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Easton is an
incorporated town An incorporated town is a town that is a municipal corporation. Canada Incorporated towns are a form of local government in Canada, which is a responsibility of provincial rather than federal government. United States An incorporated town o ...
in and the
county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
of Talbot County, Maryland, United States. The population was 17,101 at the 2020 census, with an estimated population of 17,342 in 2022. The primary ZIP Code is 21601, and the secondary is 21606. The primary phone exchange is 822, the auxiliary exchanges are 820, 763, and 770, and the area code is 410.


History


18th century

The town of Easton received its official beginning from an Act of the Assembly of the
Province of Maryland The Province of Maryland was an Kingdom of England, English and later British colonization of the Americas, British colony in North America from 1634 until 1776, when the province was one of the Thirteen Colonies that joined in supporting the A ...
dated November 4, 1710. The act was entitled, "An Act for the Building of a Court House for Talbot County, at Armstrong's Old Field near Pitt's Bridge". Pitt's Bridge crossed a stream forming the headwaters of the Tred Avon or Third Haven River. It was located at a point where North Washington Street crosses this stream, now enclosed in culverts, north of the Talbottown Shopping Center, and passes under the Electric Plant property. Prior to this date, the court had met at York, near the mouth of Skipton Creek. The court decided that this location was not convenient to all sections of the county and, in order to change the location, the above act of the Assembly was passed. As a result of this act, two acres of land were purchased from Philemon Armstrong, at a cost of 15,000 pounds of tobacco. Upon this tract, the same plot upon which the present Talbot County Courthouse now stands, the court house, a brick building 20 x 30 feet, was erected at a cost of 115,000 pounds of tobacco. The courts of the county were held in this building from 1712 until 1794. A tavern to accommodate those who attended court was one of the first buildings erected; stores and dwellings followed. The village was then known as "Talbot Court House". These were not the first buildings in the area. The frame meeting house of the Society of Friends was built between 1682 and 1684. The Wye plantation was settled in the 1650s by Welsh Puritan and wealthy planter Edward Lloyd and is owned and occupied by the 11th generation of that family. Easton may be named because of its location east of Saint Michaels; however, it is more likely that it was named after Easton in Somerset, England.


20th century

In 1916, the town erected the " Talbot Boys" statue in honor of Confederate soldiers from Talbot County. It stood for 107 years before being removed in 2022 after years of controversy. In 1919, Isaiah Fountain, a black farmer from Trappe, was the last person to be legally executed on the Eastern Shore. The case made national headlines and sparked outrage about racial injustice. After the first day of his trial, a mob of 2,000 assembled on courthouse grounds and attempted to grab and
lynch Lynch may refer to: Places Australia * Lynch Island, South Orkney Islands, Antarctica * Lynch Point, Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica * Lynch's Crater, Queensland, Australia England * River Lynch, Hertfordshire * The Lynch, an island in the Rive ...
Fountain. This is the largest incident of mob violence in Talbot County history to date.


21st century

In 2008, a lost painting of a Paris street scene by Édouard Cortès was discovered amongst donated items at a
Goodwill Industries Goodwill Industries International Inc., or simply Goodwill, is an American business that provides job training, employment placement services and other community-based programs for people who face barriers in their employment. Goodwill Indust ...
store in Easton. After an alert store manager noticed that it was a signed original, the painting was auctioned for $40,600 at
Sotheby's Sotheby's ( ) is a British-founded multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine art, fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...
. In 2011, local officials erected a statue of
Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 14, 1818 â€“ February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. He was the most impor ...
, the noted abolitionist, who was born a slave in 1818 at the Wye River plantation in northern Talbot County. In 2015, and again in August 2020, the Talbot County Council voted against removing the Talbot Boys statue, but in September 2021, the council voted to remove the statue. On March 14, 2022, the statue was removed. In 2018, Easton was named one of America's top 5 coolest places to buy a vacation home by Forbes.


Geography

According to the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the town has a total area of , of which is land and is water.


