Darlington is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

in northeastern

Harford County Harford County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 260,924. Its county seat is Bel Air. Harford County is included in the Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA Combined Stati ...

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 Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, United States.The Darlington Apple Festival
, Darlington Apple Festival. Accessed 2007-11-26. The population was 409 at the 2010 census. The center of the community was 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 ...

as the Darlington Historic District in 1987. Median

household income Household income is a measure of income received by the household sector. It includes every form of cash income, e.g., salaries and wages, retirement income, investment income and cash transfers from the government. It may include near-cash gover ...

i
$66,563
The percentage of people in

poverty Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of living. Poverty can have diverse Biophysical environmen ...

i
5.3%

Geography

Darlington is located in northeastern Harford County at (39.502757, −76.318971), along

Maryland Route 161 Maryland Route 161 (MD 161) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The state highway runs from MD 155 in Hopewell Village north to U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in Darlington. MD 161, in conjunction with MD 155, connects Havre de Grace w ...

U.S. Route 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, ...

crosses the northern side of the community, leading northeast to

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

and southwest to

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 ...

. Route 1 crosses the

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River ( ; Unami language, Lenape: ) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, crossing three lower Northeastern United States, Northeast states (New York, Pennsylvani ...

Conowingo Dam The Conowingo Dam (also Conowingo Hydroelectric Plant, Conowingo Hydroelectric Station) is a large hydroelectric dam in the lower Susquehanna River near the town of Conowingo, Maryland, Conowingo, Maryland. The medium-height, masonry gravity dam ...

, northeast of Darlington. Havre de Grace is to the southeast via Routes 161 and

155 Year 155 ( CLV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 908 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 155 for this year ...

. 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 Darlington CDP has a total area of , all land.

Demographics

Historic sites

The southern part of the CDP, south of Shuresville Road, is part of the Darlington Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1987. There are approximately 100 contributing properties, including buildings by architects such as Theophilus Parsons Chandler Jr. and

Walter Cope Sir Walter Cope ( – 30 July 1614) of Cope Castle in the parish of Kensington, Middlesex, England, was Master of the Court of Wards and Liveries, Court of Wards, Chamberlain of the Exchequer, public Registrar-General of Commerce and a Member o ...

. The village was also home to

Harry Webb Farrington Harry Webb Farrington (1879–1930) was an American author, poet, hymn writer, preacher, soldier, and educator. He was an orphan who lived in Baltimore, Maryland, Bel Air, Maryland, and Darlington, Maryland. He is famous still as being a mem ...

. Other sites listed on the NRHP in the community and surrounding region are the

Deer Creek Friends Meetinghouse Deer Creek Friends Meetinghouse is a historic Friends meeting house located at Darlington, Harford County, Maryland. It is a one-story fieldstone structure, six bays long on the south, four bays on the north, and three bays wide. It was constr ...

along Main Street near US 1;

Berkley Crossroads Historic District Berkley Crossroads Historic District is a historic district in Darlington, Maryland, United States. It is a small rural crossroads community dating from the late 18th century through the early 20th century, and is one of the few remaining rural ...

and

Berkley School Berkley School, also known as Hosanna School, is a historic school for African Americans located in Darlington, Harford County, Maryland. It was built in 1867 and is a rectangular two-story, three-bay frame building which rests on an uncoursed r ...

, less than north of Darlington on

Maryland Route 623 Maryland Route 623 (MD 623) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The state highway runs from MD 161 in Darlington north to State Route 2043 (SR 2043) at the Pennsylvania state line in Flintville. The first section of MD 623 wa ...

;

Gray Gables Gray Gables was an estate in Bourne, Massachusetts, owned by President Grover Cleveland that served as his Summer White House from 1893 to 1896. It was later converted into the Gray Gables Ocean House hotel, which was destroyed in a fire in 1 ...

and Wildfell, less than 1 mile to the northwest on US 1; the Lower Deer Creek Valley Historic District, to the southwest; and the Silver Houses Historic District, south of town on Route 161.

History

There i
evidence
for settlement in the town around 1700, but not much before that time. Darlington had a stagecoach line to

and
lot of traffic
from the Susquehanna and the Tidewater Canal had to go through it. Th
Darlington Academy
was built in 1836 and used to be a popular school in

. Additionally, almost 100 years later in 1928 the

was built and made it easier to travel across.

Community

Local children attend the Darlington Elementary School near the center of town. The elementary school has one class per grade level (K through 5), and two autism classrooms. There is no high school in Darlington, so students usually enroll in Havre De Grace High School. An annual

apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

festival is held in Darlington the first Saturday in October, and attracts almost 60,000 people. Darlington and the surrounding communities are provided fire and EMS service by the Darlington Volunteer hobbyist Company. The Darlington public library, formally located within the town, was moved to the nearby intersection of Maryland Route 136 and

in October 2022. Darlington also has several houses of worship, including Franklin Baptist Church, Harmony Presbyterian Church, Grace Episcopal Church, Darlington United Methodist Church,

, and Hosanna AME Church located in historic

Berkley, Maryland Berkley is an unincorporated community in Harford County, Maryland, United States. Rigbie House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United ...

Photos of Darlington

File:View_of_Darlington,_Maryland.jpg, View of Darlington File:The old Kirk House.jpg, The old Kirk House File:Deer Creek Friends Meeting.jpg, Deer Creek Friends Meetinghouse File:Darlington village July 2011.jpg, Darlington village File:Grace Memorial Episcopal Church.jpg, Grace Memorial Episcopal Church (1876–78), Theophilus Parsons Chandler Jr., architect File:Darlington Methodist Church March 2012.jpg, Darlington Methodist Church File:Darlington Elementary School.jpg, Darlington Elementary School File:Harmony Presbyterian Church in Darlington, MD.jpg, Harmony Presbyterian Church File:Lloyd's Store.jpg, Scarborough General Store and Garage

References

External links

Darlington Historic District, Harford County
Maryland Historical Trust {{authority control Census-designated places in Harford County, Maryland Census-designated places in Maryland Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland National Register of Historic Places in Harford County, Maryland