Neavitt, Maryland

Neavitt is an unincorporated community in Talbot County, Maryland, United States. It is located on a peninsula at the southern terminus of Maryland Route 579 on the north bank of the Choptank River, southwest of St. Michaels and northeast of Tilghman Island.

Originating on land granted to Quaker colonists in the 17th century, Neavitt emerged as a small agricultural and fishing community during the mid-19th century. Following the establishment of several community institutions and services by the 1880s, many by the local Neavitt family that gave the community its name, Neavitt attracted commercial activities that had arisen throughout the Eastern Shore in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, most notably oystering and canning. Its proximity to the Baltimore, Chesapeake and Atlantic Railway (BC&A) and its steamboat network brought further investment, infrastructure, and tourism from metropolitan areas such as Washington, Baltimore, and Philadelphia.

Following the closure of BC&A rail service in 1931 and the decline of its industries after World War II, Neavitt became the focus of greater tourism and settlement by retirees from around the region, particularly after the opening of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in 1952. Several large farms were subdivided in the 1950s and 1960s in anticipation of further development, which occurred throughout the rest of the 20th century. Today, Neavitt remains a small village that continues to attract retirees, vacationers, and local watermen that engage in crabbing, oystering, and fishing.