Chester in Queen Anne's County, Maryland — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
Site of Chester Station
Walking the Kent Island Railroad
Photographed by Pete Skillman, June 12, 2025
1. Site of Chester Station Marker
Around 8 p.m., the Chester Station Agent received a call to switch the unmanned locomotive to a sidetrack. Train No. 3 from Rehoboth, DE, had just crossed the Kent Narrows and approached Chester Station. The call came too late.
Speeding past Chester Station at 40 mph, the 70-ton locomotive crashed into Train No. 3, throwing fireman Gus Roe 60 feet into the marsh. Most of the 26 passengers escaped injury. However, Engineer James Brown suffered such severe injuries that few thought he would survive.
Wrecking crews toiled all night to clear the tracks of the damaged trains.
Lee Bell likely worked as the station agent that day. He lived within walking distance of the station, in the historic brick farmhouse that got demolished in October 2022 to make way for Kent Island Crossing. He ranked among the area's most prominent citizens
this page online
In 1934, Bell suffered a heart attack. He rested overnight, but rallied and headed out to start his car the next day, where he experienced a second heart attack. He made his way back to bed, but his heart got the best of him. Lee Bell died in the farmhouse on February 26, 1934, after serving 30 years as Chester Station Agent.
The exact date of the removal of the Chester Station is unknown. However, in 1961, the land went by the name "the Old Chester Station property."
(Captions):
B&E Railroad Co. Plat
Chester Station shown (1949)
Chester Station (date unknown)
Chester Station
Looking west (Pre 1938)
Erected 2024 by Historic Kent Island.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Disasters • Railroads & Streetcars • Settlements & Settlers. A significant historical date for this entry is August 6, 1905.
Location. 38° 58.627′ N, 76° 16.875′ W. Marker is in Chester, Maryland, in Queen Anne's County. It can be reached from Piney Creek Road. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 1725 Piney Creek Rd, Chester MD 21619, United
Photographed by Pete Skillman, June 12, 2025
2. Site of Chester Station Marker - wide view
Regionally, this marker is on the Eastern Shore. It is also in the American Mid-Atlantic, on the Delmarva Peninsula, in the Tidewater, in the Chesapeake Bay Region, and on the Eastern Seaboard. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region, North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once one of the original Thirteen Colonies and also the Antebellum South.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 2 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Eminent Domain (approx. 0.3 miles away); Henry Massey's Tale (approx. 0.4 miles away); Coxes Neck Path (approx. half a mile away); Lands of Cornelius Tanner (approx. 0.8 miles away); B&E Railroad Trestle (approx. 0.8 miles away); Christ Church Glebe Farm (approx. one mile away); Veterans Memorial (approx. 1.2 miles away); The James E. Kirwan Museum (approx. 1.2 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Chester.
Also see . . . Historic Kent Island. The website of the local preservation organization that erected this marker. (Submitted on June 12, 2025, by Pete Skillman of Townsend, Delaware.)
Credits. This page was last revised on June 13, 2025. It was originally submitted on June 12, 2025, by Pete Skillman of Townsend, Delaware. This page has been viewed 162 times since then and 22 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on June 12, 2025, by Pete Skillman of Townsend, Delaware.
