Editing Talbot County, Maryland (section)

==Geography==
According to the [[U.S. Census Bureau]], the county has a total area of {{convert|477|sqmi}}, of which {{convert|269|sqmi}} is land and {{convert|208|sqmi}} (44%) is water.<ref name="GR1">{{Cite web |date=August 22, 2012 |title=2010 Census Gazetteer Files |url=https://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/docs/gazetteer/counties_list_24.txt |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140913171515/http://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/docs/gazetteer/counties_list_24.txt |archive-date=September 13, 2014 |access-date=September 14, 2014 |publisher=United States Census Bureau}}</ref> It is the third-smallest county in Maryland by land area.

===Adjacent counties===
*[[Queen Anne's County, Maryland|Queen Anne's County]] (north)
*[[Dorchester County, Maryland|Dorchester County]] (south)
*[[Calvert County, Maryland|Calvert County]] (southwest)
*[[Caroline County, Maryland|Caroline County]] (east)
*[[Anne Arundel County, Maryland|Anne Arundel County]] (west)

===Major highways===
[[U.S. Route 50 in Maryland|U.S. Route 50]] is the largest highway serving Talbot County.

===Rivers and creeks===
The [[Choptank River]] takes its name from a tribe of [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian]]-speaking Indians who inhabited both shores of this stream before its settlement by the English.<ref>''[[The Star Democrat|The Easton Star Democrat]]'', December 11, 1936</ref>

Talbot County’s [[Miles River]] was originally named St. Michael’s River. In colonial times all grants of land from the Lords Baltimore were in the shape of leases subject to small and nominal ground rents, reserved by the Proprietary, and payable annually at [[Michaelmas]], the Feast of [[St. Michael]] and All Angels. In the calendar of the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches this is observed on September 29. Because of this association, St. Michael was considered to be the patron saint of colonial Maryland, and as such was honored by the river being named for him. A large colony of Quakers were among the earliest settlers in Talbot County; as they had no reverence for saints, they persisted in dropping the word saint and calling the river Michaels River. It gradually became known as Miles.<ref>Norman Harrington, "Easton Album" Easton, Maryland 1986 page 7</ref>

As early as 1667, six years after the laying out of Talbot County, references to these names are found in the Proceedings of the Provincial Council of Maryland. A commission was issued by [[Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore|Charles Calvert]], Esq., Captain General of all the forces within the Province of Maryland, to George Richard as captain of 10 troops of horse to march out of "Choptanck and St. Miles rivers in Talbot County, aforesaid upon any expedition against any Indian enemy whatsoever," etc.{{citation needed|date=December 2012}} At the same time, a similar commission was issued to Hopkin Davis, as Captain of foot in Choptanck and St. Miles rivers.

[[Wye River (Maryland)|Wye River]], which forms the northern boundary of Talbot County, was named by Edward Lloyd, a [[Welsh people|Welsh]] immigrant who took up large tracts of land along its southern shores before the laying out of Talbot County. He named it for the [[River Wye]], noted for its [[sinuosity]], whose source is near that of the [[River Severn]], near a mountain in Wales. He named his homestead [[Wye House]], which was owned by nine generations of Lloyds.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harrison |first=Samuel Alexander |url=https://archive.org/details/historytalbotco00harrgoog |title=History of Talbot County, Maryland, 1661–1861 |date=1915 |publisher=Williams & Wilkins |page=[https://archive.org/details/historytalbotco00harrgoog/page/n343 317] |language=en}}</ref>

[[Tred Avon River]] is a corruption of "Third Haven", as the Third Haven Meeting House was built at the river's headwaters in 1682.<ref>[http://www.eastonmd.org/ebmasite/biking.htm Tred Avon River], Easton, Maryland official website</ref><ref>[http://www.bartleby.com/69/42/T06042.html Tred Avon River] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050420113542/http://bartleby.com/69/42/T06042.html |date=April 20, 2005}}, Bartleby.com</ref> "Third Haven" may be a corruption of "Thread Haven", an early name for the first port established at what is now [[Oxford, Maryland]]<ref>. [http://www.pride2.org/NewPrideSite/MD/Logs/log11b.html Oxford, Maryland] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312213359/http://www.pride2.org/NewPrideSite/MD/Logs/log11b.html |date=March 12, 2007}}, Pride2.org</ref>

Of the thirteen Eastons in England, the most important town of that name is situated about {{convert|1|mi|km|spell=in}} from the head of the Lower Avon. The seat of Talbot County, located {{convert|1|mi|km|spell=in}} from the headwaters of Tred Avon River, changed its name from Talbot Court House to Easton in 1788 following the [[American Revolutionary War]], as a reference to the English town. In colonial days, many merchant vessels traded between Oxford and [[Bristol, England]], near which Easton is located. Many of the early settlers of Talbot County emigrated from this area.