William Claiborne, a Puritan trader based in Virginia, earlier established a trading post at what is now known as Garrett Island at the mouth of the Susquehanna River near what became Perryville.

Samuel Finley in 1744, educated Benjamin Rush and Richard Stockton, both of whom signed the Declaration of Independence, and still operates today (though disaffiliated from the Presbyterian church and with additional buildings).

During the American Revolution both British and colonial troops traveled through Cecil County, although no major battles occurred within its borders.

Robert Alexander, the area's delegate to the Continental Congress of 1776, spoke with both sides but ultimately decided to go into exile in England without his wife.

Not only did British Admiral George Cockburn blockade the upper Chesapeake Bay, in response to musket fire from colonials at Welch Point, his troops destroyed a trading post known as Frenchtown.

They tried to sail further up the Elk River to the county seat at Elkton, but turned back under fire from Fort Defiance, also hindered by a cable across the navigation channel.

Avoiding Port Deposit which rumors called heavily defended, the British destroyed the Principio Iron Works, an important military target.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers still operates it today, and Chesapeake City, Maryland, which had been Bohemia Manor until 1839, has a museum explaining the canal's importance.

The Underground Railroad had crossed through Cecil County, perhaps assisted by the 'Fighting Quaker,' former Congressman and U.S. Marshall John Conard, who moved to North East between 1834 and 1851 and was reburied at St. Mary Anne's Episcopal Church there after his death in Philadelphia in 1857.

While Jacob Tome made his fortune in the area and stayed, other Cecil County natives left in search of economic opportunity.

After the war, Perryville again became a railroad town, and later received business from interstate highway travelers crossing the Susquehanna bridges.

Although Cecil County had once been one of the wealthiest in Maryland and has worked hard recently to attract industry as well as tourist dollars, the average income of residents is now near that of Americans as a whole.

In the 20th century, as modern highways arrived its placement along the heavily traveled northeast corridor brought new opportunities and change to the county.

By June 1941, the final segment of the Philadelphia Road, the new dual highway designated as Route 40 was completed across the center of Cecil County.

[9] On November 14, 1963, President John F. Kennedy visited Cecil County to formally open and dedicate the Northeastern Expressway (I-95).

As traffic started zipping along the superhighway, without one light halting the fast trip, a corridor that would yield major dividends to the county had opened.

It spurred business growth along the route, as commercial, industrial, and residential development clustered near the interchanges in the decades ahead.

[12] In the early post-Civil War period, Cecil County, having been generally pro-secession, leaned strongly towards the Democratic Party.

[13] It was carried by the Democratic Party nominee in every Presidential election between 1868 and 1920 except that of 1896 when the Northeast was vigorously opposed to William Jennings Bryan’s “free silver” policy.

The western border is defined by the lower reaches of the Susquehanna River and the northernmost coves, flats and tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay.

Topographically, Cecil County straddles the border between the rolling hills of the Piedmont Plateau north of U.S. Route 40 and the flatlands of the Atlantic Coastal Plain to the south.

The highest and most rugged hills are found in the northwestern and north-central parts of the county, reaching 534 feet (163 m) just south of the Mason–Dixon line near Nottingham, Pennsylvania and just east of U.S. Route 1.

The canal passes through the town of Chesapeake City, where a high-level bridge facilitates the passage of large ships beneath Maryland Route 213.

The highway provides a major artery for traffic between the Baltimore-Washington area to the southwest and the Philadelphia and New York and New Jersey regions to the northeast.

The northern terminus of MARC's Penn Line commuter rail service to Baltimore and Washington, D.C. is in Perryville, Maryland.

[33] Amish families moved to the area from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania because of increasing costs and the declining amount of farmland there.

In regards to violent crime, which includes murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault, the rate is 40.8 compared to the U.S. average of 31.1.

[39] In property crime, including offenses being burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson, the rate is 39.3 compared to the U.S. average of 38.1.