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 Maryland Manual On-Line, 2020

July 31, 2020

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MARYLAND AT A GLANCE

PARKS & RECREATION

NATIONAL PARKS IN MARYLAND

[photo, Black-headed Gulls, Assateague Island National Park Seashore (Worcester County), Maryland] Eight of Maryland's twenty-four local jurisdictions are sites for national parks. To visitors and Marylanders alike, they make accessible historic homes, Civil War battle sites, mountain trails, and a view of the Atlantic Ocean.


Black-headed Gulls, Assateague Island National Park Seashore (Worcester County), May 2015. Photo by Sarah A. Hanks.

ALLEGANY COUNTY
[photo, Fort McHenry, Baltimore, Maryland] BALTIMORE CITY
  • Fort McHenry National Monument & Historic Shrine
    2400 East Fort Ave., Baltimore, MD 21230 - 5393
    (410) 962-4290; fax: (410) 962-2500
    web:     www.nps.gov/fomc/index.htm


    • Fort McHenry, Baltimore, Maryland, May 2000. Photo by Sarah A. Hanks.

    [photo, Francis Scott Key monument, by Antonin Mercie (1911), Eutaw Place, Baltimore, Maryland]
      After burning the White House, the Capitol, and other government buildings in Washington, DC, the British force on August 24, 1814 advanced towards Baltimore City. To the British, Baltimore was a "nest of pirates," due to the number of privateers (ships authorized by the government to attack enemy vessels during war) that launched from its waters. In 1813, the British imposed a blockade on the City, and on September 12, 1814, defeated the Maryland Militia at the Battle of North Point. The next day, Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane and the British fleet of 19 ships began a 27-hour bombardment of Fort McHenry and its 1,000 defenders commanded by Major George Armistead. On September 14, the American flag was raised over the Fort. Upon seeing it, Francis Scott Key wrote a poem later known as "The Star-Spangled Banner," our National Anthem.

      In celebration of the 200th anniversary of our National Anthem, there was a free festival, the Star-Spangled Spectacular, at Baltimore's Inner Harbor, September 10-16, 2014. Naval vessels and tall ships from around the world were in port, and the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels performed in a two-day air show. There were two concerts and a fireworks display over Fort McHenry and the Inner Harbor.

    Francis Scott Key monument, by Antonin Mercie (1911), Eutaw Place, Baltimore, Maryland, October 2019. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.

    [photo, Hampton National Historic Site, Towson, Maryland] BALTIMORE COUNTY
  • Hampton National Historic Site
    535 Hampton Lane, Towson, MD 21286
    (410) 823-1309; fax: (410) 823-8394
    web:     http://www.nps.gov/hamp/index.htm


    • Hampton National Historic Site, Towson, Maryland, December 1999. Photo by Sarah A. Hanks.

      Hampton Mansion was built in the Georgian style for the Ridgely family between 1783 and 1790. Upon completion, it was the largest private home in the United States. The estate included extensive gardens, farmlands, a racetrack, an ironworks, gristmills, quarries, orchards, and an orangery. At its peak in the 1820s, it encompassed 25,000 acres. To keep the estate's industries going, the Ridgelys employed many workers throughout the years, including over 500 slaves, hired laborers, British indentured servants, and prisoners of war. In 1815, the second master of the house, Charles Carnan Ridgely, was elected as the 15th governor of Maryland. The Ridgelys entertained prominent guests in their home, including Charles Carroll of Carrollton, one of Maryland's signers of the Declaration of Independence, and the Marquis de Lafayette, the French aristocrat who served as a general in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. After the Civil War, the estate went into decline and, in 1948, the Ridgely family left Hampton.
    [photo, Red Devon Cattle, National Colonial Farm Museum, Accokeek, Maryland] CHARLES COUNTY
  • Piscataway Park
    c/o Fort Washington Park, 13551 Fort Washington Road, Fort Washington, MD 20744
    (301) 283-2113
    web:     www.nps.gov/pisc/index.htm


    • Red Devon Cattle, National Colonial Farm Museum, Accokeek, Maryland, May 2011. Photo by Diane F. Evartt

      Established in 1957, Piscataway Park contains trails through wetlands and woods, as well as a fishing pier. The Park also includes National Colonial Farm, Accokeek, Maryland, a living history museum of life on an 18th-Century farm.

    • Thomas Stone National Historic Site
      6655 Rose Hill Road, Port Tobacco, MD 20677
      (301) 392-1776, ext. 302; fax: (301) 934-8793
      web: www.nps.gov/thst/index.htm

      Thomas Stone was a lawyer and plantation owner from Maryland who signed the Declaration of Independence. The estate remained in the Stone family from the 1770s to 1936. The National Park Service later purchased the property and restored the house, which had been damaged by fire. Today, the park contains Stone's home, Haberdeventure (or Habre de Venture), as well as outbuildings and the family cemetery.

