PHOTO: C. KURT HOLTER Opposite page: Star-Spangled Banner Flag House, Baltimore Left to Right: Carroll Creek, Frederick; Fall in Chestertown Booth’s Escape Byway What makes a road trip more than the sum of those roadside selfies and rest stop keepsakes? Open highways that let you know you’re really going places, paired with winding two-lane back roads that put you up close and personal with the people and places that turn miles into memories. You’ll see sights so beautiful they swipe the words right out of you, and unexpected oddities that you just can’t stop talking about. Well, folks, buckle up because in Maryland, we’ve got those kinds of trips in spades. Of course, some of the best road trips come with a side of adventure, and what’s more adventurous than recreating one of the most notorious manhunts in American history? The 66-mile Booth’s Escape Byway through Southern Maryland takes you on the trail of the assassin John Wilkes Booth and connects you with the men and women who brought Abraham Lincoln’s killer to justice. In Port Tobacco, a town seemingly frozen in time since the Civil War, let the centuries slip away. Stay the night at the nearby Bell House B&B, summer home of Alexander Graham Bell, nestled on the banks of the gorgeous Potomac River. Walk the halls of the Surratt House Museum and explore secret rooms where Booth and his co-conspirators planned their wicked act. Stop at the home of Samuel Mudd, the doctor who set Booth’s broken leg and forever dirtied the good name Mudd. (“Your name is Mudd” will take on a whole new meaning.) And follow the trail to the banks of the Potomac and contemplate what it was like for the brave soldiers and agents who brought the conspirators to justice. Mason & Dixon Byway Take the Mason & Dixon Scenic Byway from Westminster to Appleton. You could do it in a day, but why not turn a long weekend into a 143-mile, only-in-America story? Completed in 1767 by astronomers Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon to settle a colonial border dispute, the Mason & Dixon Line has come to divide the country into North and South, while at the same time, joining it as one great nation. Immerse yourself in America’s heartland with a stop at the Carroll County Farm Museum, home to living historians, a popular wine festival, traditional classes and cutting-edge concerts. Park the car at Rocks State Park and scale the famous King and Queen Seat rock bluff rising 190 feet above the rapids and falls of Deer Creek. Linger at the observation deck at the foot of Conowingo Dam on the mighty Susquehanna River, where magic soars in the blue skies above. A single scan of the sky can catch two-dozen or more majestic bald eagles soaring amongst the clouds and swooping into the dense schools of fish below. But, the views are just part of what turns a trip in the car to an honest-to-goodness road trip packed with memories. It’s the sound of your tires on timbers as you cross the Foxcatcher Farms Covered Bridge. It’s the loaf of bread you make for friends with buckwheat flour from the Union Mills Gristmill, paired with the bottle of Flirting Heart Cabernet you picked up at Galloping Goose Vineyards, and the story about how you stopped for a hotdog at the Plumpton Park Zoo and ended up on a first name basis with Jimmie the Giraffe. The grounds at the Dr. Mudd House Museum DESTINATION MARYLAND ✥ 35
Maryland Official Visitors Guide 2018 Maryland Official Visitors Guide: Page 35
