Strategically situated at the tip of a peninsula jutting into the Potomac River at Potomac Creek, Marlborough Town was established under the Town Act of 1691 on the land of Giles Brent and served as the county seat of Stafford County. After its decline in the first quarter of the 18th century, it became the seat of John Mercer. A copy of the 1691 Theodoric Bland survey of the town preserved in John Mercer’s letter book is shown. Archaeological investigation undertaken by the Smithsonian Institution in 1956 identified Marlborough Town’s location. More extensive investigation of the town site should provide much information on the commercial life of a Potomac River port town in the first half of the 18th century.