Easton is an
incorporated town in and the
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US ...
of
Talbot County,
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean t ...
, United States. The population was 15,945 at the
2010 census,
with an estimated population in 2019 of 16,671. The primary ZIP Code is 21601, and the secondary is 21606. The primary phone exchange is 822, the auxiliary exchanges are 820, 763, and 770, and the area code is
410.
History
18th century
The town of Easton received its official beginning from an Act of the Assembly of the
Province of Maryland
The Province of Maryland was an Kingdom of England, English and later British Empire, British colony in North America that existed from 1632 until 1776, when it joined the other twelve of the Thirteen Colonies in American Revolution, rebellion ag ...
dated November 4, 1710. The act was entitled, "An Act for the Building of a Court House for Talbot County, at Armstrong's Old Field near Pitt's Bridge". Pitt's Bridge crossed a stream forming the headwaters of the Tred Avon or Third Haven River. It was located at a point where North Washington Street crosses this stream, now enclosed in culverts, north of the Talbottown Shopping Center, and passes under the Electric Plant property. Prior to this date, the court had met at York, near the mouth of Skipton Creek. The court decided that this location was not convenient to all sections of the county and, in order to change the location, the above act of the Assembly was passed. As a result of this act, two acres of land were purchased from Philemon Armstrong, at a cost of 15,000 pounds of tobacco. Upon this tract, the same plot upon which the present
Talbot County Courthouse now stands, the court house, a brick building 20 x 30 feet, was erected at a cost of 115,000 pounds of tobacco. The courts of the county were held in this building from 1712 until 1794. A tavern to accommodate those who attended court was one of the first buildings erected; stores and dwellings followed. The village was then known as "Talbot Court House". These were not the first buildings in the area. The frame meeting house of the Society of Friends was built between 1682 and 1684. The Wye plantation was settled in the 1650s by Welsh Puritan and wealthy planter Edward Lloyd and is owned and occupied by the 11th generation of that family.
Easton may be named because of its location east of
Saint Michaels, however it is more likely that it was named after
Easton in
Somersetshire, England.
20th century
In 1916, the town erected the "
Talbot Boys" statue in honor of Confederate soldiers from
Talbot County.
It stood for 107 years.
21st century
In 2005, the movie ''
Wedding Crashers'' was released, most of which was filmed at the Ellenborough Estate.
In 2008, a lost painting of a Paris street scene by
Édouard Cortès was discovered amongst donated items at a
Goodwill Industries
Goodwill Industries International Inc., often shortened in speech and writing to Goodwill (stylized as goodwill), is an American nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that provides job training, employment placement services, and other community-bas ...
store in Easton. After an alert store manager noticed that it was a signed original, the painting was auctioned for $40,600 at
Sotheby's
Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...
.
In 2011, local officials erected a statue of
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became ...
, the noted abolitionist, who was born a slave in 1818 at
Wye House plantation near Easton.
In 2015, and again in August 2020, the Talbot County Council voted against removing the Talbot Boys statue,
but in September 2021, the council voted to remove the statue. On March 14, 2022, the statue was removed.
In 2018, Easton was named one of America's top 5 coolest places to buy a vacation home by Forbes.
Geography
According to the
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of th ...
, the town has a total area of , of which is land and is water.
Climate
The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...
system, Easton has a
humid subtropical climate
A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...
(''Cfa'').
Demographics
As of the
census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...
of 2013, there were 16,687 people, 6,711 households, and 4,079 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 7,405 housing units at an average density of . The racial make-up of the town was 73.1%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...
, 17.2%
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 0.2%
Native American, 2.1%
Asian, 0.1%
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...
, 5.1% from
other races, and 2.3% from two or more races.
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...
or
Latino of any race constituted 9.8% of the population.
There were 6,711 households, of which 29.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.8% were married couples living together, 13.8% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.2% had a male householder with no wife present, and 39.2% were non-families. 33.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.32 and the average family size was 2.92.
The median age in the town was 41.2 years. Of residents 22.3% were under the age of 18; 7.6% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 24.8% were from 25 to 44; 24.1% were from 45 to 64; and 21.2% were 65 years of age or older. The gender make-up of the town was 46.4% male and 53.6% female.
