Talbot County
Maryland

Talbot County is located in the heart of the Eastern Shore of Maryland in the U.S. state of Maryland. Its county seat is Easton. The county was named for Lady Grace Talbot, the wife of Sir Robert Talbot, an Anglo-Irish statesman, and the sister of Lord Baltimore. Talbot County is bordered by Queen Anne’s County to the north, Caroline County to the east, Dorchester County to the south, and the Chesapeake Bay to the west.

The founding date of Talbot County is not known. It existed by February 12, 1661, when a writ was issued to its sheriff. It was initially divided into nine Hundreds and three parishes: St. Paul’s, St. Peter’s and St. Michael’s.

In 1667, the first meeting of Commissions was held in the home known as Widow Winkles on the Skipton Creek near the town of York. The town of York was vacated once the courthouse was to be built on Armstrongs Old Field in 1709 near Pitts’ Bridge. The new courthouse designated because York was too far north in the county once Queen Anne’s County received their charter and was lopped off of Talbot County. Pitts’ Bridge was just north of the Quaker Meeting House, but most importantly, it faced the Indian trail (Washington Street – Easton).

After the American Revolutionary War in 1786, Act to Assemble in Annapolis appointed John Needles to survey and “to erect a town in Talbot County to be called Talbottown”—laying out a town around then existing court house with 118 number parcels of land and designated streets, alleys and lanes. Talbottown was to be known as the county seat of Easton. Another act was passed in 1789 to build a larger courthouse on the site of the old one. This court house was completed in 1794 and today parts of it still stand today inside of the present court house.

Lt. Col. Tench Tilghman, Gen. George Washington’s Aide-De-Camp, was born on Fausley in Talbot County on December 25, 1744. He died on April 18, 1786, and is buried in Oxford, Maryland.On his actual grave an inscription reads “In memory of Col. Tench Tilghman who died April 18, 1786 in the 42nd year of his age. Very much lamented. He took an early and active part in the great contest that secured the Independence of the United States of America. He was an Aide-de-Camp to His Excellency General George Washington Commander in Chief of the American Armies and was Honored with his Friendship, Confidence and he was one of those whose merit were Disinguished and Honourable Reward By the Congress But Still more to his Praise He was a Good Man”.

Founding Father John Dickinson was born in Trappe in 1732. The abolitionist Frederick Douglass was born into slavery near Tuckahoe Creek around 1817 or 1818.

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 37,782 people, 16,157 households, and 10,699 families residing in the county. The median income for a household in the county was $63,017 and the median income for a family was $76,007.

Towns:

• Easton (county seat)
• Oxford
• Queen Anne (partly in Queen Anne’s County)
• Saint Michaels
• Trappe