The first settlers were Puritans from Virginia who were invited by Maryland's proprietary ruler, Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, to settle on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay.
[citation needed] During this time, the area formed by Mill and Whitehall Creeks was known as "Broadneck," a name which later was applied to the entire peninsula.
By the late 17th century, the hamlet of Providence had expanded up the Broadneck Peninsula, with plantations occupying much of the interior land.
[1] Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries the land use of the Broadneck area remained rural, supporting large plantations of tobacco and diversified crops.
Similar to Brown's Woods on the north shore of Mill Creek, Mulberry Hill was subdivided into approximately 5-acre subsistence farms.
The Broadneck Peninsula comprises several residential neighborhoods, including Arnold, Cape St. Claire, and St. Margaret's.