189 Best Sights in Maryland, USA

The nation's primary museum and education center for self-taught or "outsider" art has won great acclaim by both museum experts and those who don't even consider themselves art aficionados. Seven galleries exhibit the quirky creations—paintings, sculptures, relief works, and pieces that defy easy classification—of untrained "visionary" artists working outside the mainstream art world. In addition to the visual stimulation of amazingly intricate or refreshingly inventive works, reading the short bios of artists will give you insight to their often-moving spiritual and expressive motivations. The museum's unusual, playful philosophy extends outside its walls, with large exhibits installed in a former whiskey warehouse, an outdoor movie theater, and a 55-foot whirligig twirling in the museum's plaza.

Time has returned Antietam National Battlefield, the site of the bloodiest one-day battle of the Civil War, to its tranquil antebellum appearance, with woodlands giving way to sloping cornfields bound by rough-hewn fences. On September 17, 1862, more than 23,000 Union and Confederate troops were killed, wounded, or missing here. The gruesome battle led Abraham Lincoln to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. A self-guided tour by car follows 8½ miles of well-preserved battlefield including Dunkard Church and Bloody Lane. An hour-long documentary is shown at the visitor center at noon each day, and there is an exhibit of Civil War artifacts. You can also hike the battlefields with an audio tour or accompanied by a ranger. Stop at the Pry House Field Hospital Museum (an extension of Frederick's National Museum of Civil War Medicine), where a re-created operating room and implements used to care for the wounded are displayed.

Works by Matisse, Picasso, Cézanne, Gauguin, van Gogh, and Monet are among the 90,000 paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts on exhibit at this impressive museum near Johns Hopkins University. Particular strengths include an encyclopedic collection of Postimpressionist paintings donated to the museum by the Cone sisters, Baltimore natives who were pioneer collectors of early-20th-century art. The museum also owns the world's second-largest collection of Andy Warhol works and many pieces of 18th- and 19th-century American painting and decorative arts. The museum's neoclassical main building was designed by John Russell Pope, the architect of the National Gallery in Washington. A $28-million renovation resulted in a new, interactive exhibition space, a renovated visitor's entrance, and a completely reworked contemporary wing. From Gertrude's, the museum restaurant, you can look out at 20th-century sculpture displayed in two landscaped gardens.

At the tip of the Eastern Neck peninsula, 8 mi south of Rock Hall, and at the mouth of the Chester River, this 2,285-acre park is superb. It's a prime place to spot migratory waterfowl, wild turkeys, Delmarva fox squirrels, and southern bald eagles, undeterred by the experimental power-generating solar panels and wind turbines installed nearby. Nearly 6 mi of roads and trails and an observation tower provide excellent vantage points.

This star-shaped brick fort is forever associated with Francis Scott Key and "The Star-Spangled Banner," which Key penned while watching the British bombardment of Baltimore during the War of 1812. Through the next day and night, as the battle raged, Key strained to be sure, through the smoke and haze, that the flag still flew above Fort McHenry—indicating that Baltimore's defenders held firm. "By the dawn's early light" of September 14, 1814, he saw the 30- by 42-foot "Star-Spangled Banner" still aloft and was inspired to pen the words to a poem (set to the tune of an old English drinking song). The flag that flew above Fort McHenry that day had 15 stars and 15 stripes, and was hand-sewn for the fort. A visit to the fort includes a 15-minute history film, guided tour, and frequent living-history displays on summer weekends. To see how the formidable fortifications might have appeared to the bombarding British, catch a water taxi from the Inner Harbor to the fort instead of driving.

Originally known as the Maryland Academy of Sciences, this 200-year-old scientific institution is one of the oldest in the United States. Now housed in a contemporary building, the three floors of exhibits on the Chesapeake Bay, Earth science, physics, the body, dinosaurs, and outer space are an invitation to engage, experiment, and explore. The center has a planetarium, a simulated paleontological dinosaur dig, an IMAX movie theater with a screen five stories high, and a playroom especially designed for young children.