The median income for a household in the town was $53,209. Males had a median income of $31,103 versus $25,411 for females. The
per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population.
Per capita i ...
for the town was $31,061. About 27.0% of families and 31.8% of the population were below the
poverty line
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 15.0% of those under age 18 and 12.3% of those age 65 or over.
Neighborhoods
* Ashby Commons
* Ashby Park
* Chapel East
* Cookes Hope
* Crofton
* Easton Club
* Mulberry Station
* Bretridge
* St. Aubins Heights
* Stoney Ridge (Corbin Parkway)
* Matthewstown Run
* The Hill (America's oldest free Black community c.1790)
* Golton
* Beechwood
* South Beechwood
* The Waylands
* Calvert Terrace
* Historic District
*South Clifton
* Lakelands
Infrastructure
Transportation
U.S. Route 50 runs north–south through the eastern part of the town along Ocean Gateway, heading northwest toward the
Chesapeake Bay Bridge and southeast toward
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
,
Salisbury
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of ...
, and
Ocean City.
Maryland Route 322
Maryland Route 322 (MD 322) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known as Easton Parkway, the highway runs on the west side of Easton between two junctions with U.S. Route 50 (US 50). MD 322 ...
bypasses Easton to the west along the Easton Parkway. Washington Street serves as the main street of Easton, running north–south, with the southernmost section connecting to MD 322 a part of
Maryland Route 565.
Maryland Route 33
Maryland Route 33 (MD 33) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The state highway runs from Tilghman Island east to Washington Street in Easton. MD 33 connects Easton, the county seat of Talbot County, with all communities on t ...
heads west from Washington Street on Bay Street, leading to
St. Michaels and
Tilghman Island
Tilghman Island is an island in the Chesapeake Bay. It is part of Talbot County, Maryland, United States.
History
Initially known as Great Choptank Island, the island became identified with a series of local families. It was owned by Matthew ...
.
Maryland Route 333 heads southwest from Washington Street on Peachblossom Rd, heading west to
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
.
Maryland Route 334 runs along Port Street between MD 322 and Washington Street. Goldsborough Street heads east from downtown Easton and becomes
Maryland Route 328 upon crossing US 50, heading northeast to
Denton. Dover Street heads east from downtown Easton and becomes
Maryland Route 331
Maryland Route 331 (MD 331) is a state highway on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in the United States. Signed north-south, the route runs from Vienna in Dorchester County northwest to Easton in Talbot County, intersecting U.S. Rou ...
upon crossing US 50, heading southeast to
Preston
Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to:
Places
England
*Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement
**The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement
**County Boro ...
and
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
.
Maryland Route 309 begins at US 50 north of Easton and heads northeast toward
Queen Anne.
Maryland Route 662 heads north from Easton, paralleling US 50.
Easton Airport, a general aviation airport, is located to the north of Easton. The nearest airports to Easton with commercial air service are the
Salisbury–Ocean City–Wicomico Regional Airport
Salisbury-Ocean City: Wicomico Regional Airport , or, more succinctly Salisbury Regional Airport, is located in unincorporated Wicomico County, Maryland, southeast from downtown Salisbury, Maryland, United States. Salisbury is the largest metropo ...
near Salisbury and the
Baltimore–Washington International Airport near
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...
.
Delmarva Community Transit provides bus service to Easton, operating multiple routes to towns in Talbot,
Queen Anne's,
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
,
Caroline
Caroline may refer to:
People
*Caroline (given name), a feminine given name
* J. C. Caroline (born 1933), American college and National Football League player
* Jordan Caroline (born 1996), American (men's) basketball player
Places Antarctica
* ...
, and
Dorchester counties along with a shuttle to
Chesapeake College
Chesapeake College is a public community college with its main campus in Wye Mills, Maryland and a satellite campus in Cambridge. It was the first regional community college in the state and serves the five Mid-Shore counties: Caroline, Dorche ...
and the local Route C and Route D buses serving points in Easton.
The
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...
operated trains from New York and Philadelphia to Easton until the late 1940s.
