120 Fun Facts About Maryland

Maryland was named in honour of Henrietta Maria, the wife of which English king?

Lord Baltimore had proposed 'Crescentia'; the king suggested Terra Mariae instead.

What is the capital of Maryland?

Baltimore is the largest city, but the capital moved to Annapolis from St. Mary's City in 1695.

Maryland was which number state to ratify the US Constitution and join the Union?

It ratified in April 1788, after Massachusetts and before South Carolina.

The Province of Maryland was chartered in 1632 primarily as a haven for which persecuted group?

The Calverts, Barons Baltimore, were Catholic converts, though Catholics were always a minority in the colony.

Maryland's varied landscapes, from Appalachian mountains to Atlantic beaches, earned it what nickname?

It is the ninth-smallest state by area but has mountains, piedmont, coastal plain and the Chesapeake Bay.

Which editor coined Maryland's 'Free State' nickname in 1923 over its refusal to pass Prohibition laws?

H. L. Mencken then popularised it; the phrase had earlier meant Maryland's 1864 abolition of slavery.

Maryland's highest point, Hoye Crest at 3,360 feet, sits on which ridge?

It is in Garrett County in the far west, near the West Virginia border and the Potomac's headwaters.

Near Hancock, how narrow does Maryland get between the Mason-Dixon line and the Potomac?

That pinch, two-thirds of the way across the state, is the narrowest width of any US state.

Washington, D.C.'s land came from Maryland's Montgomery County and which other county?

Virginia's share was handed back in 1846, so today the whole District sits on former Maryland land.

What has been Maryland's official state sport since 1962?

Lacrosse became the official team sport in 2004; the jousting is ring-tilting, not knights knocking each other off horses.

What is Maryland's state flower?

A blanket of them is draped on the winner of the Preakness Stakes each May.

Which reptile is both a Maryland native and the mascot of the University of Maryland?

The costumed version is called Testudo, and rubbing his bronze nose is a campus tradition.

Which species do Maryland's fisheries land in the largest quantities, along with oysters and striped bass?

The Chesapeake blue crab is the base of the crab-cake and crab-feast culture the state is known for.

Which two abolitionists were both born into slavery on Maryland's Eastern Shore?

Tubman returned to the Eastern Shore repeatedly, guiding around 70 people to freedom in about 13 trips.

BWI airport is named for which Baltimore native, the first Black Supreme Court justice?

Marshall won 29 of 32 cases he argued before the Court, including Brown v. Board of Education.

Which Maryland governor turned vice president resigned in 1973 after pleading no contest to tax evasion?

Agnew had been Baltimore County executive before winning the governorship in 1966.

Which Triple Crown second leg was first run at Baltimore's Pimlico in 1873?

It was first run in 1873, two years before the first Kentucky Derby; it moved to Laurel Park for 2026 while Pimlico is rebuilt.

The eastern and western halves of Maryland were first linked by road in 1952 by which structure?

At 4 miles it opened as the world's longest continuous over-water steel structure, and truckers still call it one of the scariest crossings anywhere.

What kind of animals roam wild on Assateague Island off Maryland's coast?

On the Virginia side of the fence they are called Chincoteague ponies; the barrier island is 37 miles long.

Maryland's largest Civil War battle, on September 17, 1862, was fought near which town?

Antietam remains the bloodiest single day in American history, with 22,717 dead, wounded or missing.

Which line, the first chartered US railroad, opened its first stretch in 1830?

It later became one of the four railroads on the original Monopoly board.

In 2015, Maryland led all US states in which economic measure?

Proximity to Washington and a heavy federal and biotech presence drive it.

Which enormous white oak, the state tree's most famous specimen, stood in Wye Mills until 2002?

It was believed to be over 460 years old when a thunderstorm brought it down on June 6, 2002.

Maryland's flag combines the arms of the Calvert family with those of which other family?

George Calvert's mother was a Crossland heiress; the design was officially adopted in 1904.

By law, the only ornament allowed on top of a flagstaff flying the Maryland flag is what?

The cross bottony is the same one that appears in the flag's red-and-white Crossland quarters.

Which spooky parlour game was named in 1890 in Maryland by medium Helen Peters Nosworthy?

Elijah Bond's patent followed in 1891; the name is now a Hasbro trademark.

Which breed was declared Maryland's official state dog in 1964?

The breed traces to two Newfoundland-type puppies rescued from a shipwrecked brig in 1807.

Old Bay seasoning is named after what?

