Every state and place has unique history, but it is becoming harder to see it under the strip-mall-box-store-chain-restaurant sameness that seems to be taking over. Fortunately, Maryland’s history is deep and the state is small so some easy exploring uncovers what makes it unique and interesting. More fortunately still, the family I was raised in, and the family I am raising, enjoy exploring the state county by county. (That’s a post for another day). Here are a few things that make Maryland truly unique.
C&O - The great transportation innovation that wasn’t. Like many East Coast cities, Washington D.C. was located on the geologic (water)fall line. This was as far up the rivers as boats could travel. Later, canals were built around the falls and extended inland to transport people and product to and from the expanding frontier. The 184 mile long Chesapeake and Ohio Canal runs from Washington D.C. to Cumberland, Maryland. A massive undertaking, the C&O unfortunately was completed just as the age of railroad arrived and never truly saw a heyday. Today, the entire canal is a national park and the old mule-towpath offers an enjoyable place to walk or ride along the Potomac River, with many people biking the entire length of the canal, and beyond. Maybe its current use is its best transportation innovation.
B&O - By some measures the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first railroad in the U.S., but by any measure it certainly impacted the State of Maryland. The B&O has the interesting distinction of having its cornerstone laid by Charles Carroll, the last surviving signer of Declaration of Independence. As a measure of forward-looking confidence, the name was selected long before the railroad reached the Ohio River in 1852. The railroad was a success and solidified Baltimore’s industrial future. Today, the B&O railroad is part of CSX, but its legacy lives on among rail-fans who cherish the blue-silver color scheme, players of the game of Monopoly, and visitors to the fantastic B&O Museum in the historic Mount Clare Station and Roundhouse in Baltimore.
Country Road - Although an official song of neighboring West Virginia, John Denver’s hit song “Take Me Home, Country Roads” was famously inspired by Clopper Road in Montgomery County, Maryland. The story goes that Denver’s collaborators, Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert, conceived the song while driving to visit family outside of D.C. At the time Clopper Road was a rolling two lane road, the type of which can still be found throughout Maryland, though less frequently now near D.C. When Denver heard the song he loved it, and the three played it for the first time at the Cellar Door in Georgetown on December 30, 1970 with immediate success. The song went platinum and is considered one of John Denver’s, and Country Music’s, greatest hits. Thank you, Maryland. You’re welcome, West Virginia!
The Maryland Challenge(s) - The Appalachian Trail stretches 2200 miles from Georgia to Maine and each year hundreds of people thru-hike the entire length. Maryland’s 41-mile portion is relatively short and flat compared to other states and seasoned thru-hikers will sometimes attempt to do it in a single day. This is known as the Maryland Challenge and it is done by AT thru-hikers and day-hikers alike.
Although less popular, because I don’t know if it exists yet, the aquatic version of the Maryland Challenge would be to canoe the entire length of the Monocacy River. The river interestingly and coincidentally starts at the Pennsylvania-Maryland border where two stream merge and ends 58.5 miles south when it meets the Potomac River. It exists in Maryland and only in Maryland as it cuts across the state. Some sections have pretty low water, but it wouldn’t be a challenge if it was easy!
The Appalachian Trail hike, Monocacy River paddle, and C&O Canal bike ride together are the Maryland Tri-Challenge.
A few other unique Maryland things:
Natty-boh - National Bohemian Beer is a Baltimore staple
Allan Poe - the poet and writer Edgar Allan Poe lived and died in Baltimore
Sideling Hill - a geological marvel exposed by the construction of Interstate-68
Smith Island Cake - the layered wonder of fudgey goodness is a Maryland delicacy
Orioles - Baltimore's MLB team named for the beautiful orange & black state bird
Old Bay - the seafood staple spice from Baltimore is Maryland point of pride
“crab-cakes and football" - as proudly said in the movie Wedding Crashers, but seriously, Maryland does love blue-crabs
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My goal is to expand on the bolded topics that I mentioned in an old post I wrote. This week covers the ones in red.
Happy Maryland Day - my home state! Hands-down the best state flag.
Maryland is known as the "Old Line State" for her brave soldiers (regimental line) who helped General Washington escape the Battle of Brooklyn, the "Free State" for her opposition to prohibition, and as "America in Miniature" for her geographic variety. It is the home of the Shore, Bay, Piedmont, and Blue Ridge...C&O, B&O, Country Road, and AT's Maryland Challenge...Natty-boh, Allan Poe, Sideling Hill, Smith Island cake, Orioles, Old Bay, crab-cakes, and football!
Maryland was a colony founded by English Catholics on the Feast of the Annunciation (March 25) to further religious tolerance in the new world. More favorable readings of colonial land grants could have placed her northern border (Mason-Dixon Line) 15 miles further into Pennsylvania and her southwestern marker (The Fairfax Stone) 50 miles south into Virginia, but it lost both cases. She ceded land to create the federal capital (Virginia's part was retroceded). It was a political and literal battleground caught between the North and South in the Civil War but her flag represents unity and the Nation Anthem was penned here.
I’m proud to be from a state so "Bless By God With Beauty" and with such a rich place in history. Today, don't forget to play pin the cross on St. Clement's Island or buy/watch The Ark & Dove Epic Sonnet Sequence!
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