Climate

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
system, Easton has a
humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...
(''Cfa'').


Demographics

As of the
census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2020, there were 17,101 people, 7,195 households, and 4,079 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 7,405 housing units at an average density of . The racial make-up of the town was 73.1%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 17.2%
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0.2% Native American, 2.1% Asian, 0.1%
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 5.1% from other races, and 2.3% from two or more races.
Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino of any race constituted 9.8% of the population. There were 6,711 households, of which 29.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.8% were married couples living together, 13.8% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.2% had a male householder with no wife present, and 39.2% were non-families. 33.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.32 and the average family size was 2.92. The median age in the town was 41.2 years. Of residents 22.3% were under the age of 18; 7.6% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 24.8% were from 25 to 44; 24.1% were from 45 to 64; and 21.2% were 65 years of age or older. The gender make-up of the town was 46.4% male and 53.6% female. The median income for a household in the town was $94,991. 11.5% of the population were below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 12.9% of those under age 18 and 12.9% of those age 65 or over.


Neighborhoods

* Ashby Commons * Ashby Park * Beechwood * Bretridge * Calvert Terrace * Chapel East * Cookes Hope * Crofton * Easton Club * Easton Village * Golton * The Hill (America's oldest free Black community c.1790) * Lakelands * Mulberry Station * St. Aubins Heights * South Beechwood * South Clifton * Stoney Ridge (Corbin Parkway) * Matthewstown Run * The Waylands


Infrastructure


Transportation

U.S. Route 50 U.S. Route 50 or U.S. Highway 50 (US 50) is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway system, stretching from Interstate 80 (I-80) in West Sacramento, California, to Maryland Route 528 (MD 528) in Ocean City, Maryland, on the Atlantic ...
runs north–south through the eastern part of the town along Ocean Gateway, heading northwest toward the
Chesapeake Bay Bridge The Gov. William Preston Lane Jr. Memorial Bridge (informally called the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and, locally, the Bay Bridge) is a major twin bridges, dual-span bridge in the U.S. state of Maryland. Spanning the Chesapeake Bay, it connects the ...
and southeast toward
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
,
Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...
, and Ocean City. Maryland Route 322 bypasses Easton to the west along the Easton Parkway. Washington Street serves as the main street of Easton, running north–south, with the southernmost section connecting to MD 322 a part of
Maryland Route 565 Maryland Route 565 (MD 565) is a collection of state highways in the U.S. state of Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virg ...
. Maryland Route 33 heads west from Washington Street on Bay Street, leading to St. Michaels and Tilghman Island. Maryland Route 333 heads southwest from Washington Street on Peachblossom Rd, heading west to
Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
. Maryland Route 334 runs along Port Street between MD 322 and Washington Street. Goldsborough Street heads east from downtown Easton and becomes Maryland Route 328 upon crossing US 50, heading northeast to Denton. Dover Street heads east from downtown Easton and becomes Maryland Route 331 upon crossing US 50, heading southeast to Preston and
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
. Maryland Route 309 begins at US 50 north of Easton and heads northeast toward Queen Anne. Maryland Route 662 heads north from Easton, paralleling US 50. Easton Airport, a general aviation airport, is located to the north of Easton. The nearest airports to Easton with commercial air service are the Salisbury–Ocean City–Wicomico Regional Airport near Salisbury and the Baltimore–Washington International Airport near
Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...
. Delmarva Community Transit provides bus service to Easton, operating multiple routes to towns in Talbot, Queen Anne's,
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
, Caroline, and Dorchester counties along with a shuttle to Chesapeake College and the local Route C and Route D buses serving points in Easton. The
Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy," was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its ...
operated trains from New York and Philadelphia to Easton until the late 1940s.


