Harford County

Harford County, located in the northeast corner of the Western Shore, is bordered to the north by the Mason-Dixon line and Pennsylvania, the east by the Susquehanna River, the south by the Chesapeake Bay, and the west by Baltimore County. It was formed from Baltimore County by Chapter 6, Acts of 1773. The county is named for Henry Harford, last proprietor of Maryland and a son of Frederick Calvert, sixth Lord Baltimore.

Bel Air, the county seat, serves as the trading and banking center of the surrounding countryside. When Harford County was created in 1773, the county seat was established at Old Harfordtown on the Bush River. In 1782 the county seat was moved to Aquila Scott's Old Field, which was eventually renamed Bel Air, although the town was not incorporated until 1874.

Many interesting historic sites are located in Harford County. Jerusalem Mill, on the Little Gunpowder River, was built partly by David Lee in 1772. The mill is unusual in that the first story is of stone, and the second frame, surmounted by two half stories under a steep gabled roof. Although Lee was a Quaker, he supposedly manufactured guns in the stone building behind the mill during the Revolution. Nearby is the Jericho Covered Bridge. Of bowstring construction, the bridge is said to have been built about 1800, making it one of the oldest such bridges now in Maryland. In old Joppa Town, the Rumsey House can be seen, an interesting two and a half story brick structure with a gambrel roof. The house was acquired about 1771 by Colonel Benjamin Rumsey, a member of the Continental Congress.