Mattapony was a former hundred in

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. It is the only county of Maryland that borders the Atlantic Ocean, and 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 districts, 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 it ...

on the west and northwest, Corker's Creek on the northeast,

Chincoteague Bay Chincoteague Bay () is a lagoon between the Atlantic barrier islands of Assateague and Chincoteague and the mainland of Worcester County, Maryland and northern Accomack County, Virginia. At the bay's northern end, where it narrows between Assa ...

on the east, and Accomack County, Virginia 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 state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent ...

ran via Snow Hill through Girdletree and Stockton into

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

(current

Maryland Route 12 Maryland Route 12 (MD 12) is a state highway on the Eastern Shore in the U.S. state of Maryland. The route runs from the Virginia border south of Stockton, Worcester County, where it continues into Virginia as State Route 679 (SR 679), nort ...

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. "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 consists of two counties ( Accomack and Northampton) on the Atlantic coast detached from the mainland of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The region is part of the Delmarva Peninsula and is s ...

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'', Matapa ...

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

Pamunkey The Pamunkey Indian Tribe is one of 11 Virginia Indian tribal governments recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the state's first federally recognized tribe, receiving its status in January 2016. Six other Virginia tribal governments ...

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

Prince George's County, Maryland ) , demonym = Prince Georgian , ZIP codes = 20607–20774 , area codes = 240, 301 , founded date = April 23 , founded year = 1696 , named for = Prince George of Denmark , leader_title = Executive , leader_name = Angela D. Alsobrooks ...

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