    DORCHESTER COUNTY

    [photo, Hikers in Catoctin Mountain National Park near Thurmont, Maryland] FREDERICK COUNTY
  • Catoctin Mountain Park
    6602 Foxville Road, Thurmont, MD 21788 - 1598
    (301) 663-9388; fax: (301) 271-2764
    web:     www.nps.gov/cato/index.htm

    Created under Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal”, Catoctin Mountain Park has campsites, and trails for scenic hiking or horse back riding. The Park borders Cunningham Falls State Park, and offers individual and group cabins for rent.


    • Hikers in Catoctin Mountain National Park near Thurmont, Maryland, April 2004. Photo by Elizabeth W. Newell.

    • Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) Canal National Historic Park
      Brunswick Visitors Center, 40 West Potomac St., Brunswick, MD 21716
      (301) 834-7100, (301) 739-4200; fax: (301) 739-5275
      web: www.nps.gov/choh/planyourvisit/brunswickvisitorcenter.htm

        mailing address: Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park Headquarters Office, Suite 100
        1850 Dual Highway, Hagerstown, MD 21740 - 6620

      In Frederick County, the C&O Canal National Historic Park includes the Monocacy Aqueduct, and the Catoctin Creek Aqueduct. The Frederick section of the Canal runs through Brunswick, and connects with the MARC Train for easy access to the Greater Washington, DC, area.

    • Monocacy National Battlefield
      5201 Urbana Pike, Frederick, MD 21704
      (301) 662-3515; fax: (301) 668-7437
      web: www.nps.gov/mono/index.htm

        mailing address: 4632 Araby Church Road, Frederick, MD 21704 - 7705
    [photo, Worthington Farm, Monocacy National Battlefield, Frederick, Maryland] In the Civil War, during one of the Valley Campaigns of 1864, Confederate Lt. Gen. Jubal Early and his corps of 15,000 men crossed into Maryland and advanced towards Washington, DC. They engaged in battle with Union Major General Lew Wallace and his force of 6,550 men near the Monocacy River on July 9, 1864. Outnumbered, Wallace and his men eventually lost, but they delayed Early's march to Washington for a day, thus allowing the Union to send reinforcements to the city. The battle thereafter was known as "The Battle that Saved Washington." It marked the last time that Confederate forces invaded the North.

    Worthington Farm, Monocacy National Battlefield, Frederick (Frederick County), Maryland, May 2015. Photo by Sarah A. Hanks.

    MONTGOMERY COUNTY

    PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY

    • Fort Foote National Park
      8915 Fort Foote Road, Oxon Hill, MD 20745
      (301) 763-4600
      web:       www.nps.gov/fofo/index.htm

        mailing address: Fort Washington National Park, 13551 Fort Washington Road, Fort Washington, Maryland 20744

      Six miles east of Washington, DC, Fort Foote was constructed in 1863 on Rozier's Bluff. It was one of 68 forts erected around the city for the capital's protection during the Civil War. The wood and earthen Fort, built to defend against naval attacks launched from the Potomac River, was armed with two 15-inch Rodman Cannons, four 8-inch, 200-pound Parrot Rifles, and six 30-pound Parrot Rifles.

      When the Civil War ended, the forts around Washington were taken apart and the confiscated lands on which they stood, were returned by the government to their previous owners. Fort Foote, however, was kept by the government and its structure expanded. From 1868 to 1869, the Fort was used as a prison. Eventually, in 1873, it was purchased by the government, but then abandoned in 1878. Thereafter the majority of its cannons were removed. After World War II, the Fort transferred to the Department of the Interior for use as a park.

      Today, visitors can see the remains of the Fort, including two Rodman Cannons still at their posts above the Potomac River.

    • Fort Washington National Park
      13551 Fort Washington Road, Fort Washington, MD 20744
      (301) 763-4600; fax: (301) 763-1389
      web: www.nps.gov/fowa/index.htm

      One of the few remaining seacoast forts in its original design, Fort Washington was first built in 1809, but was destroyed by its garrison on August 27, 1814, to prevent it from falling to the British during the War of 1812. The Fort was rebuilt and served as an active military installation until 1939, and from 1942 to 1946, when it transferred to the U.S. Department of the Interior. Today, Fort Washington National Park offers fishing, picnic grounds, historic lectures, and reenactments.

    • Greenbelt Park
      6565 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20770 - 3207
      (301) 344-3948; fax: (301) 344-3736
      web: www.nps.gov/gree/index.htm

      Greenbelt Park has picnic areas, nature paths for horses and hiking, and campgrounds. The Park is right off the DC Metro Green Line for easy access to the Nation’s Capital.

