776.

Industrial Revolution

Until the early 19th century, Kent Island was used almost entirely for farming of tobacco

Tobacco

Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

and corn, however that ended due to the depletion of nutrient rich soil as a result of the lack of crop rotation and poor farming practices. The island's economy went into decline while the soil recovered, with the exception of the port town of Broad Creek

Broad Creek, Maryland

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 that was part of an early route between Annapolis and Philadelphia.In the mid 19th century, with the...

. This began to change around the time of the Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...

. In 1850, the town of Stevensville

Stevensville, Maryland

was founded after the sale of farms owned by James and Charles Stevens, and prospered as a major hub for steamboat travel across the Chesapeake Bay. Stevensville was also the home of a railroad station, known as the Stevensville Train Depot, that was located near the western end of a railroad that carried ferry

Ferry

A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...

passengers to other parts of the Eastern Shore. Also during this time, small resorts on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

became common in the area. Such a resort existed at Love Point, to the north of Stevensville. Farming returned to the economy in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries with farmers growing crops including corn, wheat, berries, and melons. Many of the island's inhabitants worked as watermen in the expanding seafood industry capitalizing on the Chesapeake's supply of Maryland Blue Crab, Rockfish, and oysters.

Twentieth century

As roads replaced railroads and steamboats into the 20th century, there was a growing need for a road bridge connecting the two shores of the Chesapeake Bay. In 1952 the Chesapeake Bay Bridge was completed, connecting the island directly to the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area

Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area

The Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area is a combined statistical area consisting of the overlapping labor market region of the cities of Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, D.C.. The region includes Central Maryland, Northern Virginia, and Jefferson County in the Eastern Panhandle of West...

. The bridge completely replaced the steamboat system and also led to further growth of Kent Island and the rest of the Eastern Shore. In 1973, In order to accommodate growing traffic across the bay, the bridge was expanded with an additional span built next to the existing one. Then, in the late 1980s and early 1990s U.S. Route 50

U.S. Route 50

U.S. Route 50 is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway system, stretching just over from Ocean City, Maryland on the Atlantic Ocean to West Sacramento, California. Until 1972, when it was replaced by Interstate Highways west of the Sacramento area, it extended to San Francisco, near...

was converted to a freeway across the island.

Recent history

In September 2003, Kent Island was one of the many places in the Chesapeake Bay Area affected by Hurricane Isabel

Hurricane Isabel

Hurricane Isabel was the costliest and deadliest hurricane in the 2003 Atlantic hurricane season. The ninth named storm, fifth hurricane, and second major hurricane of the season, Isabel formed near the Cape Verde Islands from a tropical wave on September 6 in the tropical Atlantic Ocean...

. Local businesses and historic local landmarks were either damaged or destroyed in the storm and the storm surge

Storm surge

A storm surge is an offshore rise of water associated with a low pressure weather system, typically tropical cyclones and strong extratropical cyclones. Storm surges are caused primarily by high winds pushing on the ocean's surface. The wind causes the water to pile up higher than the ordinary sea...

caused by it. Much of the damage from the hurricane, mostly caused by flooding, took several months to repair.

Today, Kent Island is considered a suburb

Suburb

The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...

of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area

Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area

and was home to 16,812 residents at the time of the 2000 U.S. Census

United States Census, 2000

The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...

. The combined area of the Stevensville and Chester CDPs had 9,603 residents. Many have relocated from the Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

or Baltimore

Baltimore

Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...

metro areas and continue to commute back there. Stevensville and Chester are also among the most densely populated

Population density

Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

areas of the Eastern Shore, and the most densely populated in Queen Anne's County, making up 23.67% of its population and only 3.07% of its land area.

Historic places

As of 2006, many of the island's historic places have been preserved and are highlighted by the Chesapeake Country Scenic Byway

Chesapeake Country Scenic Byway

The Chesapeake Country Scenic Byway is a national scenic byway on Maryland's Eastern Shore region. The byway runs from Stevensville, near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal in Chesapeake City and has a spur to Eastern Neck Island in the Chester River...

and the American Discovery Trail

American Discovery Trail

The American Discovery Trail is a coast-to-coast hiking and biking trail across the mid-tier of the United States. It starts on the Delmarva Peninsula on the Atlantic Ocean and ends on the northern California coast on the Pacific Ocean, and is signed on over of trail. This includes the doubled...

