Bristol is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

Anne Arundel County Anne Arundel County (; ), also notated as AA or A.A. County, is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 588,261, an increase of just under 10% since 2010. Its county seat is Annapolis, whi ...

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 to ...

, United States.

Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary The Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary is located along the tidal Patuxent River in southern Maryland, United States. It was established in 1985 and is operated by the Prince George's County Department of Recreation and Parks. It includes more than of ...

(a stop on the Patuxent Water Trail) and the colonial town of Pig Point (alternately referred to as Bristol Landing and Leon at times) are on 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 northeast ...

waterfront portion of Bristol. Pig Point saw

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

action and was the county's largest steamboat port on the Patuxent in the mid-19th century. Pig Point is a very significant Native American Early Archaic Period archaeological site. The

Chesapeake Beach Railway The Chesapeake Beach Railway (CBR), now defunct, was an American railroad of southern Maryland and Washington, D.C., built in the 19th century. The CBR ran 27.629 miles from Washington, D.C., on tracks formerly owned by the Southern Maryland Rail ...

was completed in 1899 through the southern part of Bristol or "Pindell"; ruins of the Pindell Station and its general store remain. The James Owens Farm, 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 v ...

, and the southern terminus of the Stephanie Roper Highway portion of

Maryland Route 4 Maryland Route 4 (MD 4) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The highway runs from MD 5 in Leonardtown north to Southern Avenue in Suitland at the District of Columbia boundary, beyond which the highway continues into Washingto ...

are also located in Bristol. In the mid-twentieth century, the segregated Bristol Elementary School was located in the northern part of town, three-quarter mile southeast of Waysons Corner and a half mile south of the crossroad village of Drury. The school in 1953 published a history of Bristol (largely reprinting a 1927 Bristol town history from the Annapolis ''Capital'' newspaper). The following year it was enlarged and renovated, growing to 200 students (and four teachers and a heating and rodent problem) by 1969 after the county was ordered to desegregate schools in 1966.

References

Unincorporated communities in Anne Arundel County, Maryland Unincorporated communities in Maryland {{AnneArundelCountyMD-geo-stub