Place:Rising Sun, Cecil, Maryland, United States

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source: Family History Library Catalog

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Rising Sun is a town in Cecil County, Maryland, United States. The population was 2,781 at the 2010 census.

Additional Information

Rising Sun lies at the western end of the "Nottingham Lots", founded in 1702 by Quakers from Ireland, taking up William Penn's offers of land, in his hope to secure a port on the Chesapeake Bay. The area, however, primarily lay within the boundaries of Maryland.

The town is said to have been originally called "Summer Hill". When the town began to flourish with the development of the National Road (now US-1) running through it between Philadelphia and Baltimore, the construction of the Susquehanna Canal bypassing the Connowingo Falls, and various rail lines connecting Baltimore and {hiladelphia, as well as points west. Rising Sun soon became a local focal point, with five major road ways radiating out from it. Drovers, running cattle to market soon found "Rising Sun" a convenient way place.

The name "Rising Sun" is said to have originated from a local tavern that used the "Rising Sun" emblem on its sign. As the story goes, locals began saying "Meet me at the Rising Sun", and soon the town took its name from that. This seems more like a "just so story" than a matter of fact. Another explanation for the the town's name may lie with the early town fathers who, hoped that its role as a transportaton hub would lead to its future growth. perhaps they began to think their community had an especially bright future---the "Rising Sun of the East", as it were. If so, their hopes were unfounded. The rail lines soon replaced the Susquehanna Canal, but the rail companies found little point in making more than a brief stop at Rising Sun. In anycase, the town never grew beyond its role as a farm community.

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