More than 2,000 animals live in the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, the third-oldest zoo in the country. Elephants, lions, giraffes and hippos are among the park's roaming game. The zoo's centerpiece is a new African penguin habitat, a state-of-the-art facility surrounded by water housing the country's largest breeding colony of Afircan penguins. Other exhibits feature a giraffe-feeding station, the polar bear arctic pool, and a petting zoo with a re-created barnyard. Also, don't miss the Jones Falls Zephyr, a locomotive modeled on an 1863 locomotive that takes visitors on a 10-minute ride alongside the African Journey exhibit. Surrounding the zoo is grand, leafy Druid Hill Park, which was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr.

Home of the Baltimore Orioles, Camden Yards and the nearby area bustle on game days. Since it opened in 1992, this nostalgically designed baseball stadium has inspired other cities to emulate its neotraditional architecture and amenities. The Eutaw Street promenade, between the warehouse and the field, has a view of the stadium. Look for the brass baseballs embedded in the sidewalk that mark where home runs have cleared the fence, or visit the Orioles Hall of Fame display and the monuments to retired Orioles. Daily 90-minute tours take you to nearly every section of the ballpark, from the massive JumboTron scoreboard to the dugout to the state-of-the-art beer-delivery system.

At this interactive museum, adults are encouraged to play every bit as much as children. A favorite attraction is the three-story KidWorks, a futuristic jungle gym on which the adventurous can climb, crawl, slide, and swing their way through stairs, slides, ropes, zip lines, and tunnels, and even across a narrow footbridge. Learn about the Earth's atmosphere as you splash around in Wonders of Water (rain slickers and shoes are provided). Cook food in Tiny's Diner, an interactive restaurant. A soccer field becomes a stage for dance-offs and virtual races. Changing exhibits allow for even more play.

The most-visited attraction in Maryland has nearly 20,000 fish, sharks, dolphins, and amphibians dwelling in 2 million gallons of water. The Blacktip Reef exhibit mimics a coral reef in the Indo-Pacific waters. It features pufferfish, stingrays, and more unusual creatures, such as the tasselled wobbegong, a carpet shark. In the Living Seashore exhibit, visitors can touch live stingrays. The aquarium also features reptiles, birds, plants, and mammals in its rain-forest environment, housed inside a glass pyramid 64 feet high. Atlantic bottlenose dolphins are part of several entertaining presentations that highlight their agility and intelligence. The aquarium's famed shark tank and Atlantic coral reef exhibits are spectacular. Arrive early to ensure admission, which is by timed intervals; by noon, the wait is often two to three hours, especially on weekends and holidays.

Probably the most interesting and important site in Annapolis, the Naval Academy, established in 1845, occupies 338 waterfront acres along the Severn River. The midshipmen (the term used for both women and men) go to classes, conduct military drills, and practice or compete in intercollegiate and intramural sports. Your visit to "The Yard" (as the USNA grounds are nicknamed) will start at the Armel-Leftwich Visitor Center. The visitor center features an exhibit, The Quarter Deck, which introduces visitors to the academy's mission, including a 13-minute film, The Call to Serve, and a well-stocked gift shop. From here you can join one of the hour-long, guided, walking tours of the academy. The centerpiece of the campus is the bright, copper-clad dome of the interdenominational U.S. Naval Academy Chapel, beneath which is buried Revolutionary War naval hero John Paul Jones. You can go inside Bancroft Hall (one of the world's largest dormitories) and see a sample room and the glorious Memorial Hall.

Visitors can have lunch on campus either at Drydock in Dahlgren Hall or the Naval Academy Club.

The Walters' prodigious collection of more than 30,000 artworks provides an organized overview of human history over 5,500 years, from the 3rd millennium BC to the early 20th century. The museum houses major collections of Renaissance, Baroque, and Asian art as well as one of the nation’s best collections of Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Ethiopian works. It also houses Medieval armor and artifacts, jewelry and decorative works, a gift shop, a family activities and arts center on the lower-level, and a café.

