Editing Easton, Maryland (section)

===18th century===
The town of Easton received its official beginning from an Act of the Assembly of the [[Province of Maryland]] 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 (Maryland)|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.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hubbard |first1=Sherwood M. |title=History of Easton |url=https://www.eastonmd.gov/Charter%20and%20Code/THE%20CHARTER%20HISTORY%20OF%20EASTON.pdf |website=EastonMD.gov |publisher=Town of Easton, Maryland |access-date=August 12, 2020}}</ref>

Easton may be named because of its location east of [[Saint Michaels, Maryland|Saint Michaels]]; however, it is more likely that it was named after [[St Cuthbert Out|Easton]] in [[Somerset|Somerset, England]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kenny|first1=Hamill|title=The Placenames of Maryland : their origin and meaning|date=1984|publisher=Maryland Historical Society|location=Baltimore, Md.|isbn=0-938420-28-3|page=83}}</ref>