Maps

1877 Atlas of the Eastern Shore

Lake, Griffing and Stevenson’s detailed atlas of Somerset, Wicomico, and Worcester Counties. The maps identify individual landowners, towns, churches, schools, roads, waterways, railroads, and election districts.

Experimental Survey for the Eastern Shore Rail Road, 1853

A remarkable survey map of the proposed railroad route from Elk Landing to Tangier Sound, showing streams, fields, roads, geographic features, and individual landowners along the corridor.

Lower Eastern Shore Maryland Counties, 1794

A detailed view of the Lower Eastern Shore showing roads, towns, waterways, county boundaries, churches, and other important places.

Eastern Shore Parishes

Shows parish names, original and later church locations, and county boundaries from different periods. Especially useful when church records are an important part of the search.

Lower Shore Area, 1840

A highly detailed map of the Old Somerset area before Wicomico County was created, with historic place names, waterways, roads, and older county boundaries. This is a large image file.

Old Somerset, 1877

An outline plan of Wicomico, Somerset, and Worcester Counties from the 1877 atlas, showing election districts, towns, waterways, railways, and other geographic features.

John C. Lyon’s Old Somerset Hundreds and Land Grant Maps

A research-rich series showing the evolution of Old Somerset’s hundreds and the spread of colonial land grants over time across present-day Somerset, Wicomico, Worcester, and part of Sussex County.

Lower Shore Boundaries, 1662 to the Present

A particularly useful genealogy map showing how county jurisdiction changed over time and helping researchers determine which county’s records may contain information for a particular place and date.

Nova Terrae Mariae, 1671

John Ogilby’s early map of Maryland and the Delmarva region. On this historic map, north is oriented to the right.

Delmarva Peninsula

A colorful overview of the Delmarva Peninsula with the Lower Shore counties marked.

Old Somerset

Shows the original Somerset County created in 1666 and its daughter counties, with their dates of creation.

Somerset Hundreds

Based on Wilmer O. Lankford’s They Lived in Somerset: 17th Century Marylanders, showing the historic hundreds of Old Somerset County.

Somerset County

A color map showing present-day Somerset County, Maryland.

Wicomico County

A color map showing the boundaries of present-day Wicomico County, Maryland.

Clara, Maryland

A map of the Clara area, an Eastern Shore community that no longer exists as a town and an important location in several of my family lines.

Geographic Names Information System (GNIS)

The official federal geographic-names resource. Useful for identifying towns, streams, churches, cemeteries, islands, and other named features, including many places that are obscure or no longer prominent.

USGS topoView

Browse and download the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection and modern US Topo maps. An excellent replacement for the old TerraServer links.

The National Map Viewer

Explore current USGS map layers, boundaries, elevation, hydrography, roads, structures, place names, and topographic-map availability.

Maryland State Archives Map Collections

Original and reproduction maps and charts of Maryland and the Chesapeake Bay from the Age of Exploration to the present, including rare historic maps.

Perry-Castañeda Library Maryland Map Collection

A University of Texas collection of Maryland reference, historical, topographic, and park maps available online in several formats.

Maryland Historical Topographic Maps

A convenient collection of older Maryland USGS topographic maps, including quadrangles useful for Eastern Shore place and landscape research.

MEDUSA — Maryland’s Cultural Resource Information System

Maryland Historical Trust’s map- and text-search system for architectural resources, historic properties, and other cultural resources recorded in the Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties.

Atlas of Historical County Boundaries — Maryland

Interactive maps and chronologies showing Maryland county-boundary changes over time. Extremely useful when a family stayed in one place while the county name changed around them.

Mapping Maryland’s Counties

A digitized collection selected to illustrate the growth and development of Maryland’s counties and Baltimore City through historical maps.

Lower Shore MDGenWeb Map Pages

Additional historical and modern maps assembled specifically for Lower Eastern Shore research.

• Somerset County maps
• Wicomico County maps
• Worcester County maps

Maryland DNR Wildlife Management Area Maps

Current Maryland Department of Natural Resources pages and maps for public lands in and around southwestern and southern Wicomico County.

• Ellis Bay WMA
• Johnson WMA
• Nanticoke River WMA — Nutters Neck map
• Wetipquin WMA map

MapQuest

A general interactive map for present-day roads, addresses, and route context.