Bloodsworth Island

This is an island in the Chesapeake Bay, in southern Dorchester County, MD. Historic research suggests that sites discovered in an archaeological investigation of the N. 1/3 of the island were associated with families who worked in the 1800s Chesapeake Bay oystering industry, with settlements dating as far back as 1672.

In 1799 the entire island became the property of Robert Bloodsworth, Sr., but the island did not become known as Bloodsworth Island until circa 1850. The island was inhabited by Bloodsworth descendants until 1918, when the last residents moved to the mainland. Bloodsworth gravesites still exist on the island in a small cemetery at the northern end of the island. In 1923, the island became the Bloodsworth Island Game Preserve.