, both of which pass through the island. Several buildings on the island that are still left over from the 19th century and earlier include the Cray House, a rare remaining example of post and plank construction, the old Stevensville post office (left, yellow building in center), Christ Episcopal Church, and the Stevensville Train Depot (right). Stevensville's historic district

Stevensville Historic District

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...

along with some of the buildings in the town are on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

Notable residents

Listed are notable people who have lived on Kent Island.

Brock Adams
Brock Adams
Brockman "Brock" Adams was an American politician and member of Congress. Adams was a Democrat from Washington and served as a U.S. Representative, Senator, and United States Secretary of Transportation before retiring in January 1993.Adams was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and attended the public...

- United States Secretary of Transportation
United States Secretary of Transportation
The United States Secretary of Transportation is the head of the United States Department of Transportation, a member of the President's Cabinet, and fourteenth in the Presidential line of succession. The post was created with the formation of the Department of Transportation on October 15, 1966,...

and United States Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

from Washington
Elbert N. Carvel
Elbert N. Carvel
Elbert Nostrand "Bert" Carvel was an American businessman and politician from Laurel, in Sussex County, Delaware...

- Governor of Delaware
Delaware
Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...
William Claiborne
William Claiborne
William Claiborne was an English pioneer, surveyor, and an early settler in Virginia and Maryland. Claiborne became a wealthy planter, a trader, and a major figure in the politics of the colony...

- Founder of Kent Island
James Earickson
James Earickson
James Earickson was a U.S. politician from Missouri.James Earickson was born in Isle of Kent, Maryland, and moved to Missouri in 1818. He was elected to the Missouri State Senate in August, 1828. Less than five months later, in January, 1829, he was appointed as State Treasurer of Missouri...

- former State Treasurer of Missouri
Henry R. Gibson
Henry R. Gibson
Henry Richard Gibson was an American politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives for the 2nd congressional district of Tennessee.-Biography:...

- U.S. representative
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

from Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
Theodore N. Lerner - Principal owner of the Washington Nationals
Washington Nationals
The Washington Nationals are a professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals are a member of the Eastern Division of the National League of Major League Baseball . The team moved into the newly built Nationals Park in 2008, after playing their first three seasons in RFK Stadium...
Edward "E.J." Pipkin - Maryland state senator
Maryland State Senate
The Maryland Senate, sometimes referred to as the Maryland State Senate, is the upper house of the General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland...

Roads

The main mode of transportation on Kent Island, as with most other suburban areas of the United States, is by car. Kent Island's main roads include the U.S. Route 50

U.S. Route 50 in Maryland

U.S. Route 50 is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway system, stretching just over from Ocean City, Maryland on the Atlantic Ocean to West Sacramento, California. In the U.S. state of Maryland, US 50 exists in two sections. The longer of these serves as a major route connecting...

/U.S. Route 301

U.S. Route 301 in Maryland

U.S. Route 301 in Maryland is a major highway that runs from Delaware to the Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge into Virginia. It passes through three of Maryland's four main regions: the Eastern Shore, the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area, and Southern Maryland...

freeway, which connects the Island to Central Maryland via the Chesapeake Bay Bridge

Chesapeake Bay Bridge

and to the Delmarva Peninsula

Delmarva Peninsula

The Delmarva Peninsula is a large peninsula on the East Coast of the United States, occupied by most of Delaware and portions of Maryland and Virginia...

via the Kent Narrows Bridge. The island is also served by Maryland Routes 8

Maryland Route 8

Maryland Route 8 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known for most of its length as Romancoke Road, the state highway runs from Romancoke Pier in Romancoke north to MD 18 in Stevensville. MD 8 is the main north–south highway of Kent Island in western Queen Anne's County. ...

, 18

Maryland Route 18

Maryland Route 18 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The state highway runs from the beginning of state maintenance at Love Point east to MD 213 in Centreville...

, and 552

Maryland Route 552

Maryland Route 552 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The state highway runs from Dominion north to U.S. Route 50 and US 301 in Chester. MD 552 was constructed south of Maryland Route 18 in the early 1930s...

