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Welcome
to Maryland American
History and Genealogy Project
we are in the process of
building new State and County pages for the states where
the coordinator has moved on to other projects.
Worchester County is looking for a new Coordinator would you
be interested? If so please contact
Webmaster.
Many of the present coordinators are always willing to give help and
suggestions to newcomers, you can learn, I did and that was after 60!!
Read our
About Page and see what our requirements are,
pretty easy!
Worcester County was formed in 1742 and originally
included, with the shadowy county of Durham, all the
Maryland territory lying on the Delaware from the
fortieth parallel to the ocean. The centre of settlement
in that Worcester was "the Horekeele" the present Lewes.
Mason and Dixon's Line gave Worcester its now northern
boundary.
Chincoteague, Sinepuxent, Isle of Wight and Assateague
Bays take up a considerable part of the county's area of
487 square miles. Its name recalls the loyalty of the
Proprietaries to the royal house of Stuart. Snow Hill,
the county seat, was one of the "towns and ports of
trade" erected in 1686, It is at the head of navigation
on the Pocomoke River, and on the Delaware, Maryland and
Virginia Railroad, and its manufactures are locally
important. At Pocomoke City millions of baskets and
crates for the fruit and vegetable trade are made
annually, and the building of oyster boats and other
craft is an important industry.
The population of the town is 2,124; that of Snow Hill,
1,596, and of Berlin, 1,246. Smaller towns are Ironshire,
Girdletree, Whaleyville, Bishopville, Newark, Box Iron,
Stockton, and Klej Grange. Worcester is the only county
in the State which borders on the Atlantic Ocean, and it
has in Ocean City a thriving and prosperous seaside
resort, which has been of great advantage to truckers on
the mainland near there, and which has added materially
in the taxable basis. The principal industries are
agriculture, manufacturing of lumber, and the oyster and
other fisheries. The people are chiefly of English
descent. The soil varies from a light sand to a heavy
clay, the majority of it being a good loam, with some
clay. The principal products are cereals, fruits, truck
and timber.
The lower part of the Sinepuxent Bay in Worcester is one
of the most fertile oyster fields to be found. During
the season there are shipped from the railroad station
at Girdletree about 30,000 barrels, and from Hursley
about the same number, beside those that are consumed
locally or are shipped by vessels. At Ocean City a fish
company has been formed and annually ships thousands of
barrels of the finest fish to Northern markets.
Online Here or Other Sites
Maryland
AHGP
Source: History of Maryland, by
L. Magruder Passano, Wm. J.C. Dulany Company, 1901.
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