Eastern Shore Ancestry

The Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay, and particularly the lower end of it, has always been something of a world unto itself. But for all its geographic and genealogical isolation, it has had a significant impact on US history.

The Eastern Shore consists of the state of Delaware, Caroline, Cecil, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne's, Somerset, Talbot, Wicomico, and Worcester counties in Maryland, and Accomack and Northampton counties in Virginia - sometimes collectively referred to as "the Delmarva peninsula", or "the Delmarva" for short.

The Chesapeake Bay is very wide and was not casually crossed. People on one side tended to stay on that side...especially if it was the eastern side. There were two locations where it was narrower and easier to cross: Norfolk/Hampton, right at the mouth, and Kent Island, about three-fourths of the way up the bay to the north. (Both are now locations for bridges - the only bridges crossing the Bay.)