The Hundreds by Gary D. Crawford
In Talbot County, a region west of St. Michaels is known as the “Bay Hundred.” It’s an odd term. Notice that it isn’t “Bay 100” or “Bay One Hundred,” and it is never said that way. It is simply Bay Hundred, or, more properly “The Bay Hundred.” The region begins where Route 33
turns west and then sharply south, to run all the way down the peninsula to Black Walnut Point at the tip of Tilghman’s Island. As such, it encompasses seven villages: Claiborne, McDaniel, Wittman, Sherwood, Tilghman, Bar Neck and Fairbank. (Oh, and also Hynsontown and Avalon, the ones the county has forgotten.) But why call it a “hundred”? What’s up w ith that? Sounds like a club of some sort, or a football team. We know that it now refers to this western subdivision of Talbot County, but is that a new term? Is it unique? How is it different from a district or a township? After all, enquir ing minds want to know. As usual, the answer is surprising and has led me on a merry chase to bring it to you. It seems the term “hundred” is not peculiar to the Bayside. Indeed, at one t ime a ll of Ta lbot County was divided into hundreds ~ nine of them.
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