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Nobody knows for sure how Turkey Point got its name, but old-timers on the 140-acre jut of land just south of Annapolis on the Chesapeake Bay speculate that it comes from the wild turkeys that once roamed the area when it was farmland a century ago.

While the turkeys are gone and the farmland has been divided into lots for about 160 homes, the land is still a rich habitat for other wildlife -- fox and rabbits, ducks and swans.

That, combined with the isolating waters of the bay, creates the allure of Turkey Point: a timeless tranquillity.

"It's a very serene atmosphere here," said Mary Ellen Cifala, 63, who grew up on Turkey Point, moved away, then returned with her husband, Joe, 68, a retired Falls Church police sergeant. "Being around water is very peaceful."

Turkey Point in Anne Arundel County, not to be confused with another Turkey Point 30 miles north near Baltimore and also on the bay, actually is an island separated from the mainland by a narrow band of tidal water, which simply adds to its serenity.

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"When you cross that bridge {onto the island}, it's like another world," said Anita Lee, 45, a Long & Foster Realtors agent who has lived on Turkey Point since 1990. "It's cooler, it's beautiful. . . . It's very quiet."

Dotted with well-spaced houses interspersed with trees and tidal marshes, the island at the mouth of the South River had been farmland at least as far back as the early 19th century, according to local lore. Early in this century, the entire island was owned by Baltimore hotelier Harry Busick, who used it as both farm and hunting preserve for guests.

After Busick's death in the early 1930s, according to longtime Turkey Point resident Peggy Colt, 74, and other amateur historians, Busick's heirs sold the island, and it was subdivided for residential development in the early 1940s.

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After World War II, with the phenomenon of suburban expansion and construction of major roadways in the Washington-Baltimore area, lot owners began converting what were largely summer cottages into permanent homes. They winterized exteriors, added rooms and started commuting to work in Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis.

"Over 75 homes now dot the Turkey Point landscape," wrote Peggy Colt in the early 1960s in a type-written account of the island, much of it drawn from interviews with Jimmy Martines, longtime manager of the Busick farm and foster father of Mary Ellen Cifala.

Cifala, who returned to Turkey Point in 1970 after living in Falls Church during husband Joe's police career there, now lives in a converted barn on the old Busick farm.

Today, with 160 homes on Turkey Point, the island is nearly built out, with only five to 10 lots remaining undeveloped, according to Turkey Point Property Owners Association President Brenda DeLalla, 59. She and her husband, Ralph, 59, project manager for a commercial heating, plumbing and air-conditioning company, moved to Turkey Point from Bowie in Prince George's County in 1989.

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Living on the island is a step back in time. "I call it the 50-year time warp," she said.

While there is a yacht club as well as several boat-related businesses adjacent to Turkey Point, no commercial development is allowed on the island itself, Brenda DeLalla said, and "that's a big relief."

Turkey Point's tranquillity and easy pace nevertheless are hemmed in by southern Anne Arundel County's rapid suburban growth. Several residents said traffic congestion can be a major problem just off the island, especially on Maryland Route 214 (Central Avenue) and other choked commuter roads to Washington 25 miles to the west.

Many Turkey Point homes are small and unpretentious, ranging from older cinder block-and-stucco or wood frame cottages built in the 1950s to newer two-story houses with vinyl or aluminum siding exteriors.

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Most of the older homes, said Lee of Long & Foster, have been enlarged over the years and upgraded with new siding.

Turnover is slow, she said, but the population, which in recent years had tended to be older and dominated by retired military and other government employees, is shifting to younger families. "You hear a lot of children's voices in the neighborhood now," she said.

Recent home sales range, she said, from a high of almost $360,000 for a three-bedroom, two-bath rambler on the water to about $190,000 for a comparable house off the water but with a view of either bay or river.

As an island, Turkey Point has its share of watery concerns. Residents have to batten down for the occasional Chesapeake Bay storm, and the island has lost four to five acres of shoreline to erosion since the 1940s. Still, the pluses of island life outnumber the minuses, said John Earman, 73, a retired government administrative law judge who moved to Turkey Point in 1962 and never left. "I enjoy it. I've always liked it down here," he said. CAPTION: Joe and Mary Ellen Cifala on the bridge that leads to Turkey Point. They live in a converted barn on the island.

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