In honor of me having achieved my goal of visiting all 50 US States, I will post a picture of somewhere I have visited in each state and write a paragraph or two about my experience. There is so much to see in every one of them, so I am just selecting one of my best memories.
Did you know the original name for Maryland was “Cresentia”? It’s true. When Cecil Calvert, the 2nd Baron of Baltimore was given a charter for the land between the Virginia and Pennsylvania Colonies that was the name he proposed. Fortunately, King Charles I of England who was giving the charter intervened and changed the name to Terra Mariae ( Mary Land) which admittedly is much more catchy.
Most of the state is situated around the Chesapeake Bay, which nearly divided the state in two. Most of the early settlements were build around the bay and the lakes and rivers that feed into it. Although the Hudson Bay in Canada is much larger, the Chesapeake is the largest estuary in North America and has a watershed area of over 64,000 miles. That’s the technical stuff, the aesthetic part is the Bay is beautiful and has some very nice fishing and crabbing areas. And if you enjoy eating crabmeat, the Maryland Blue Crab is very popular statewide. Crabcakes are also very popular in Baltimore and are quite delicious.
Maryland’s adjacency to the District of Columbia makes Maryland a massive suburb of Washington D.C. A large part of Southern Maryland have jobs in the nation’s capital and commute home in the evenings. When we have finished covering all the states we will take the 51st day and cover the District (and one more day after that for Puerto Rico.
One of my best memories of Maryland was exploring the Inner Harbor of Baltimore before heading to the state capital of Annapolis and crossing the Bay Bridge. Baltimore is by far Maryland’s largest city and has been a major city since it’s early colonial days. The Inner Harbor has been restored, it was once a factory wharf but the area has been restored to include the Maryland Science Museum, the U.S.S. Constellation a restored wooden ship, with the centerpiece of the restoration being the National Aquarium.
If you love sharks the National Aquarium has your ticket. It’s a little bit pricey ( I paid around 40.00$ but the aquarium is massive and you will be sharked out by the time you leave.
Just up from the harbor is the final resting place of one of the great Edgar Allen Poe, the Baltimore native is considered the creator of the modern detective story and master of horror and mystery genre as well as a poet and literary critic. He is best known for his poem “The Raven”
Maryland isn’t all cityscape. As you proceed west, the cities become more sparse and in the extreme western end of the Panhandle, you even have the start of the Blue Ridge Mountain Range of the Appalachians. Like many states in the Northeast, Maryland is fairly small compared to most but provides much to see and do that belies its dimensions.