Queen Anne's County

Queen Anne's County, Maryland
Queen Anne's County Courthouse
Seal
Location in the U.S. state of Maryland
Maryland's location in the U.S.
Founded	1706
Named for	Queen Anne
Seat	Centreville
Largest community	Stevensville
Area
• Total	511 sq mi (1,323 km2)
• Land	372 sq mi (963 km2)
• Water	139 sq mi (360 km2), 27%
Population (est.)
• (2015)	48,904
• Density	96/sq mi (37/km²)
Congressional district	1st
Time zone	Eastern: UTC-5/-4
Website	www.qac.org

Queen Anne's County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2010 census, the population was 47,798. Its county seat and most populous municipality is Centreville. The census-designated place of Stevensville is the county's most populous place. The county is named for Queen Anne of Great Britain who reigned when the county was established in 1706.

Queen Anne's County is included in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA Combined Statistical Area. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge connects Queen Anne's of the Eastern Shore to Anne Arundel County on the Western Shore.

Queen Anne's County has two hundred sixty-five miles of waterfront area, much of that being the shores of Kent Island, which stands out from the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay. From the waters of this county, watermen have brought oysters, crabs, and terrapin. Migrating waterfowl overwinter here, and hunting for geese and ducks has been an important part of the county's history. The first settlement in Maryland was on Kent Island in August 21, 1631, and included twenty-five settlers in a manor house, a fort, and other buildings. The settlement was referred to as Winston's Island. The first houses were built similar to log cabins. Although the county has a number of properties on the National Register of Historic Places, the original settlement no longer exists. One of the oldest towns still existing is Stevensville, earlier known as Broad Creek.