German-Jewish immigrant Gustav Brunn created it in Baltimore in 1939 after fleeing the Nazis; McCormick bought the brand in 1990.

How many herbs and spices go into Old Bay seasoning?

Celery salt, red and black pepper and paprika lead the list.

The presidential retreat Camp David lies in the wooded hills of which Maryland mountain?

Roosevelt called it Shangri-La; Eisenhower renamed it for his father and grandson, both named David.

What did Franklin Roosevelt name the Maryland retreat that Eisenhower later renamed Camp David?

He hosted Winston Churchill there in May 1943.

Fort McHenry holds what unique double designation in the US park system?

The 1814 bombardment there inspired Francis Scott Key's poem that became the national anthem.

The huge Star-Spangled Banner that flew over Fort McHenry was sewn by which Baltimore flagmaker?

It measured 30 by 42 feet, weighed about 50 pounds and cost the government $405.90.

How many stripes does the Star-Spangled Banner flag have?

It also has fifteen stars, one for each state at the time, and now hangs in the Smithsonian.

Multi-layered Smith Island cake became Maryland's official state what in 2008?

Bakers switched to fudge frosting because it kept far longer than buttercream on watermen's boats.

Maryland's Triple Crown race was named by Governor Oden Bowie after a what?

The colt Preakness won the Dinner Party Stakes on the day Pimlico opened in October 1870.

The United States Naval Academy was founded in 1845 by which Secretary of the Navy?

It sits on the grounds of the former Fort Severn where the Severn River meets the Chesapeake.

After which 1783 agreement ending the Revolutionary War did Annapolis serve as temporary US capital?

In the State House there, George Washington resigned his commission as commander-in-chief that December.

What distinction does Maryland's capitol building hold among American statehouses?

It also witnessed Congress ratify the Treaty of Paris in January 1784.

What created Ocean City's inlet, separating it from Assateague Island, in August 1933?

A second hurricane the next month widened it from 100 feet to over 500.

Ocean City bills itself as the world capital of fishing for which billfish?

The White Marlin Open each August is the world's largest billfishing tournament.

Which container ship struck and collapsed Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, 2024?

Six workers repairing the bridge deck were killed; the bridge had opened in 1977.

The Great Baltimore Fire of February 1904 burned for about how long?

Out-of-town fire crews often could not help because their hose couplings did not fit Baltimore's hydrants, which spurred national standardisation.

The Baltimore Ravens' name, chosen by fans in 1996, honours a poem by which writer buried in the city?

The franchise arrived when Art Modell moved the Cleveland Browns, leaving the Browns' name and records behind.

Before moving to Baltimore in 1954, the Orioles franchise played as which team?

They won their first World Series as the Orioles in 1966 and added titles in 1970 and 1983.

Cal Ripken Jr., born in Havre de Grace, Maryland, ended his consecutive-games streak at what number?

He passed Lou Gehrig's 2,130 in September 1995 and kept going for three more seasons.

Olympic great Michael Phelps was born in Baltimore and raised in which nearby suburb?

He trained at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club under Bob Bowman and holds a national age-group record from age 10.

The author of 'The Raven' died in Maryland's largest city in 1849 at what age?

He was found semiconscious in the city on October 3 and died four days later under circumstances still debated.

Maryland's original capital, founded in 1634, was which settlement?

It was the fourth permanent English settlement in what became the US, after Jamestown, Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay.

The two ships that carried Maryland's first settlers in 1633 were the Ark and the what?

Leonard Calvert led the expedition of settlers, Jesuit missionaries and indentured servants.

The Maryland Toleration Act of 1649 granted freedom of worship to whom?

It also sentenced to death anyone who denied the divinity of Jesus, so it was tolerance with sharp limits.

Mason and Dixon surveyed Maryland's northern border in 1763-67 to settle a dispute with which colony?

The Penn and Calvert families had feuded over the boundary for nearly a century.

Maryland's former state song, set to 'O Tannenbaum' and dropped in 2021, dated from which year?

James Ryder Randall's Confederate-sympathising poem called Lincoln a tyrant and the Union 'Northern scum'; it was made state song in 1939 and never replaced.

Johns Hopkins, opened in 1876, is considered the first American what?

Its press, founded in 1878, is the oldest US university press in continuous operation.

Fort Meade, Maryland, is home to US Cyber Command and which intelligence organisation?

The NSA has run its own shuttle from the Odenton MARC station to its visitor centre since 2005.

The National Aquarium opened on Pier 3 of Baltimore's Inner Harbor in which year?