Trails

The original section of the Cross Island Trail

Cross Island Trail

The Cross Island Trail is a National Recreation Trail in Queen Anne's County, Maryland that traverses the width of Kent Island. It is a rail trail, occupying a section of the abandoned Queen Anne's Railroad corridor. It was built during the late 1990s and early 2000s with the full trail being...

, a walking and biking trail

Trail

A trail is a path with a rough beaten or dirt/stone surface used for travel. Trails may be for use only by walkers and in some places are the main access route to remote settlements...

on Kent Island, was built in the late 1990s, as part of Queen Anne's County's portion of the American Discovery Trail

American Discovery Trail

. The full trail was completed in 2001.

By the time the Cross Island Trail was completed, growing concern over the safety of pedestrians using the shoulder of Route 8 prompted the construction of a new trail paralleling the road. When completed, the trail, known as the Kent Island South Trail, will run from Romancoke

Romancoke, Maryland

Romancoke is an unincorporated community on Kent Island in Maryland, located at the southern end of Maryland Route 8. The United States Census Bureau defines an urban cluster for Romancoke, but not a census-designated place...

Pier at the southern end of Route 8, heading north and crossing the road in Matapeake

Matapeake, Maryland

, near Matapeake Elementary and Middle Schools. From there it will pass through Mobray Park, then over US 50, through Stevensville and will end at the Cross Island Trail in or near Old Love Point Park.

Both the Cross Island and Kent Island South Trails are part of a planned trail system for Queen Anne's County, the entire Cross Island Trail and the existing section of the Kent Island South Trail represent the only completed portions of the system.

Connections to the Mainland

The bridge

Bridge

A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...

s that currently connect Kent Island to the mainland, or once did, are as follows:

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge
Chesapeake Bay Bridge
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge is a major dual-span bridge in the U.S. state of Maryland. Spanning the Chesapeake Bay, it connects the state's rural Eastern Shore region with the more urban Western Shore. The original span opened in 1952 and, at the time, with a length of , it was the world's longest...

, or Bay Bridge, spans the Chesapeake Bay and carries US 50/301 to Annapolis
Annapolis, Maryland
Annapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland, as well as the county seat of Anne Arundel County. It had a population of 38,394 at the 2010 census and is situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east of Washington, D.C. Annapolis is...

.
The Kent Narrows Bridge spans the Kent Narrows and carries US 50/301 to the Delmarva Peninsula
Delmarva Peninsula
The Delmarva Peninsula is a large peninsula on the East Coast of the United States, occupied by most of Delaware and portions of Maryland and Virginia...

.
The Old Kent Narrows Bridge, Kent Narrows Drawbridge, or Route 18 Kent Narrows Bridge is a drawbridge
Bascule bridge
A bascule bridge is a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances the span, or "leaf," throughout the entire upward swing in providing clearance for boat traffic....

that carries MD 18 into Grasonville
Grasonville, Maryland
Grasonville is a census-designated place in Queen Anne's County, Maryland, United States. The population was 2,193 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Grasonville is located at ....

. It was the predecessor to the current Kent Narrows Bridge and now serves local traffic.
An even older automobile bridge once ran across the Kent Narrows and was replaced by the current Route 18 Kent Narrows Bridge. Also in the past, railroad bridges over the Kent Narrows connected the Kent Island portion of the Queen Anne's County Railroad to the mainland.

Local airports on the island serve as another type of connection to the mainland. The largest is the Bay Bridge Airport

Bay Bridge Airport

Bay Bridge Airport is a county-owned public-use airport located in Stevensville, Maryland. The airport is named for the nearby Chesapeake Bay Bridge and is mostly used for general aviation....

, located near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Before the construction of the Bay Bridge, ferry

Ferry

services connected the island directly to Baltimore, Annapolis, and the small peninsula

Peninsula

A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....

on which St. Michaels

St. Michaels, Maryland

Saint Michaels is a town in Talbot County, Maryland, United States. The population was 1,193 at the 2000 census. Saint Michaels derives its name from the Episcopal Parish established here in 1677...

is located. Some of the piers that were used as part of the ferry service are still used for fishing.

Early and Colonial

Industrial Revolution

Twentieth century

Recent history

Historic places

Notable residents

Roads

Trails

Connections to the Mainland

See also

General information

History