Elk Neck Peninsula is in

Cecil County, Maryland 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 United States census, the population was 103,725. The county seat is Elkton. The ...

, between the towns of Elkton and

North East, Maryland North East is a town in Cecil County, Maryland, United States. It is located between Philadelphia and Baltimore. The population was 3,572 at the 2010 census. The Turkey Point Light Station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places ...

. Native American and colonial travelers often canoed or sailed up the Chesapeake Bay to Elkton, where the Elk River became unnavigable, and then walked or took some form of surface transportation to the Delaware Bay watershed, since this was the shortest surface crossing. Native Americans of the area, including the Nanticoke and

Lenni Lenape The Lenape (, , ; ), also called the Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. The Lenape's historical territory included present-day northeastern Del ...

, hunted and fished, as well as established semi-permanent camps. Elk Neck State Park includes the southern tip of the peninsula, bounded by the

North East River The North East River is a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. Entirely tidal, it extends for about U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 from the town ...

, Elk River, as well as the Chesapeake Bay. Maryland Route 272 ends at the point of the peninsula, with the famous Turkey Point Light. Much of the peninsula's land is legally protected from development, either as part of the state park or as part of Elk Neck State Forest. Deep forests, bluffs, beaches and marshlands are the primary natural features of the park's landscape. In 1877 during the American Revolutionary War,

General Howe William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe, (10 August 1729 – 12 July 1814), was a British Army officer who rose to become Commander-in-Chief of British land forces in the Colonies during the American War of Independence. Howe was one of three broth ...

landed on the peninsula at Turkey point after capturing New York on his way to launch the

Philadelphia campaign The Philadelphia campaign (1777–1778) was a British military campaign during the American Revolutionary War designed to gain control of Philadelphia, the Revolutionary-era capital where the Second Continental Congress convened, formed the ...

. As of the most recent 2025 census, Elk Neck Peninsula is home to 11,873 people spread across a total land area of 40.46 square miles (104.79 km²), yielding a population density of approximately 293 people per square mile (113 p/km²). The region experiences a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa), with terrain elevations ranging from just a few meters above sea level up to 89 m at its highest points; a broad interior plateau sits at roughly 35 m elevation.

References

Landforms of Cecil County, Maryland Peninsulas of Maryland {{CecilCountyMD-geo-stub