It was part of the urban-renewal wave that also produced the Harborplace pavilions a year earlier.

What nickname did Cumberland earn as Maryland's second-largest city in the 1800s?

It was the junction of the National Road, the B&O Railroad and the C&O Canal.

The 1830 B&O terminus building in Ellicott City holds what record?

The town's historic Main Street was devastated by flash floods in 2016 and again in 2018.

Maryland won its first men's basketball national title in 2002 by beating which team?

Gary Williams coached the 64-52 win; Maryland left the ACC for the Big Ten in 2014.

Which David Simon HBO drama examined a different Baltimore institution each season?

Simon set it there because he knew the city from the Baltimore Sun; Hairspray and Homicide are Baltimore stories too.

John Waters' 1988 film Hairspray follows teenager Tracy Turnblad in Baltimore during which year?

It was Divine's final film released in his lifetime; he died three weeks after the premiere.

Maryland's constitution of which year made Baltimore an independent city, separate from Baltimore County?

It had served as the county seat from 1768 until then; today it is not part of any county.

Baltimore claims to have more of what per capita than any other US city?

Its rowhouses' formstone facing was itself a Baltimore patent, by Albert Knight in 1937.

What created the Chesapeake Bay's location and form about 35.5 million years ago?

The bay itself formed only about 10,000 years ago as rising seas drowned the Susquehanna River valley; it is the largest US estuary.

The Algonquian word Chesepiooc, root of 'Chesapeake', refers to a village where?

It is the seventh-oldest surviving English placename in the US, first applied by Roanoke explorers in 1585 or 1586.

What distinction does the skipjack, Maryland's official state vessel, hold?

The skipjack developed to dredge the bay's once-plentiful oysters; the Helen Virginia is a surviving example.

What was 'Chessie', which repeatedly visited the Chesapeake Bay between 1994 and 2011?

It was named after a legendary bay sea monster and was spotted as far north as Rhode Island, well outside its species' range.

Which fleet beat the Royal Navy at the 1781 Battle of the Chesapeake, enabling Yorktown?

Also called the Battle of the Capes, after Cape Charles and Cape Henry, it was the decisive naval clash of the Revolutionary War.

How wide is the Chesapeake Bay at its widest point, just south of the Potomac's mouth?

It narrows to just 2.8 miles further north, and its total shoreline including tributaries runs 11,684 miles.

From which base did Admiral George Cockburn's British forces raid Chesapeake towns in 1813?

Those War of 1812 raids preceded the 1814 attack on Baltimore that inspired 'The Star-Spangled Banner'.

Which activity did Maryland choose in 2008 as the first official state exercise in the US?

Walking got the title because lawmakers wanted to promote physical fitness for all ages, and no other state had named an official exercise before.

Maryland is the only US state whose motto, carried on its Great Seal, is in which language?

Italian is used because the saying was the founding family's own motto, adopted by the first Baron Baltimore in 1622, before the colony existed.

Because glaciers never reached it, Maryland has no natural examples of which feature, so even Deep Creek is man-made?

Lakes in Maryland are all man-made: Deep Creek, the best known, was created in the 1920s when a power company dammed a mountain stream for hydroelectricity.

Which baseball legend was born in 1895 in a Baltimore row house that is now a museum to him?

Babe Ruth was sent at seven to a Baltimore reform school, where Brother Matthias became his baseball mentor, and he turned professional with the minor-league Orioles.

The world's first college devoted to which profession opened in Baltimore in 1840?

Dentistry gained its first school with the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, which also created the Doctor of Dental Surgery degree and survives within the University of Maryland.

A life-size statue at the University of Maryland shows alumnus Jim Henson beside which of his characters?

Kermit the Frog dates from Henson's student days: he created the character in 1955 for a local Washington TV show while still a Maryland freshman.

Which found-footage horror film follows three student filmmakers into the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland?

The Blair Witch Project is set around the real town of Burkittsville, but most of it was actually shot in Seneca Creek State Park in Montgomery County.

The title Baron Baltimore, which gave Maryland's biggest city its name, came from a place in which country?

Ireland gave the colony's founders their title: Baron Baltimore, created in 1625, was a peerage of Ireland named for Baltimore in County Longford.

Which Civil War battle, fought along a creek in western Maryland, remains the bloodiest single day in American history?

Antietam left about 22,700 soldiers dead, wounded or missing, and the outcome gave Lincoln the confidence to issue his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.

Which sport, the oldest known to be played in America, became Maryland's official team sport in 2004?

