Somerset County

Somerset County is the southernmost county on Maryland’s Eastern shore. It was erected in 1666 and named after Lady Mary Somerset, the sister of Lady Anne Arundell, wife of the Second Lord Baltimore. The land is relatively flat with rich agricultural soils, forests and significant wetland resources. Sixty-eight percent of the county’s 209,390 land acres are zoned agricultural.

In 2000, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources owned over 29,000 acres within the county and thousands of acres were preserved through agriculture and forest easements. Only 3% of the county’s land area had been developed. The remaining 97% were agricultural, forest, wetland, or open space, all of which are critical to the county’s rustic character.

The population in 2000 was 24,747 and is projected to increase to 27,500 by 2015.