Utilities
Easton Utilities, which is owned by the town of Easton, provides electricity, natural gas, water, wastewater service, cable, internet, and telephone service to the town. The utility commission was founded in 1914 and had control of all utility services in 1923, making Easton the first community in the state to own all its utility services. Easton Utilities provides electricity to over 10,000 customers, with most electricity purchased and some also generated by the town during times of high prices.
The town owns 18 diesel-powered electric generators with a total capacity of 69 megawatts at two sites, one at a plant built in 1923 located in the center of town on Washington Street and the other located near the Easton Airport.
Easton Utilities provides natural gas to over 4,500 customers, with natural gas purchased from the
Eastern Shore Natural Gas Company. The town's natural gas supply is piped from the
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...
via an interstate pipeline to
Federalsburg, where of steel and plastic mains then deliver it to customers in Easton. The town, which has owned the natural gas utility since 1923, formerly delivered gas to customers by burning coal at a plant on West Street, but converted to natural gas in 1966. Easton Utilities is the only municipal natural gas utility in Maryland. Easton Utilities provides water to 6,800 customers, with of water mains and over 550 fire hydrants. The town gets its water from six wells that draw from underground aquifers, with the water then treated and stored. Easton Utilities provides wasterwater service to about 6,800 customers, operating more than of wastewater mains, six pumping stations, and a wastewater treatment plant. Easton Utilities' cable service, branded as Easton Velocity, is one of a few municipal cable systems in the United States. The cable system in Easton was first built in 1984 and upgraded to a hybrid fiber/coax design in 2001. Internet service through Easton Utilities is provided under the Easton Velocity brand, utilizing a fiber-optic network. Easton Utilities' telephone service operates under the Easton Velocity DigitalVoice brand. The town's Public Works department provides trash and recycling collection to Easton, with trash collection utilizing automated tipper cans.
Health care
University of Maryland Shore Regional Health operates the
University of Maryland Shore Medical Center at Easton in Easton, a hospital with 112 beds, 20 acute care inpatient beds, and an
emergency room
An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the acute care of pati ...
. In 1906, Judge William R. Martin commissioned
Mary Bartlett Dixon to serve as the treasurer and help establish a hospital in Easton Maryland. She began the hospital in a rented building, which later burned to the ground. Dixon and Elizabeth Wright Dixon received $43, 000 to construct the Memorial Hospital. Together, the woman began a nursing school in 1907. The school was run by volunteers.
Sports
Easton was home to
minor league baseball, as the
Easton Yankees Easton may refer to:
Places
Canada
* Easton, Nova Scotia
United Kingdom
*Easton, Bristol
* Easton, Cambridgeshire
*Easton, Dorset
* Great Easton, Essex and Little Easton, Essex
* Easton, Hampshire
**Crux Easton, Hampshire
* Easton, Isle of Wigh ...
and other Easton teams played as members of the
Class D level
Eastern Shore League between 1924 and 1949.
Baseball Hall of Fame
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...
members
Home Run Baker and
Jimmie Foxx both played for Easton.
Notable people
*
Harold Baines, MLB baseball player, Hall of Fame member
*
Birch Bayh,
United States senator
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and po ...
from
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...
(1963–1981)
*
J. Harry Covington
James Harry Covington (May 3, 1870 – February 4, 1942) was a United States representative from Maryland and United States federal judge, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. He founded the major law firm of Covington ...
,
U.S. Representative for
Maryland's 1st congressional district
*
Delino DeShields Jr.
Delino Diaab DeShields (born August 16, 1992) is an American professional baseball center fielder who is a free agent. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Texas Rangers from 2015 through 2019, the Cleveland Indians in 2020, and th ...
, MLB baseball player
*
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became ...
, author and abolitionist
[From a report by Amanda Barker as to the true location of Douglass's birthplace, and the difficulty of finding it.]
*
Frances Farrand Dodge
Frances Julia Farrand Dodge (22 November 1878 – 12 January 1969) was an American artist and teacher.
Early life and education
The eldest of four girls, Frances Farrand was born on 22 November 1878 in Lansing, Michigan. Her father, Hart Au ...
(1878 - 1969), artist.
