Hack Neck

Hack Neck is bordered on three sides by water―Hack Creek, Potomac River, Little Wicomico River―and on the fourth by land. As shown in a snippit of the US Geological Society 1953 map, above, the land on Hack Neck was predominantly forest and wooded-brush. In several spots around Hack Creek, the map indicates marsh/swamp and low-lying ground with intermittent flooding.

In fact, according to the USDA’s Forest Atlas Of The United States, oak/hickory (orange) and loblolly/shortleaf pine (blue) dominate Hack Neck’s forests. To isolate the forest-type groups, go to Distribution of forest-type groups and click on the color or the group.

Beyond the waters which create the neck, Hack Neck is bordered by Mob Neck to the west and north, Edwardsville and Gonyon to the southwest, the Little Wicomico River and Bridge Neck to the south and east, and the Potomac River to the north, west, and east.

The majority of the waters on Hack Neck are impaired. In the map below, a snapshot of the Environmental Protection Agency’s EnviroMapper shows the impaired waters in red and non-impaired in blue. The extent of impairment is not surprising. The rivers and creeks are branches of the Potomac and Chesapeake Bay, the latter under a multi-decade agreement to improve the water quality. Limited and changing tidal action adds to the impairment.

Updated: November 3, 2024