64 the physiography of cecil county 



Topographic Description. 

 Cecil county is divisible into two physiographic regions; the Pied- 

 mont Plateau and the Atlantic Coastal Plain. The former occupies 

 the northern third of the county, and the latter, the middle and 

 southern thirds. The boundary between these two regions is very 

 irregular and not readily described, but it is sufficiently accurate to 

 state that it crosses the county from northeast to southwest in a line 

 approximately coincident with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. 



THE ATLANTIC COASTAL PLAIN REGION. 



The Topography of the Atlantic Coastal Plain Region. — The At- 

 lantic Coastal Plain is the name applied to a low and almost feature- 

 less plain of varying width, extending from Staten Island southward 

 through Florida. As it passes through Maryland it varies in width 

 from 16 miles in the northeastern portion of the State, to 122 miles 

 in the southern portion. In general it may be understood as that 

 portion of Maryland lying between the Baltimore and Ohio Eailroad 

 and the Atlantic Ocean. It will thus be seen that the larger part of 

 Cecil county lies within this region. 



In Cecil county the Coastal Plain contains two contrasted types of 

 topography. One type is a flat, low, featureless plain, and the other 

 is a rolling upland attaining four times the elevation of the former, 

 and resembling the topography of the Piedmont Plateau more than 

 that typical of the Coastal Plain. Elk River makes the dividing 

 line between these tAvo types of topography. On the east of it is the 

 low land of the typical Coastal Plain, and on the west of it, are 

 the rolling uplands. As this river also marks the division at the head 

 of the Bay between the so-called Eastern and Western Shores, it will 

 be convenient to remember that the low land east of Elk River belongs 

 to the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and is characteristic in its topo- 

 graphy of that region throughout its entire extent, while the rolling 

 upland of Elk Neck on the west of Elk River belongs to the Western 

 Shore of Maryland and, in the character of the topography, is as 

 typical of that region as the lowland mentioned above is of the Eastern 

 Shore. 