Utilities

Easton Utilities, which is owned by the town of Easton, provides electricity, natural gas, water, wastewater service, cable, internet, and telephone service to the town. The utility commission was founded in 1914 and had control of all utility services in 1923, making Easton the first community in the state to own all its utility services. Easton Utilities provides electricity to over 10,000 customers, with most electricity purchased and some also generated by the town during times of high prices. The town owns 18 diesel-powered electric generators with a total capacity of 69 megawatts at two sites, one at a plant built in 1923 located in the center of town on Washington Street and the other located near the Easton Airport. Easton Utilities provides natural gas to over 4,500 customers, with natural gas purchased from the Eastern Shore Natural Gas Company. The town's natural gas supply is piped from the
Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...
via an interstate pipeline to Federalsburg, where of steel and plastic mains then deliver it to customers in Easton. The town, which has owned the natural gas utility since 1923, formerly delivered gas to customers by burning coal at a plant on West Street, but converted to natural gas in 1966. Easton Utilities is the only municipal natural gas utility in Maryland. Easton Utilities provides water to 6,800 customers, with of water mains and over 550 fire hydrants. The town gets its water from six wells that draw from underground aquifers, with the water then treated and stored. Easton Utilities provides wasterwater service to about 6,800 customers, operating more than of wastewater mains, six pumping stations, and a wastewater treatment plant. Easton Utilities' cable service, branded as Easton Velocity, is one of a few municipal cable systems in the United States. The cable system in Easton was first built in 1984 and upgraded to a hybrid fiber/coax design in 2001. Internet service through Easton Utilities is provided under the Easton Velocity brand, utilizing a fiber-optic network. Easton Utilities' telephone service operates under the Easton Velocity DigitalVoice brand. The town's Public Works department provides trash and recycling collection to Easton, with trash collection utilizing automated tipper cans.


Health care

University of Maryland Shore Regional Health operates the University of Maryland Shore Medical Center at Easton in Easton, a hospital with 112 beds, 20 acute care inpatient beds, and an
emergency room An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the acute care of pat ...
. In 1906, Judge William R. Martin commissioned Mary Bartlett Dixon to serve as the treasurer and help establish a hospital in Easton Maryland. She began the hospital in a rented building, which later burned to the ground. Dixon and Elizabeth Wright Dixon received $43, 000 to construct the Memorial Hospital. Together, the woman began a nursing school in 1907. The school was run by volunteers.


Sports

Easton was home to
minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...
, as the Easton Yankees and other Easton teams played as members of the Class D level Eastern Shore League between 1924 and 1949.
Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by a private foundation. It serves as the central collection and gathering space for the history of baseball in the United S ...
members Home Run Baker and
Jimmie Foxx James Emory Foxx (October 22, 1907 – July 21, 1967), nicknamed "Double X" and "the Beast", was an American professional baseball first baseman who played 20 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Athletics, Boston Red ...
both played for Easton.


In popular culture

Octavia E. Butler's novel ''Kindred'' is set in part at a fictional plantation near Easton. Much of the 2005 film '' Wedding Crashers'' was filmed at the Ellenborough Estate in Easton.