Lacrosse has deep Maryland roots: the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame sits in Sparks, and a Baltimore school fielded America's first women's team in 1926.

Cal Ripken Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles broke which Yankee's 56-year-old record for consecutive games played in 1995?

Lou Gehrig's run of 2,130 straight games was widely thought unbreakable; Ripken passed it in September 1995 and kept going for three more seasons before choosing to sit one out.

Which Maryland nickname honours the steadfast regiments George Washington relied on during the Revolutionary War?

The Old Line State recalls the Maryland Line, regular troops whose long, reliable service is said to have led Washington to call them his 'Old Line'.

Which inventor sent the first message over the 1844 telegraph line linking Washington with Baltimore?

Samuel Morse tapped it out from the Capitol to a Baltimore railroad station, after Congress had granted him $30,000 to build the experimental line.

Which small state shares a peninsula with Maryland's Eastern Shore and two counties of Virginia?

Delaware supplies the first syllable of Delmarva, a name clipped together from the three states that share the peninsula.

Which sportswear brand was founded in 1996 by Kevin Plank, a former University of Maryland football player?

Under Armour grew out of Plank's dislike of the sweat-soaked T-shirts he wore beneath his jersey, and he started the business in his grandmother's basement.

Which hotel giant, grown from a 1927 root beer stand in Washington, has its headquarters in Maryland?

Marriott began with J. Willard Marriott and his wife Alice selling root beer, and the family did not open a hotel until 1957, thirty years later.

Which landmark book about pesticides did Rachel Carson write at her home in Montgomery County, Maryland?

Silent Spring was written at Carson's house in Colesville, which was named a National Historic Landmark in 1991.

Which Jazz Age novelist is buried beside his wife Zelda in the family plot in Rockville, Maryland?

Fitzgerald was named for a distant cousin, Francis Scott Key, yet was at first refused burial in the family's Rockville plot because he had lapsed from the church.

Clara Barton's last home in Glen Echo, Maryland, doubled as an early headquarters of which organisation she founded?

American Red Cross relief work even supplied the timber: the house was partly built from lumber salvaged from shelters put up after the Johnstown Flood.

In December 1783, what did George Washington famously do before Congress inside the Maryland State House?

Washington resigned his army commission as commander-in-chief and went home to Mount Vernon, a voluntary exit that helped set the precedent of civilian control of the military.

Which early highway, authorised under Thomas Jefferson in 1806, began at Cumberland, Maryland, and headed west?

The National Road, America's first great federally financed highway, reached Vandalia, Illinois, by 1839, some 591 miles from its Maryland starting point.

Which river, entering at Havre de Grace, supplies about half of the Chesapeake Bay's fresh water?

The Susquehanna rises at Cooperstown, New York, and runs 444 miles, making it the longest river on the East Coast before it meets the bay in Maryland.

Which space telescope, launched in 1990, has its science operations run from the Johns Hopkins campus in Baltimore?

Hubble's observing programme is chosen and scheduled at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which later took on the James Webb telescope too.

NASA's first space flight center, opened in 1959 at Greenbelt, Maryland, is named after which rocketry pioneer?

Robert Goddard built and launched the world's first liquid-fuelled rocket in 1926, more than thirty years before NASA opened the centre that carries his name.

Which animal is the live mascot of the United States Naval Academy, a favourite kidnap target before the Army-Navy game?

A goat has been Navy's mascot since the 1890s, and West Point cadets pulled off the first recorded modern kidnapping in 1953, hiding him in the back seat of a convertible.

Which self-taught Maryland astronomer published almanacs and helped survey the District of Columbia's original borders?

Benjamin Banneker, born free in Baltimore County with little formal schooling, also exchanged letters with Thomas Jefferson about slavery and racial equality.

Which cat became Maryland's state cat in 2001 because its coat matches the colours of the state bird?

Calico cats wear the same orange, black and white as the Baltimore oriole and the Baltimore checkerspot butterfly, the state bird and the state insect.

Which founder of a sisterhood at Emmitsburg, Maryland, became the first US-born person to be canonised, in 1975?

Elizabeth Ann Seton, a widowed convert from New York, opened a girls' school in Emmitsburg and founded the Sisters of Charity, America's first congregation of religious sisters.

Which sloop-of-war, the last sail-only warship built by the US Navy, is moored as a museum in Baltimore's Inner Harbor?

USS Constellation was launched in 1854 and served as flagship of the Africa Squadron, patrolling against the slave trade, long before becoming a floating museum.

