Charms of the Chesapeake

Enter the area for some of the most storied events to touch American soil, from the settling of a new land and the founding of a nation, on through the “Battle Between the States.”

1. Interact with costumed interpreters across the 17th-century landscape of Historic St. Mary’s City, an 800-acre outdoor museum that was the centerpiece of Maryland’s 375th birthday celebration in March 2009.
2. Ride the water taxi to nearby St. Clement’s Island, where a 40-acre state park occupies the landing point of those original English settlers nearly four centuries ago. On nearby St. George Island, which is where British forces first attempted to land during a July 1776 invasion, a new 28-room lodge stands beside a waterfront bar and restaurant.
3. Visit Southern Maryland homes once occupied by Revolutionary War hero General William Smallwood (Marbury) and Declaration of Independence signer Thomas Stone (Port Tobacco).
4. Along an official Maryland Civil War Trail, which traces the escape route of John Wilkes Booth after he assassinated President Abraham Lincoln in Washington, D.C., tour the Clinton-based home of co-conspirator Mary Surratt and the Waldorf-based house museum dedicated to Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, who treated Booth’s broken leg.
5. In St. Leonard, War of 1812 artifacts and archaeological findings from the prehistoric period are on display at the Jefferson Patterson Park & Museum.
6. View the breathtaking Annapolis landscape that captured the hearts of several “Founding Fathers.” The state’s capital is also filled with sites recognizing such prominent figures as North Pole explorer Matthew Henson, former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and African slave Kunte Kinte, a forefather of Roots author Alex Haley. The recently renovated crypt of Revolutionary War hero John Paul Jones is under the U.S. Naval Academy’s chapel.
   

   Midshipmen at Naval Academy

7. Reflect on the state’s great cultural diversity at Baltimore museums that recount the lives of African Americans, Jewish Americans, Native Americans and Irish immigrants. Also in Baltimore, Fort McHenry is where American soldiers defended the city during the War of 1812 and inspired Francis Scott Key’s “Star-Spangled Banner.”
8. Continue around to the Eastern Shore region and delight in restored Colonial homes and 18th-century artifacts within Chestertown, scene of a colonial-era protest that rivaled the Boston Tea Party.
9. Sites such as an early plantation house and the Museum of Eastern Shore Life in Centreville stand in tribute to the wonder, beauty and history of the area.
10. A museum in Cambridge pays homage to Underground Railroad “conductor” Harriet Tubman, while nearby stands the village store where Tubman performed her first known act of defiance against a slaveholder.