Notable people

* Ruth Cox Adams, abolitionist * Harold Baines, MLB baseball player, Hall of Fame member *
Birch Bayh Birch Evans Bayh Jr. (; January 22, 1928 – March 14, 2019) was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as a member of United States Senate from 1963 to 1981. He was first elected t ...
,
United States senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...
from
Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...
(1963–1981) * J. Harry Covington, U.S. Representative for
Maryland's 1st congressional district Maryland's 1st congressional district encompasses the entire Eastern Shore of Maryland, including Salisbury, Maryland, Salisbury, as well as Harford County, Maryland, Harford County and parts of Baltimore County, Maryland, Baltimore County; it i ...
* Delino DeShields Jr., MLB baseball player * Frances Farrand Dodge, (1878 - 1969), artist *
Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 14, 1818 â€“ February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. He was the most impor ...
, author and abolitionistFrom a report by Amanda Barker as to the true location of Douglass's birthplace, and the difficulty of finding it. * Charles Hopper Gibson, U.S. Senator and congressman, lived at Ratcliffe Manor * Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio, member of the
Maryland House of Delegates The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the Maryland General Assembly, legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland. It consists of 141 delegates elected from 47 districts. The House of Delegates Chamber is in the Maryland State House ...
*
Leslie Holdridge Leslie Ransselaer Holdridge (September 29, 1907 – June 19, 1999) was an American botanist and climatologist. Career In his famous 1947 paper, he defined "life zones" using three indicators: # Mean annual biotemperature (average temperature ...
, 20th century climatologist * William S. Horne, member of the Maryland House of Delegates, judge, and lawyer * Harry Hughes, Maryland governor (1979–1987) * Edward Lloyd (Colonial Governor of Maryland) (1670–1718), Governor of the Maryland Colony, 1709–1714 * Edward Lloyd (Continental Congress) (1744–1796), his grandson of governor, Maryland delegate to the
Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislature, legislative bodies, with some executive function, for the Thirteen Colonies of British America, Great Britain in North America, and the newly declared United States before, during, and after ...
* John A. Moaney, personal assistant to the Eisenhower family 1942-78 * Chris Moore, producer for films including '' American Pie'' and '' Good Will Hunting'' * William O. Mills, U.S. Representative for
Maryland's 1st congressional district Maryland's 1st congressional district encompasses the entire Eastern Shore of Maryland, including Salisbury, Maryland, Salisbury, as well as Harford County, Maryland, Harford County and parts of Baltimore County, Maryland, Baltimore County; it i ...
* John Blake Rice, Mayor of Chicago, Illinois from 1865 to 1869. * Maggie Rogers, singer, songwriter and producer * William Pierce Rogers (1913–2001), Cabinet officer in the administrations of presidents Eisenhower and
Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 36th vice president under P ...
* James W. Rouse, real-estate developer, civic activist, and free enterprise-based philanthropist * Forrest Shreve, botanist * Gerard C. Smith, attorney and arms control expert involved with the
Moscow–Washington hotline The Moscow–Washington hotline (formally known in the United States as the Washington–Moscow Direct Communications Link; ) is a system that allows direct communication between the leaders of the United States and the Russia, Russian Federation ...
* Philip F. Thomas, Maryland governor (1848–1851), U.S. Secretary of the Treasury under President Buchanan (1860–1861) * Oswald Tilghman,
Confederate Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fi ...
officer, lawyer, author, politician *
Tench Tilghman Tench Tilghman (, December 25, 1744April 18, 1786) was an officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He served as an aide-de-camp to General (United States), General George Washington, achieving the Military rank, rank ...
, aide-de-camp for
George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...
* Anne Truitt, proto-minimalist sculptor


Notable landmarks

* Academy Art Museum * All Saints' Church - listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
. * The Anchorage - listed on the National Register of Historic Places. * Avalon Theatre * Doncaster Town Site - listed on the National Register of Historic Places. * Hope House * Llandaff House - listed on the National Register of Historic Places. * Myrtle Grove - listed on the National Register of Historic Places, part of
Historic American Buildings Survey The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...
* Old Bloomfield - listed on the National Register of Historic Places, part of
Historic American Buildings Survey The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...
* Ratcliffe Manor - part of
Historic American Buildings Survey The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...
* Spring Hill Cemetery * St. John's Chapel of St. Michael's Parish - listed on the National Register of Historic Places. * The Talbot Boys - relocated in 2022 to Cross Keys battlefield in Virginia * Third Haven Meeting House, part of
Historic American Buildings Survey The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...
* Tidewater Inn - listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
. * Trinity Cathedral * Troth's Fortune - listed on the National Register of Historic Places, part of
Historic American Buildings Survey The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...
* Wye House - listed on the National Register of Historic Places. * Wye Town Farm House - listed on the National Register of Historic Places.


References


External links


Town of Easton official website
* {{authority control 1710 establishments in Maryland County seats in Maryland Micropolitan areas of Maryland Populated places established in 1710 Towns in Talbot County, Maryland