8 St Mary’s City
The Potomac and its
tributary, St Mary’s
River, along with
Chesapeake Bay, cuts a
lush triangle of land out
of the southern edge of
Southern Maryland. This
is where, in 1634, on high
green bluffs overlooking
the water, Catholic
settlers began the state of
Maryland.
The settlement has
been recreated into
Historic St Mary’s
City (HSMC; %240-895-
4990, 800-762-1634; http://www.
stmaryscity.org; 18751
Hogaboom Lane; adult/child
$10/6; h10am-4pm; pc),
a living history museum
romantically positioned
among the surrounding
forests, fields and
farmlands. Given its
distance from anything
resembling a crowd,
HSMC feels more of the
colonial era than similar
places like Williamsburg.
A recreation of
the Maryland Dove,
the supply ship that
accompanied the original
British colonists, sits
docked on the St Mary’s
River. Next door Trinity
Church and St Mary’s
College of Maryland are
both lovely – they’re easy
to walk around and get
satisfyingly lazy in.The Drive » Getting to Point
Lookout is straightforward: rollsouth for 10 miles on MD-5, and
there you are.9 Point Lookout
The western shore of
Maryland – that is,
the western peninsula
created by Chesapeake
Bay – terminates here,
in a preserved space of
lagoons, pine woods and
marshes managed by
Point Lookout State Park
(%301-872-5688; http://www.dnr.state.
md.us/publiclands/southern/
pointlookout.asp; 11175 Point
Lookout Road, Scotland; summer/
off-season $7/5; h6am-
sunset; pc). There’s a
playground for kids and a
sandy beach that’s OK for
swimming, but watch out
for jellyfish in summer;TRIP HIGHLIGHT
TRIP HIGHLIGHTST MARY’S FIRSTS
Massachusetts and Virginia are usually in a tight race to prove whoever has the
most ‘historical’ state (whatever that means), but Maryland gives them a run for
their money, especially when it comes to historic firsts. All of the following are
specific to St Mary’s City:
» Maryland was the first Catholic colony in British North America. The first Catholic
mass in the British colonies was held here.
» The Maryland Toleration Act (1649), also known as the Act Concerning Religion,
created the first legal limitations on hate speech in the world, and was the second
law requiring religious tolerance in British North American colonies.
» Mathias de Sousa, who served in the colony’s 1642 assembly of freemen, may
have been the first man of African descent to participate in a legislative assembly
in British America. Contemporary accounts describe him as a mulatto, which at the
time referred to people of mixed African descent.
» Margaret Brent was the first woman in British North America to appear before
a court of the Common Law. She was also appointed executor of the estate of
Governor Leonard Calvert upon his death (1647), and publicly demanded a vote
within the colonial assembly.
» In 1685 William Nuthead owned the first printer in Maryland. Upon his death,
his wife, Dinah, inherited the business and became the first woman licensed as a
printer in America.WASHINGTON.DC,.MARYLAND.&.DELAWARE.TRIPS.18
.SOUTHERN MARYLAND TRIANGLE