Which westernmost Maryland county, the last of the 23 to be formed, lies wholly within the Appalachian Mountains?

Garrett County was split off from its neighbour in 1872, and in winter skiers head for the slopes of its Wisp resort.

Which Maryland county seat, north-east of Baltimore, shares its name with a wealthy Los Angeles neighbourhood?

Bel Air, first written 'Belle Aire', became a county seat in 1782, just two years after the town was founded.

Which county, the only one in Maryland on the Atlantic Ocean, contains both Ocean City and Assateague Island?

Worcester County holds the state's entire ocean coast, yet its county seat is Snow Hill rather than the famous resort.

Which central Maryland county, home to the planned city of Columbia, has its seat at Ellicott City?

Howard County has no incorporated towns at all, so both Columbia, with about 100,000 people, and the seat itself are governed directly by the county.

Which city, the largest on Maryland's Eastern Shore, is the seat of Wicomico County?

Salisbury had 33,050 residents at the 2020 census; its county is named for the Wicomico River, from Algonquian words for a place where houses are built.

Which Eastern Shore county, home to Washington College, has the smallest population of any county in Maryland?

Kent County counted just 19,198 residents at the 2020 census; its college, chartered in 1782, took George Washington's name with his consent, and he served on its board.

Montgomery County, Maryland, honours Richard Montgomery, a general killed in 1775 while attacking which Canadian city?

Quebec was where Montgomery fell on the last day of 1775, weeks after he had captured Montreal; Maryland named its new county for him the following year.

Which Southern Maryland county, the state's smallest by land area, is famous for its fossil-rich bayside cliffs?

Calvert County fills a peninsula between the bay and the Patuxent River, and its cliffs give up Miocene shark teeth, turtles and other fossils to collectors.

Which western Maryland county contains both the city of Cumberland and Frostburg State University?

Allegany County climbs steeply: Frostburg sits at nearly 2,100 feet, while Cumberland, the county seat only eight miles away, is at just 627 feet.

Which city, nicknamed the Hub City for the railroads that met there, is the seat of Washington County, Maryland?

Hagerstown was founded in 1762 by Jonathan Hager, who first named it Elizabethtown after his wife and is remembered as the father of Washington County.

Which county, the largest in Maryland by land area, shares its name with the city that serves as its seat?

Frederick County's namesake is uncertain: it was probably either Frederick, heir to King George II, or the sixth and last Baron Baltimore.

Which Choptank River city, sharing its name with an English university town, is the seat of Dorchester County?

Cambridge stands on land that was once part of a reservation granted to the Choptank people, whose name the river still carries.

Which Cecil County seat was once called the Gretna Green of the East for its quick weddings of eloping couples?

Elkton, then a town of about 3,300 people, issued 16,054 marriage licences in the year before Maryland's 48-hour waiting period took effect in 1938.

Which is the only county on Maryland's Eastern Shore that touches neither the Chesapeake Bay nor the Atlantic?

Caroline County takes its name from Lady Caroline Eden, who was the wife of Maryland's last colonial governor.

Which Maryland county, with Centreville as its seat, faces the state capital from the far side of the Chesapeake Bay?

Queen Anne's County was named in 1706 for the British monarch then on the throne, and it has 265 miles of waterfront.

Which town, the seat of Talbot County, was known as Talbot Court House before it took its present name?

Easton grew up around the county courthouse, and its neighbourhood called The Hill may be the oldest surviving free Black community in the country.

Which town, the seat of Somerset County, is home to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore?

Princess Anne, established in 1733, was named for a daughter of King George II, and the county it leads is the southernmost in the state.

Which Maryland county is home to Aberdeen Proving Ground, the US Army's oldest active proving ground, opened in 1917?

Harford County's largest municipality, Aberdeen, is where Cal Ripken Jr. grew up, and the Army post beside it was set up six months after America entered the First World War.

Which town, the seat of Charles County, was devastated by a powerful tornado in April 2002?

La Plata was struck by a fast-moving F4 tornado that injured 122 people and left most of its downtown heavily damaged or destroyed.

Carroll County, Maryland, is named for Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the last surviving signer of which document?

The Declaration of Independence had no longer-lived signer than Carroll, who died in 1832 at the age of 95, 56 years after adding his name.

Which spice maker, started in a Baltimore room and cellar in 1889, is headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland?

McCormick's founder was 25 when he began selling root beer, flavouring extracts and fruit syrup door to door; spices came seven years later, when he bought a spice company.