The county was named for Lady Anne Arundell, (1615/1616–1649), the daughter of Thomas Arundell, 1st Baron Arundell of Wardour, members of the ancient family of Arundells in Cornwall, England. Anne Arundel County was originally part of St. Mary’s County, the province’s first erected county in the southern portion of the Province of Maryland, which had first been established by arriving settlers in 1634. In 1650, the year after Lady Ann Arundell’s death, the county separated from St. Mary’s and “erected” into its own jurisdiction and became the third of the 23 Maryland counties.
Most of the county’s borders are defined by water. To the east lies the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay, and numerous tidal tributaries of the bay indent the shoreline, the various rivers, creeks, streams, inlets forming prominent peninsulas, also known as “necks” (as further south in Virginia). The largest of these tributaries include (from north to south), the Magothy River, Severn River, South River, and the West River. Further south, the upper Patuxent River forms the border of Anne Arundel with Prince George’s County to the west.
These charts show statistics for Anne Arundel County for the following: Median Sale Price, Active Listings. Average Days on Market, Months of Supply. Each chart shows Detached and Attached housing types.