Garrett Island is an island located in

Cecil County Cecil County () is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland at the northeastern corner of the state, bordering both Pennsylvania and Delaware. As of the 2020 census, the population was 103,725. The county seat is Elkton. The county was ...

, Maryland, from the mouth of the

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River (; Lenape: Siskëwahane) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, overlapping between the lower Northeast and the Upland South. At long, it is the longest river on the East Coast of the ...

, directly west of Perryville and north of Havre de Grace. It is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the

Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge The Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1933 as a waterfowl sanctuary for birds migrating along the critical migration highway called the Atlantic Flyway. The refuge is located on Maryland's Eastern Shore, just south of C ...

. The island is crossed by the CSX Susquehanna River Bridge on the north side and the

Thomas J. Hatem Memorial Bridge The Thomas J. Hatem Memorial Bridge is a road bridge in northeast Maryland that crosses the Susquehanna River between Havre de Grace and Perryville via Garrett Island. It carries U.S. Route 40. It is the oldest of the eight toll facilities op ...

on the south side.

Geology

The ''Cecil Observer'', quoting the ''Chesapeake Bay Journal'', describes the geologic history of Garrett Island: "'Garrett Island is the geologic remnant of what was once an offshore volcano in an ancient sea. The rocky high ground on the island's west side is the remains of the volcanic core. Basalt and quartz formed by the volcanic activity are still present.'" Garrett Island is the only rocky island in the tidal waters of the Chesapeake Bay.

History

Human presence on Garrett Island is known from 8,000 to 5,000 years ago. John Smith may have visited the island in 1608 but there is no definitive documentation proving this. In 1622, the island was given to Edward Palmer as part of a land grant by King James I, and the earliest documented European presence dates to 1637 when William Claiborne established a trading post on the island. In the same year, Maryland troops evicted Claiborne's Virginia traders from the Upper Chesapeake region and built Fort Conquest on what was then called "Palmer's Island." During the later colonial period, the island was farmed by a family named "Watson" and it eventually came to be called "Watson Island." Watson Island was purchased by the

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...

(B&O) in the 1880s so a bridge could be built across the Susquehanna River at that point. The island was named after

John W. Garrett John Work Garrett (July 31, 1820 – September 26, 1884), was an American merchant turned banker who became president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) in 1858 and led the railroad for nearly three decades. The B&O became one of the most ...

, then president of the railroad.

Wildlife

Garrett Island provides habitat for 44 species of birds including

eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

s, common loons,

tundra swans The tundra swan (''Cygnus columbianus'') is a small swan of the Holarctic. The two taxa within it are usually regarded as conspecific, but are also sometimes split into two species: Bewick's swan (''Cygnus bewickii'') of the Palaearctic and the ...

, and 14 species of ducks.

References

External links

NOAA Nautical Chart 12274 (showing Garrett Island)
{{authority control Landforms of Cecil County, Maryland Islands of the Susquehanna River River islands of Maryland Uninhabited islands of Maryland