Sinepuxent Bay is an

inland waterway A body of water, such as a river, canal or lake, is navigable if it is deep, wide and calm enough for a water vessel (e.g. boats) to pass safely. Such a navigable water is called a ''waterway'', and is preferably with few obstructions against dir ...

which connects

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 Assatea ...

Isle of Wight Bay Isle of Wight Bay is a lagoon that separates part of mainland Worcester County, Maryland from the midtown part of Ocean City, also in Worcester County. To the north, it connects to the Assawoman Bay just south of the Assawoman Bay Bridge, and to ...

, and is connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Ocean City

Inlet An inlet is a (usually long and narrow) indentation of a shoreline, such as a small arm, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea. Overview In marine geogra ...

. It separates Sinepuxent Neck, 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 county ...

from

Assateague Island Assateague Island is a long barrier island located off the eastern coast of the Delmarva Peninsula facing the Atlantic Ocean. The northern two-thirds of the island is in Maryland while the southern third is in Virginia. The Maryland sectio ...

, and

West Ocean City, Maryland West Ocean City is a census-designated place (CDP) in Worcester County, Maryland, Worcester County, Maryland, United States. The population was 4,375 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. It is part of the Salisbury metropolitan area, Sali ...

from downtown Ocean City. Islands in the Sinepuxent Bay include Horn Island and Skimmer Island. It is crossed by the

Harry W. Kelley Memorial Bridge The Harry W. Kelley Memorial Bridge is a bridge in the U.S. state of Maryland. It carries 4 lanes of U.S. Route 50, plus two sidewalks, across Sinepuxent Bay, connecting the downtown area of Ocean City, Maryland to the mainland of Worcester County ...

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 Atlanti ...

and the

Verrazano Bridge The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge ( ) is a suspension bridge connecting the New York City boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn. It spans the Narrows, a body of water linking the relatively enclosed New York Harbor with Lower New York Bay and th ...

Maryland Route 611 Maryland Route 611 (MD 611) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. Known as Stephen Decatur Highway, the state highway runs from Assateague Island north to U.S. Route 50 (US 50) in West Ocean City. MD 611 is named for Stephen De ...

(not to be confused with the

Verrazano-Narrows Bridge The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge ( ) is a suspension bridge connecting the New York City boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn. It spans the Narrows, a body of water linking the relatively enclosed New York Harbor with Lower New York Bay and th ...

in New York City; both were named for

Giovanni da Verrazzano Giovanni da Verrazzano ( , , often misspelled Verrazano in English; 1485–1528) was an Italian ( Florentine) explorer of North America, in the service of King Francis I of France. He is renowned as the first European to explore the Atlantic ...

, who explored the coastline in 1524). The bay is the location of the islands that compose the Sinepuxent Bay Wildlife Management Area. Historically the area was referred to by various names including Sinepuxent, Sene Puxon, Synepuxent, Cinnepuxon, ''et al''. Sinepuxent Inlet, a navigable waterway through the

barrier island Barrier islands are coastal landforms and a type of Dune, dune system that are exceptionally flat or lumpy areas of sand that form by wave and tidal action parallel to the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of anything fro ...

during the colonial era, was located just south of the

Assateague Island National Seashore Assateague Island National Seashore is a unit of the National Park Service system of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Located on the East Coast along the Atlantic Ocean in Maryland and Virginia, Assateague Island is the largest natural barri ...

day-use area. In September 1698 French pirate

Canoot Canoot ( fl. 1698, real name unknown) was a French pirate active off the coast of New England. History In early 1698 John Redwood of Philadelphia was sailing out of Maryland’s Sinepuxent Bay toward Cape May when he was attacked by Canoot and his ...

seized a Philadelphia-based

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

"as he was coming out of Cinnepuxon Inlet." The Inlet was closed in a

hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

1818 Events January–March * January 1 ** Battle of Koregaon: Troops of the British East India Company score a decisive victory over the Maratha Empire. ** Mary Shelley's ''Frankenstein'' is published anonymously in London. * January 2 – ...

, and was filled in by sand in 1860. Sinepuxent was a once-thriving community on the mainland about a half mile north of the

, also destroyed in the same hurricane. The current inlet, known as Ocean City Inlet, was cut by the great

1933 Chesapeake–Potomac hurricane The 1933 Chesapeake–Potomac hurricane was among the most damaging hurricanes in the Mid-Atlantic states in the eastern United States. The sixth storm and third hurricane of the very active 1933 Atlantic hurricane season, it formed in the east ...

, also known as

Hurricane Six A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm, storm system characterized by a Low-pressure area, low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, Beaufort scale, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms tha ...

of 1933. The new inlet was stabilized by rock jetties constructed by the

United States Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

, with work commencing in October 1933. Because of the changes that the creation of the Ocean City Inlet made to tidal flows in the bays, the

United States Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

now internally defines the

as extending south to the inlet, and Sinepuxent Bay extending south from the inlet to

,USACE Geospatial Portal
/ref> despite historical naming conventions.

References

External links

Sinepuxent Bay watershed profile
{{Authority control Bays of Maryland Bodies of water of Worcester County, Maryland