*
Leslie Holdridge, 20th century climatologist
*
Charles Hopper Gibson-State's attorney for Talbot County, Maryland, serving from 1871 until 1875
*
Jeannie Haddaway, member of the
Maryland House of Delegates
The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the legislature of the State of Maryland. It consists of 141 delegates elected from 47 districts. The House of Delegates Chamber is in the Maryland State House on State Circle in Annapolis, ...
*
William S. Horne, member of the Maryland House of Delegates, judge, and lawyer
*
Harry Hughes,
Maryland governor (1979–1987)
*
Edward Lloyd (Colonial Governor of Maryland)
Major General Edward Lloyd II (February 7, 1671 – March 20, 1719) was the 11th Royal Governor of Maryland from 1709 to 1714.
Early life and family
Edward Lloyd II was born on February 7, 1671, at Wye plantation in Talbot County, Maryland ...
(1670–1718), Governor of the Maryland Colony, 1709–1714
*
Edward Lloyd (Continental Congress) (1744–1796), his grandson, Maryland delegate to the Continental Congress
*
John A. Moaney, personal assistant to the Eisenhowers 1942-78
*
Chris Moore, producer for films including ''
American Pie'' and ''
Good Will Hunting''
*
William O. Mills,
U.S. Representative for
Maryland's 1st congressional district
*
John Blake Rice, Mayor of Chicago, Illinois from 1865 to 1869.
*
Maggie Rogers, singer, songwriter and producer
*
William Pierce Rogers (1913–2001),
Cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filin ...
officer in the administrations of presidents
Eisenhower and
Nixon
*
James W. Rouse, real-estate developer, civic activist, and free enterprise-based philanthropist
*
Forrest Shreve
Forrest Shreve (July 8, 1878 – July 19, 1950) was an internationally known American botanist. His professional career was devoted to the study of the distribution of vegetation as determined by soil and climate conditions. His contributions to t ...
, botanist
*
Philip F. Thomas,
Maryland governor (1848–1851),
United States Secretary of the Treasury
The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...
under President
Buchanan Buchanan may refer to:
People
* Buchanan (surname)
Places Africa
* Buchanan, Liberia, a large coastal town
Antarctica
* Buchanan Point, Laurie Island
Australia
* Buchanan, New South Wales
* Buchanan, Northern Territory, a locality
* Bucha ...
(1860–1861)
*
Oswald Tilghman,
Confederate Army
The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighti ...
officer
*
Tench Tilghman
Tench Tilghman (, December 25, 1744April 18, 1786) was an officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He served as an aide-de-camp to General George Washington, achieving the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Tilghman rose ...
, aide-de-camp for
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...
*
Anne Truitt
Anne Truitt (March 16, 1921December 23, 2004), born Anne Dean, was an American sculptor of the mid-20th century.
She became well known in the late 1960s for her large-scale minimalist sculptures, especially after influential solo shows at Andr� ...
, proto-minimalist sculptor
Notable landmarks
*
Academy Art Museum
*
All Saints' Church
*
The Anchorage
*
Avalon Theatre
*
Doncaster Town Site
*
Easton Historic District
*
Hope House,
Llandaff House
*
Myrtle Grove,
Old Bloomfield
*
Spring Hill Cemetery
*
St. John's Chapel of St. Michael's Parish,
Tidewater Inn,
Troth's Fortune
Troth's Fortune, also known as Troth's Farm, is a historic home in Easton, Talbot County, Maryland, United States. It is a -story, two-room deep, gambrel-roofed dwelling with a medieval style stair tower and a richly detailed interior. The hou ...
*
The Talbot Boys
*
Third Haven Meeting House
*
Trinity Cathedral
*
Wye House
Wye may refer to:
Place names
*Wye, Kent, a village in Kent, England
**Wye College, agricultural college, part of University of London before closure in 2009
** Wye School, serving the above village
**Wye railway station, serving the above villag ...
,listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
.
*
Wye Town Farm House,listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
.
References
External links
Town of Easton official website*
{{authority control
1710 establishments in Maryland
County seats in Maryland
Micropolitan areas of Maryland
Populated places established in 1710
Towns in Talbot County, Maryland