    • Harmony Hall
      10702 Livingston Road, Fort Washington, MD 20744
      (301) 763-4600
      web: www.nps.gov/haha/index.htm

        mailing address: Fort Washington National Park, 13551 Fort Washington Road, Fort Washington, Maryland 20744

      Harmony Hall, originally named Battersea, was built on land alongside Broad Creek in 1769 for a rich tobacco merchant named Enoch Magruder. It received its current name around 1792 while the house was inhabited by John and Walter Dulaney and their wives. After several owners, including explorer Robert Stein and lawyer and author Charles Wallace Collins, the brick Georgian mansion was sold to the National Park Service in 1966. Aside from the mansion, the 62.5-acre grounds also contain the remnants of Want Water or Lyles House, a partial-brick structure built circa 1704 and one of the oldest buildings in the County, as well as a canal. While the mansion is closed to the public, visitors can walk through the grounds.

    WASHINGTON COUNTY

    [photo, Bloody Lane, Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Washington County, Maryland]
  • Antietam National Battlefield
    Visitor Center, 5831 Dunker Church Road, Sharpsburg, MD 21782
    (301) 432-5124
    web:     www.nps.gov/anti/index.htm

      mailing address: P. O. Box 158, Sharpsburg, MD 21782 - 0158

    • Bloody Lane, Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, Washington County, Maryland, October 2012. Photo by Sarah A. Hanks.

      During the Civil War, Confederate General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia made their first invasion of the North in what was called the Maryland Campaign of 1862. Lee and his force of around 45,000 men engaged in battle with Union Major General George B. McClellan and his 87,000-strong Army of the Potomac on September 17, 1862. After twelve hours of combat, nearly 23,000 men died, were wounded, or missing, making Antietam the bloodiest one-day battle in American history. Though the battle was technically a draw, Lee retreated from Maryland the next evening and this Union "victory" gave President Abraham Lincoln the opportunity to issue a preliminary version of the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that slaves held in rebel states would be free effective January 1, 1863.

    • Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) Canal National Historical Park
      web: www.nps.gov/choh/index.htm

        Ferry Hill Plantation Visitor Center, 16500 Shepherdstown Pike, Sharpsburg MD 21782
        (301) 582-0813, (301) 739-4200; fax: (301) 739-5275
        web: www.nps.gov/choh/planyourvisit/ferry-hill-place.htm
        (visitor center closed until further notice; grounds open to public)

          mailing address: Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park Headquarters Office, Suite 100
          1850 Dual Highway, Hagerstown, MD 21740 - 6620

        Hancock Visitor Center, Bowles House, 439 East Main St., Hancock, MD 21750
        (301) 739-4200; fax: (301) 739-5275
        web: www.nps.gov/choh/planyourvisit/hancockvisitorcenter.htm

          mailing address: Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park Headquarters Office, Suite 100
          1850 Dual Highway, Hagerstown, MD 21740 - 6620

        Park Headquarters Office
        1850 Dual Highway, Suite 100, Hagerstown, MD 21740 - 6620
        (301) 739-4200; fax: (301) 739-5275
        (headquarters moving to Williamsport; opening scheduled for late 2021)

        Williamsport Visitor Center, 205 West Potomac St., Williamsport, MD 21795
        (301) 582-0813, (301) 739-4200; fax: (301) 739-5275
        web: www.nps.gov/choh/planyourvisit/williamsportvisitorcenter.htm

          mailing address: Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park Headquarters Office, Suite 100
          1850 Dual Highway, Hagerstown, MD 21740 - 6620

      In Washington County, the C&O Canal National History Park connects to Fort Frederick State Park, and runs just south of Antietam National Battlefield. It offers a number of boat launches and campsites, as well as access to the Appalachian Trail.

    WORCESTER COUNTY

    [photo, Assateague Island National Seashore, Berlin (Worcester County), Maryland]
  • Assateague Island National Seashore
    7206 National Seashore Lane, Berlin, MD 21811
    (410) 641-1441
    web:     www.nps.gov/asis/index.htm


    • Assateague Island National Seashore, Berlin (Worcester County), Maryland, May 2015. Photo by Sarah A. Hanks.

    [photo, Feral horses, Assateague Island National Seashore, 7206 National Seashore Lane, Berlin (Worcester County), Maryland]
      Protecting Chincoteague Bay from the Atlantic Ocean, Assateague Island lies just south of Ocean City in Worcester County. The Island's multiple natural vistas include marshes, forests, and sand dune beaches. The Island offers swimming areas, nature trails, and campsites, as well as views of Assateague's wild horses.


    Assateague Island National Seashore, 7206 National Seashore Lane, Berlin (Worcester County), Maryland, April 2019. Photo by Sarah A. Hanks.

    [photo, Assateague Island National Seashore, Berlin (Worcester County), Maryland]

        Ranger Station & Campground Office, 6633 Bayberry Drive, Berlin, MD 21811
        (410) 641-1441, ext. 3

        Visitors Center, 11800 Marsh View Lane, Berlin, MD 21811
        (410) 641-1441, ext. 1


    Assateague Island National Seashore, Berlin (Worcester County), Maryland, October 2016. Photo by Sarah A. Hanks.

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