Completed on July 4, 1829, the impressive monument was the first one dedicated to the nation's first president. An 18-foot statue depicting Washington caps the 160-foot white marble tower. The tower was designed and built by Robert Mills, the first architect born and educated in the United States; 19 years after completing Baltimore's Washington Monument, Mills designed and erected the national Washington Monument in D.C. After extensive restorations, the monument's lower-level museum has reopened; visitors can climb the 227-step circular staircase to the top and enjoy stunning bird's-eye vistas over downtown.

Originally the Hotel Cecil, this market became Cramer's 5&10, an old-fashioned variety store operated by a pair of proprietors who themselves became historic treasures. The building's enterprising current owner created an antiques mart, but fully restored the building's exterior and retained its well-worn wood flooring, candy jars, and display counters. You could spend a weekend here!

This reproduction of a 1768 Colonial schooner by the same name was launched in 2001. With a length of 97 feet, the original Sultana was the smallest schooner ever registered on the Royal Navy Lists. The modern mission of this "Schoolship of the Chesapeake" is to provide unique, hands-on educational experiences in Colonial history and environmental science. Several two-hour public sails are available each month from April through November. Daylong public sails are scheduled on occasion. The Sultana can be seen close-up when she is anchored in the Chester River, at the end of Cannon Street. Additionally, half-day guided paddle tours operated by Sultana management are also available a few times a year in various Kent Count rivers.

This 65-foot steel-hull yacht departs four times daily, from March through September, for one-hour cruises on the Miles River. The tour covers the ecology and history of the area as it passes along the tranquil riverfront landscape.

This nice local museum houses a permanent collection of fine art by such American artists as James McNeil Whistler, Grant Wood, Lichtenstein, and Rauschenberg, as well as Chagall and Dürer. Special exhibitions often cover local artists, and the juried art show held here in early October is one of the finest in the region.

This three-screen, state-of-the-art center for film is a restoration of architect John Eberson's art deco Silver Theatre, built in 1938. The AFI hosts film retrospectives, new releases, on-stage appearances, and tributes to stars that have included Jeanne Moreau and Russell Crowe. Each June, in partnership with the Discovery Channel, the AFI hosts the glitzy SILVERDOCS. This documentary film festival is one of the world's best, supporting independent storytellers and honoring artistic excellence of the caliber of Spike Lee and Martin Scorcese through the Charles Guggenheim Symposium.

A world-class sculpture and botanical venue, Annmarie Garden Sculpture Park and Arts Center is a 30-acre property on the St. John Creek. The sculptural art is by artists both local and from around the world. One of the more intriguing installations is a series of 13 "Talking Benches." Each tells an ecological story by depicting a plant that grows in southern Maryland, including dogwood, loblolly pines, papaw trees, and tobacco. Smooth, user-friendly pathways curve through the grounds. Don't miss the lyrical brass statue of a crabber in front of the museum. The figure and water feature perfectly captures the dependence of the area on the seafood industry. Little here is off-limits, and picnickers are welcome to settle in virtually anywhere. Be sure to visit the mosaic-filled restrooms. Annemarie Garden has a special Christmas display, "The Garden in Lights," from mid-December through New Year's Eve. Children get in free and there are many specialized programs that provide a hands-on art experience.

A self-guided nature trail winds through a verdant 40-acre estate and around the headquarters of the Audubon Naturalist Society. The estate is known as Woodend, as is the mansion, which was designed in 1927 by Jefferson Memorial architect John Russell Pope. The society leads wildlife identification walks, environmental education programs, and—September through June—a weekly Saturday bird walk at its headquarters. The bookstore stocks titles on conservation, ecology, and birding, as well as nature-related gifts such as jewelry and toys.

