Baltimore Day Trips

Baltimore Day Trips

words by > Samantha Cleaver

Main Streets, Mariners & Mountaintops

Within Maryland’s 10,460 square miles, you’ll find ocean beaches, marshy bay inlets, jagged mountain peaks and rolling farmland. It’s called “America in Miniature” primarily for its range of geographic features, but the nickname also applies to its communities, which run the gamut from big-city Baltimore to small coastal towns, hip DC suburbs to quaint main streets.

Baltimore is Maryland’s epicenter and the perfect home base for a tour of the state. These great day trips are just an hour away.

*Take a daytrip from Baltimore and find out why they call Maryland “America in Miniature.”

The state capital, Annapolis, is also the nation’s sailing capital. Learn about the midshipman’s life at the United States Naval Academy (www..navyonline.com), where you can visit the chapel and tour Bancroft Hall, the largest dormitory in America.

Of course, there’s also lots of history: Annapolis boasts more 18th-century buildings than anywhere else in the country. Along the narrow, cobblestone streets, you’ll find Annapolis’s celebrity homes: the William Paca House and the Harwood-Hammond House. Both show life during Annapolis’s heyday, the late 1700s. The William Paca House and Gardens (www.annapolis.org) shows the domestic life of Declaration of Independence signer Paca and his family. Stroll through the two-acre garden, where the landscape, flowers, topiaries and native plants are restored to their original designs. Enter the Hammond Harwood House, an 18th-century plantation house (www.hammondharwoodhouse.org), through one of the most beautiful doorways in America and view an impressive collection of art.

North Along the Mason-Dixon Wine Trail

No trip to Annapolis is complete without a seafood dinner. At Cantler’s Riverside Inn (www.cantlers.com), crabs come to your plate straight from the Bay. Don’t worry if you’ve never picked a crab before, the staff will show you how.

The Mason-Dixon wine trail takes you through three wineries and a garden in Baltimore County, one of Maryland’s premier grape growing regions.

Boordy Vineyards (www..boordy.com) is Maryland’s first and largest winery. In the winter, sit by the fire and roast marshmallows while you sample the fruits of their labor.

At the Ladew Topiary Gardens (www.ladewgardens. com), 10,000 flowers bloom during spring and summer, but the topiaries stand all year long. Stroll the grounds and find the flowers, fantastical unicorns and a larger-than-life hunting scene with two horses and riders chasing a fox.

Woodhall Vineyards and Wine Cellar (www..woodhallwinecellars.com) produces 21 different wines in a working winery housed on a historic farm. Nearby, the Basignani Winery (www..basignani.com) is a family farm where, if you’re feeling ambitious and it’s the fall harvest, they’ll let you help in the fields. At other times, you’ll just have to settle for a tour and tasting.

NorthEast Haver de Grace a Classic Cheasapeake Experience

Havre de Grace, an hour northeast of Baltimore, sits at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.

Start at the Lock House Museum (www..lockhousemuseum.org), enjoy the Susquehanna River and Tidewater Canal, and test the pivot bridge once used to transport horses.

Downtown, the Concord Point Lighthouse (at the foot of Lafayette Street), is the oldest continually operating light in Maryland. Walk the mile-long waterfront promenade, and then get on the water in the Skipjack Martha Lewis (www.skipjackmarthalewis.com), the oldest oyster dredger and Maryland’s official boat.

You shouldn’t visit without tasting the oysters.
MacGregor’s Restaurant (www.macgregorsrestaurant. com) gets creative with their shellfish—“Angels on Horseback” are fried golden brown oysters, wrapped in bacon and served with horseradish sauce.

West New Market Main Street and Mountains

New Market began as a stop along the National Road (now West Main Street), the nation’s first federally funded highway. Just 40 minutes away, it’s a far cry from the comparably larger—and busier— Baltimore. Come and find fairly priced antiques and the new specialty shops like 12 West Main (www.12westmain. com), which sells local artwork—including watches, jewelry, carvings and stained glass. The Little Pottery Shop (www.tmpottery.net) sells handmade pottery in unexpected designs and forms.

Further west, you’ll find Maryland’s public showcave, Crystal Grottoes (301-432-6336).
The 250 million-year-old cavern “isn’t the biggest cave in the world,” according to Jerry Downs, operator, “but it has more formations than any other.”

Sugarloaf Mountain (www.sugarloafmd.com) offers great views; look south to see the Capitol and the National Cathedral.

South Bustling Bethesda

Bethesda’s downtown doubles as an art gallery, where statues and fountains complement the art galleries, theatres and boutiques.

Artsy Fartsy’s (www.artsyfartsybethesda.com) selection of jewelry, housewares, books, and ‘gag’ gifts, is both luxurious and whimsical. Stepping into pottery and food store Bella Italia (www.bellaitaliaonline.com) should feel like stepping into Italy. For pink, preppy, country club chic, stop at Tickled Pink (www.tickledpinkapparel.com) for Lily Pulitzer’s Palm Spring-inspired designs.

Visit during a festival, or check out one of the many art galleries. Discovery Too (www.discoverygalleries. com) and Gallery Neptune (www..galleryneptune.com) have great displays to enjoy.
Travel from Baltimore in any direction, and you’ll find something new and unexpected.