Mattapony was a former

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

Worcester County, Maryland Worcester County is the easternmost county of the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 52,460. Its county seat is Snow Hill. The county is part of the Lower Eastern Shore region of the state. It is the only cou ...

History

Before the erection of Worcester County in 1742, Somerset County (erected in 1666) was, like other colonial counties, divided into " hundreds", including Mattapony. Following American independence, Maryland's hundreds were converted into

election district An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

s, and Mattapony became the Sandy Hill, later the Stockton, election district.

Geography

Mattapony Hundred's original borders were the

Pocomoke River The Pocomoke River stretches approximately U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 from southern Delaware through southeastern Maryland in the United States. At i ...

on the west and northwest, Corker's Creek on the northeast, Chincoteague Bay on the east, and

Accomack County, Virginia Accomack County is a United States county that, together with Northampton County, constitutes the Eastern Shore region of the Commonwealth of Virginia. These two counties also form the southern portion of the Delmarva Peninsula, which is bo ...

on the south. During the colonial period, Mattapony Hundred was divided by the creation of Pitts Creek Hundred out of its western third. Towns and villages in the hundred included present-day Girdletree, Rabbit Knaw, Big Mill (also known as Welbourne), Goodwill (formerly known as Davis Cross Roads), Klej Grange (named Lindseyville until 1878), Stockton (known as Sandy Hill until 1872), and Pocomoke City (known as Stevens Landing or Stevens Ferry, then as Newtown until 1888). Three main roads traversed Mattapony: the seaside post road from

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

ran via Snow Hill through Girdletree and Stockton into

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

(current Maryland Route 12 follows its approximate path), a road from Mattapony Landing on the

to Stockton via Klej Grange, and another from Snow Hill to Pocomoke City via Klej Grange and Goodwill.

Name

"Mattapony" was one of the most widely used place-names of the Algonquian Indians in Maryland and Virginia. As early as 1639, a "Mattapony Path" was known in St. Mary's County--it led to Mataponi Creek, a tributary of the

Patuxent River The Patuxent River is a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay in the state of Maryland. There are three main river drainages for central Maryland: the Potomac River to the west passing through Washington, D.C., the Patapsco River to the northeas ...

. "Place Names of Maryland" states that the Algonquin meaning of "matta" was "joined," or "junction," and "apo" was "water," "current," or "expanse of water," i.e., "meeting of waters at a sand spit". Mayre states in the ''Maryland Historical Magazine'', in an article entitled "Sea Coast of Maryland":

In the interest of accuracy it should be admitted that this place-name may refer to Mattapony inlet, as the heads of these inlets seem to have been close to one another.

Not restricted to Worcester County, at least two properties on the neighboring

Eastern Shore of Virginia The Eastern Shore of Virginia is the easternmost region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It consists of two counties (Accomack County, Virginia, Accomack and Northampton County, Virginia, Northam ...

were also called "Mattapony".Whitelaw, Ralph T., ''Virginia's Eastern Shore'' (1968), p. 1361. Likewise, the

Mattaponi River The Mattaponi River is a tributary of the York River estuary in eastern Virginia in the United States. History Historically, the Mattaponi River has been known by a variety of names and alternate spellings, including ''Mat-ta-pa-ment'', Matap ...

, called after the tribe of the same name, joins with the

Pamunkey The Pamunkey Indian Tribe is a federally recognized tribe of Pamunkey people in Virginia. They control the Pamunkey Indian Reservation in King William County, Virginia. Historically, they spoke the Pamunkey language. They are one of 11 Native ...

to form the York River, and, as noted above, Mataponi Creek flows into the

Prince George's County, Maryland Prince George's County (often shortened to PG County or PG) is located in the U.S. state of Maryland bordering the eastern portion of Washington, D.C. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, the population was 967,201, making it ...

References

* Uses material fro
Mattapony Site
by Bob Jones. {{coord, 38, 2, 20, N, 75, 28, 40, W, region:US-MD_type:city, display=title Province of Maryland Geography of Worcester County, Maryland Hundreds (county division) Regions of Maryland