8 Things to Do on a Road Trip through Southern Maryland

After shooting President Abraham Lincoln during a theater production of Our American Cousin in Washington, John Wilkes Booth headed for the tidewater region of southern Maryland, where he was aided by his accomplice, David Herold. Once in Maryland, the pair stopped at Mary Surratt’s Tavern for provisions, then hurried to the house of Dr. Samuel Mudd, arriving just before dawn on April 15, 1865. The fugitives rested at Mudd’s home, and the doctor treated Booth’s broken leg.

Although Mudd’s role in the conspiracy to assassinate Lincoln has been debated, the doctor received a life sentence for harboring Booth and Herold, and was sent to Fort Jefferson, now part of Dry Tortugas National Park. After serving a little more than three years of his sentence, Mudd received a pardon from President Andrew Johnson. Today, the doctor’s original home has been preserved as the Dr. Samuel A. Mudd House Museum, located just outside Waldorf. For now, the museum offers virtual tours of the historic property.

A mosaic of swampland, wildflower-peppered meadows, and woodlands of ash, gum, and southern arrowwood, the Battle Creek Cypress Swamp Sanctuary protects one of the northernmost naturally-occurring bald cypress stands in the United States. For centuries, the wetland provided raw material for the regional lumber industry, beginning during the colonial era. In particular, cypress wood from the swamp was prized as a weatherproof building material for its ability to resist decay.

In an effort to preserve the biodiversity hub, the Nature Conservancy purchased a 100-acre swath of the Bate Creek watershed in 1957 and created a preserve. Just a few years later, the protected area was recognized as a National Natural Landmark. Now managed by Calvert County, the sanctuary features a visitor center, nature trails, and a wooden boardwalk showcasing the natural area’s namesake cypress swamp.

Now preserved as a museum, the Old Jail has been a fixture in Leonardtown since 1876. The brick and granite structure was utilized until 1945, serving the St. Mary’s Sheriff’s Office. Today among the oldest in the country, the office originated with Sheriff James Baldridge in 1637. The jail has a direct connection to the only lynching documented in St. Mary’s County. During the summer of 1887, an African American mariner named Benjamin Hance was being held at the jail. On June 17, a mob arrived in the middle of the night and descended on Hance’s cell. Shortly after being forcibly led out of the jail, Hance was hanged just outside town, along the road to Newtowne Neck. This year, the Old Jail Museum is premiering a new exhibit profiling the life of Benjamin Hance.

In 1633, the Ark and the Dove set sail from England with more than 140 passengers, all destined for a colony granted by King Charles I, intended to be a place of religious tolerance. The settlers landed on St. Clements Island the following year, and soon after arriving moved inland onto territory inhabited by the resident Piscataway and Yaocomaco tribes. The colonists decided to settle beside the St. Mary’s River, and founded St. Mary’s City in 1634. It became Maryland’s first capital. However, in 1695 the colonial capital was moved to Annapolis, and St. Mary’s City was eventually abandoned and allowed to deteriorate.

Portions of the original capital still lie buried beneath the earth, although the location has been reimagined as an outdoor museum—Historic Saint Mary’s City. Exhibits provide a glimpse of life in 1667 and include recreations of the colonial State House and one of the region’s Yaocomaco hamlets, along with a reconstruction of the city’s brick chapel, built around 1667. The museum is also home to the longest-running historical archaeology field school in the country, established in 1971.