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Place Name
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Dorchester County
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Pronunciation
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DOR-che-stuhr
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Place Status (Type)
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county
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Capital is
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Cambridge
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Population
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30,236 (1990)
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Location
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Maryland, United States, North America
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Latitude
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38°25'N
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Longitude
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76°05'W
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Dorchester
, (DOR-che-stuhr), county ( 982
sq mi/2,543 sq km; 1990 pop. 30,236), E Md.; 
Cambridge; 38°25'N 76°05'W. Marsh-fringed peninsula on the Eastern
Shore, bounded E by Del. state line. Isls. belonging to co. in
Chesapeake Bay include Barren, Hooper, and Bloodsworth. Shores are
indented by many inlets. The rolling land is well suited for growing
fruit (especially cantaloupes) because of the loamy clay soil as well
as the long, hot summers; also vegetables (especially tomatoes),
barley, soybeans, corn, wheat. Dairy prods., poultry; large seafood
industry (fish, crabs, oysters); vegetable and seafood canneries and
packing houses; lumber and flour mills; boatyards. Marshes (W
½ of co.) are center of state's muskrat-trapping
industry. Sport fishing, duck hunting, yachting attract visitors.
Includes Blackwater Natl. Wildlife Refuge, which is a resting and
feeding area for migrant and wintering waterfowl, notably huge flocks
of Canada geese. Rare Delmarva fox squirrel may been seen. Twenty
percent of the area of the co. is water, but its land area makes it the
largest co. on the E shore.
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