| Chester River | |
|---|---|
 Map of the rivers of the Eastern Shore of Maryland with the Chester and its watershed highlighted. | |
 | |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Maryland |
| District | Kent County, Maryland Queen Anne's County, Maryland |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | Andover Branch / Cypress Branch |
| • location | Millington, Maryland |
| • elevation | 0 ft (0 m) |
| Mouth | Chesapeake Bay |
• location | Love Point |
• elevation | 0 ft (0 m) |
| Basin features | |
| Tributaries | |
| • left | Red Lion Branch Pearl Creek Double Creek Rosin Creek Southeast Creek White Cove Corsica River Reed Creek Tilghman Creek Queenstown Creek Walsey Creek Winchester Creek Jackson Creek Muddy Creek Kent Narrows Piney Creek |
| • right | Prickly Pear Creek Morgan Creek Radcliffe Creek Muddy Creek Dam Creek Broad Creek Browns Creek Jarrett Creek Shippens Creek Langford Creek Grays Inn Creek Church Creek |
TheChester River is a major tributary of theChesapeake Bay on theDelmarva Peninsula. It is about 43 miles (69 km) long,[1] and its watershed encompasses 368 sq mi (950 km2), which includes 295 sq mi (760 km2) of land. Thus the total watershed area is 20% water. It forms the border betweenKent County andQueen Anne's County, Maryland, with its headwaters extending intoNew Castle County andKent County, Delaware.Chestertown, the seat of Maryland'sKent County, is located on its north shore. It is located south of theSassafras River and north ofEastern Bay, and is connected with Eastern Bay throughKent Narrows.
The Chester River begins atMillington, Maryland, where Cypress Branch and Andover Branch join together. It ends at theChesapeake Bay in a very wide mouth between Love Point onKent Island, and Swan Point, nearGratitude, Maryland. Cypress Branch rises in southwestern New Castle County, Delaware, and Andover Branch, with its tributary, Sewell Branch, rises in northwestern Kent County, Delaware. Millington is the head of navigation. Sewell Branch and Andover Branch join in a private impoundage of approximately 30 acres (120,000 m2) about two miles (3 km) above joining with Cypress Branch and then becoming the Chester River.
Its main tributaries are Langford Creek and Morgan Creek on the north side and theCorsica River and Southeast Creek on the south side. There are also several small creeks on the northern shore, including Church Creek, Grays Inn Creek, Shippen Creek, Jarrett Creek, Browns Creek, Broad Creek, Dam Creek, Radcliffe Creek, and Mills Branch. On the southern shore the small creeks include Queenstown Creek, Tilghman Creek, Reed Creek, Grove Creek, Hambleton Creek, Rosin Creek, Foreman Branch and Unicorn Branch.
Local lore has it that in 1774, colonists boarded a British ship anchored in the Chester River at Chester Town, also called New Town on Chester, and threw its load oftea overboard, mimicking theBoston Tea Party and its act of defiance against KingGeorge III. This came to be known as theChestertown Tea Party.
While primary source documents show that Chestertown residents did have at least one meeting to discuss the presence of tea aboard the locally owned merchantmanGeddes, and later the residents sent food to aid the blockaded Bostonians, contemporaneous source material has yet to be found.
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
39°2′1.87″N76°11′43.21″W / 39.0338528°N 76.1953361°W /39.0338528; -76.1953361