The famous Baltimore & Ohio Railroad was founded on the site that now houses this museum, which contains more than 120 full-size locomotives and a great collection of railroad memorabilia, from dining-car china and artwork to lanterns and signals. The 1884 roundhouse (240 feet in diameter and 120 feet high) contains exhibits and historic objects. It adjoins one of the nation's first railroad stations. Train rides are available Wednesday through Sunday (weekends only in January). TraxSide Snax serves food and drinks.

This plain brick row house, three blocks from Oriole Park at Camden Yards, was the birthplace of "the Bambino." Although Ruth was born here in 1895, his family never lived here; they lived in a nearby apartment, above a tavern run by Ruth's father. The row house and the adjoining buildings make up a museum devoted to Ruth's life and to the local Orioles baseball club. Film clips and props, rare photos of Ruth, Yankees payroll checks, a score book from Ruth's first professional game, and many other artifacts can be found here.

Built in 1875, Baltimore City Hall consists of mansard roofs and a gilt dome over a 110-foot rotunda, all supported by ironwork. Inside you can get tours of the chambers and view exhibits on Baltimore's history. Directly across the street is City Hall Plaza, on what was originally the site of the Holliday Street Theatre. The theater was owned and operated by the Ford brothers; they also operated Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., where President Lincoln was assassinated. "The Star-Spangled Banner" was first publicly sung here.

President Street Station offers a glimpse of the violence and divided loyalties that the war caused in Maryland, a state caught in the middle. Originally the Baltimore terminus of the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad, the relocated station, built in 1849, contains exhibits that depict the events that led to mob violence. It began when troops from the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment bound for Washington, D.C., walked from this station to the Camden Station (near Oriole Park). In what would be the first bloodshed of the Civil War, four soldiers and 12 civilians were killed; 36 soldiers and a number of civilians were wounded. The riot lasted for several hours and inspired the secessionist poem "Maryland, My Maryland," today the state song.

Baltimore is proud of its blue-collar roots. The fascinating and kid-friendly Baltimore Museum of Industry is housed in an 1865 oyster cannery and features interactive exhibits covering the city's rich industrial heritage. Tour a circa 1900 belt-driven machine shop, learn how oyster canning revolutionized the food industry, and see a garment loft as it would have looked in early 20th-century Baltimore. The print shop, featuring a working Linotype machine, contains drawers of tiny, touchable letters that were used to create lines of text. The Maryland Milestones gallery highlights world-changing inventions such as the gaslight, the passenger railroad, Noxzema cream, and the umbrella. Just don't call these museum pieces "relics"—on the weekends, volunteers fire up the machines and give live demonstrations. It's a sight to behold and well worth the half-mile walk south of the Inner Harbor along Key Highway.

This often-overlooked museum lets you travel back to an era when streetcars dominated city thoroughfares. A film traces the vehicle's evolution, there are beautifully restored streetcars to explore, and, best of all, you can take unlimited rides.

Stop by the sweeping, all-glass center for information on the city, brochures, tickets, and hotel and restaurant reservations.

Opened in 1821, the Basilica of the Assumption is the oldest Roman Catholic cathedral in the United States. Designed by Benjamin Latrobe, architect of the U.S. Capitol, it stands as a paragon of neoclassicism, with a grand portico fronted by six Corinthian columns that suggest an ancient Greek temple. Two towers are surmounted by baroque domes. The church, including 24 skylights in the dome which were covered over before or prior to World War II, was restored in November, 2006, the bicentennial of the laying of the church’s cornerstone.

With the northernmost naturally occurring stand of bald cypress trees in the United States, the 100-acre Battle Creek Cypress Swamp Sanctuary provides close-up looks at the forest primeval. A 0.25-mi elevated boardwalk at the bottom of a steep but sturdy set of steps gives you a good vantage point to see the swamp, thick with 100-foot-tall trees that are 75 to 100 years old. Guides at the nature center can alert you to the seasonal permutations of the vegetation and the doings of squirrels, owls, and other wildlife. Indoor exhibits focus on the area's natural and cultural history. The swamp is about 5 mi west of Port Republic.