The facility's main tenant activity is the Indian Head Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC/IH).

[citation needed] The peninsula, a "head" of land overlooking the Potomac River, had been long occupied by various cultures of indigenous peoples.

[6] A newspaper article mentions another explanation of the name, that "an unfortunate young brave" from a foreign tribe was beheaded for falling in love with an "Algonquin princess", although Edward W. Rice (the town's mayor at that time) dismissed the story as a "fairy tale".

[7] During the American Civil War, Union Brigadier General Joseph Hooker commanded the Third Brigade near Budd's Ferry in August 1861.

The site was also used by the Union Army Balloon Corps for reconnaissance of Confederate troop movements across the Potomac.

[10] It is located between the Potomac River and Mattawoman Creek on Mattawoman/Cornwallis Neck, named for the 1654 grant of 5,000 acres (20 km2) by Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, to Capt.

[10] In 1850, the Washington Fruit Growers Association purchased a parcel of land, which included Indian Head and "Glymont".

Charles Pye offered for sale, a parcel of land (664 acres) known as Glymont, On December 2, 1834.

[13] During the Second World War, Indian Head thrived, with economic prosperity lasting until the late 1960s.

[14] The construction of the planned community of St. Charles, south of Waldorf, brought with it retail chains and big-box stores.

It goes directly into the middle of town at the entrance to Indian Head Naval Support Facility.

[17] Private plans to build a massive "Chapman's Landing" housing development a few miles to the north were thwarted in the 1990s when the state government purchased the land to preserve it as green space under its "smart growth" program.

[18][19] The preserved land includes an old growth Shell-Marl Ravine Forest ecosystem.

A section of the railroad to the naval facility, built in 1918, was converted to a 13-mile paved hiking/biking trail in 2008.

Brandon was 19 years of age when he was elected, making him the youngest mayor of any Maryland municipality in state history.

As Vice Mayor, Kiran (Ron) Sitoula is the first Nepali to be elected to a public position outside of Nepal and the first non-US-born official in the history of the Town of Indian Head.

[28] According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 1.23 square miles (3.19 km2), all land.